High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 726: The 8 Confidence Killers™: What Leaders Must Avoid

Episode Date: January 19, 2026

Confidence at work rarely disappears overnight. It erodes slowly through everyday leadership behaviors. In this episode, Cindra shares findings from her National Research Study on Confidence and introduces the 8 Confidence Killers. These are common leadership behaviors that quietly undermine employee confidence, motivation, and trust. You will learn what employees say damages confidence most, why these behaviors are often unintentional, and why confidence is directly tied to performance, engagement, retention, and revenue. You will also hear one statistic that changes how leaders think about confidence at work and a simple action you can take today to become a more intentional confidence builder. Because every interaction either builds confidence or breaks it. Quote of the Week: "Confidence isn't lost in one big moment—it's eroded by small leadership behaviors repeated over time." Power Phrase of the Week: "Every interaction either builds confidence—or breaks it."   To download our full study report, visit: confidencestudy.com To Request a Free Breakthrough Call with a Mentally Strong Coach, visit: http://www.freementalbreakthroughcall.com/ To learn more about the Mentally Strong Institute, visit: https://mentallystronginstitute.com/ To learn about Dr. Cindra Kamphoff's speaking and coaching, visit: https://cindrakamphoff.com/ To follow Dr. Cindra on Instagram, visit: Cindra Kamphoff, PhD (@cindrakamphoff) • Instagram photos and videos

Hi, Dr. Cinder Campoff here. Myself and my team just conducted this national research study on confidence that you have to check out. The report which you can download at Confidencestudy.com shows research-backed ways you can grow your confidence, what leaders do to both kill and grow confidence, and how confidence is not just a personal issue, but an organizational issue. I'm telling you, you've got to check this out. It's a game changer. You can find our full report at Confidencestudy.com.

Time to check in with Cinder Campoff. Today we talk about confidence killers and what leaders have to avoid. You've got eight confidence killers. Cinder, start us off with a quote. The quote is, confidence isn't lost in one big moment. It's eroded by small leadership behaviors repeated over time. So this is a pretty powerful thing that we're diving into, and it's honestly a little uncomfortable for some people.

Finding from your national research study on confidence, you uncovered what actually kills confidence while we're at work. Absolutely, Lisa. And so we asked working Americans a simple question, but very revealing. And that's what leadership behaviors most undermine your confidence. And what we found really surprised a lot of leaders and surprised me as well. So most of our leaders aren't intentionally trying to do us harm. That's true.

And these behaviors that we're to talk about today are rarely intentional. They just quietly kind of chip away at employee's self-believe and self-confidence and motivation and really a sense of work over time. So what did the employees say to you that were the biggest confidence killers for them? So today we're going to talk about how we identified eight confidence killers, and they include these. Number one, micromanaging. Number two, failing to provide clear leadership, a direction and support. Number three, not recognizing achievements. Four is showing little empathy.

Five, being unresponsive. Six, being inconsistent. Seven, blaming others instead of taking responsibility. and the last one is creating a culture of fear where people don't feel safe to speak up or take risk. Holy cats. It's a powerful list. I think that a lot of people should listen to that again. Probably kind of a mirror moment for a lot of leaders that are listening, hopefully.

I would say it really is. And here's why it really matters because confidence isn't optional. It's foundational. And it directly impacts productivity, engagement, innovation, retention, and even revenue. And in the report that we just did on our research study, we talk about, how confidence isn't just a personal issue. It's an organizational issue that really people need to, you know, think about as leaders. How do they keep growing the confidence of those people that they need?

Well, that statistic is really kind of shocking. Did it surprise you too? It did. And this is the statistic that I want to share with you that was the most shocking. And so we found the majority of employees actually told us that they would take a lower-pay job if it actively built their confidence. So people would take a lower-pig job, take less money to work. with a leader that grows confidence. And this really tells you, you know, everything about how,

you know, deeply confidence affects performance and loyalty in the bottom line. All right. So if you're a leader out there listening right now, what is the action step for you? The action step is just ask yourself this question. You know, are my daily leadership behaviors building confidence or eroding it? And think back to those eight confidence killers that we just talked about. And then choose one that could really help you intentionally shift that you can make today to become a confidence builder on your team. Well, I think one thing we've learned is this confidence doesn't grow by accident. Yes, it grows by leadership and intention and on purpose. All right. Do you have a power phrase to end today with? Yes, it goes like this. Every intention

either builds confidence or breaks it. All right. So if we want to do some more research on our own about confidence and maybe take a look at your research study, what do we need to do? Where do we follow? I would tell everyone to go to our Confidence study report at Confidencestudy.com, and you can learn more about how we work with leaders and companies to help build confidence, and you can learn more about a report there. So Confidencestudy.com. Way to go for finishing another episode of the high performance mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Holy cow, did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, remember to subscribe, and you can head over to Dr. Sindra for show notes and enjoy my exclusive community for high performers where you get

access to videos about mindset each week. So again, you can add over to Dr. Sindra. That's dr.cindra.com. See you next week.