Confidence and Guts

A few days ago Seth Godin posted the following piece on his blog:

Too many MBAs are sent into the world with bravado and enthusiasm and confidence.

The problem is that they also lack guts.

Guts is the willingness to lose. To be proven wrong, or to fail.

No one taught them guts in school. So much money at stake, so much focus on the numbers and on moving up the ladder, it never occurs to anyone to talk about the value of failure, of smart risk, of taking a leap when there are no guarantees.

It's easy to be confident when you have everything aligned, when the moment is perfect. It's also not particularly useful.

I agree with these sentiments, though I will add a couple. First, I think “MBAs” could easily be replaced with “people” (in general). Obviously not all people enter adult life with “bravado and enthusiasm and confidence.” But even if you don't, what Seth says is worthy of consideration. Second, his understanding of the word confidence seems to be more narrow than my own. This may be a little “nit-picky” on my part, but Seth appears to be referencing what I would call a “lower-level” aspect of confidence. That is, equating confidence with mere faith in oneself and one's abilities. While he is right to use the word in this way, I would go a step further. In my view, confidence presupposes a complete understanding of failure and adversity, and as such I would say that confidence is more qualified, that is, it would by definition include what Seth calls “guts.”

Guts, which he rightly defines as “the willingness to lose, to be proven wrong, or to fail,” are an essential part of life. In other words, if you are not willing to take risks—to lose, be proven wrong, or fail—you probably won't do a whole lot. This is good advice. It is also an essential characteristic of true confidence.