Three Rules for Confidence II by Max Garcia

The second Rule. If you want to move up, you must master your current role and improve confidence to prepare for your next senior position. Too many times I see new Marines avoiding the undesirable task. Sometimes it is because they are lazy but other times it is because they don’t understand how to complete the task and do not possess the personal confidence to inquire. Before you know it a couple years goes by and that person is due to get promoted. Now you have a newly promoted manager who is lost, building self confidence at the last minute. I tell my people, “How can I promote you if you don’t have strong personal confidence of your everyday duties. If you’re in a leadership position you should be building self confidence in other people. They will be coming to you for answers. You don’t want to be the Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) that causes a Marine say, I’ll ask someone else because he won’t have a clue. The judging does not get any nicer with the subject of proficiency. Lower level workers must understand that they don’t rate a promotion just because of time. They must prove they are ready to be junior leaders. The time to improve confidence in their job field is not after the promotion. This theory is backed up by the twelfth leadership trait in the Handbook For Marine NCOs. This trait is Knowledge (Estes 1995)