Ten Signs That You're Losing Your Confidence

To succeed as a CIO, you must command the ear of the C-suite--as well as rally your IT department--with a sense of assertive leadership. But in this era of rapidly shifting business conditions, many senior executives may find their sense of self-confidence floundering. Part of this is due to stress: Nearly half of Americans say their stress has increased in the last year, research shows, and 77% report that they're suffering negative physical symptoms as a result. Nearly half say the anxiety is causing them to lose sleep at night. The recent book, Success Under Stress: Tools for Staying Calm, Confident, and Productive When the Pressure is On (Amacom), takes a close look at the modern-day dynamics that are causing professionals to lose their cool. In one section, author Sharon Melnick reveals the following 10 "trouble signs" that convey a lack of self-assurance in the workplace. In many ways, a noticeable lack of confidence turns out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy as overt signals of self-doubt will often cause colleagues to doubt you. Melnick is a psychologist who specializes in helping business professionals, with clients such as GE, Procter & Gamble, Pfizer and Merck.