Confidence is the stuff that turns thought into action and women need to develop more of it, said Katty Kay, lead anchor on BBC World News America and a best-selling author.
Women often attribute their success to outside forces—being in the right place at the right time or luck—while men attribute their success to internal factors like hard work or talent, Kay said during a keynote presentation on the second day of the Invest In Women conference sponsored by Financial Advisor Magazine in Atlanta this week. The difference is crucial when it comes to being confident, she said.
That same sense of confidence needs to be transmitted to women clients if they are to successfully manage their lives and their finances, Kay and the members of an accompanying panel said. Kay is the co-author of “The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance – What Women Should Know.”
Confidence is often more important than competence, the women agreed.
Confidence can also help women build trust and relationships, which women are generally better at than men, said Emi Umezawa, senior wealth advisor at Mercer Advisors.
One of the things that prevents women from developing the same level of confidence as men is that many women have a heightened fear of failing, Kay said. “The notion of failing looms large for women and they often over-estimate the chances of failure,” she said.
Kay told the audience about a time when she feared asking a question in a room full of men, but eventually did it without falling on her face. The next time she had to face a confidence-testing situation “I had banked the confidence from that earlier experience” and was able to draw on it, she said. That is how women can build confidence, she said.
“People won’t care about your failures as much as you think they will,” added Kahne Krause, head of client communities and vice president at Dimensional Fund Advisors.
Research has shown women are better investors than men and women advisors need to convey that knowledge to their female clients, said Sarah Charles, Mid-Atlantic regional leader at FORVIS Private Client.
In the process of building women’s confidence, positive reinforcement is important, added Ashley Ilardo, regional director and vice president at Dimensional Fund Advisors.