This morning, The New York Times published an article by Claudia H. Deutsch called If at First You Don't Succeed, Believe Harder.

The article focuses on Rosabeth Moss Kanter and her latest of 16 books called Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Start and End.

It is a must read for everyone in your family, kids included.

Edward Zander, CEO of Motorola has said, "Confidence is a must-read for leaders. Rosabeth Moss Kanter unlocks the secrets of high performance in a fresh, original, powerful way.

Bob Nardelli, chairman, president, and CEO of The Home Depot has said, "Confidence is a powerful resource destined to be a favorite with forward-thinking leaders who want to get more from themselves and their organizations."

About The Book

Just as "Emotional Intelligence" shows that being smart is not only a matter of IQ, this book shows that success is not simply a matter of money and talent, but also of a previously little-understood factor called "confidence."

About The Author

Moss Kanter is a consultant and Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. She has twenty-one honorary degrees and numerous mentions on lists of influential or powerful women. The sixty-one year-old, internationally known business leader and best selling co-author said, "

A few highlights from The New York Times article:

If you've hit a series of lows, seek out lots of human contact. "It's almost impossible to break a losing streak on your own,'' Ms. Kanter said. If no friend or colleague is available to bolster your confidence, find a situation - say, a book club meeting - where you feel you can shine. "Support can often come from people you don't know,'' she said.

If you can't feel confident about a final result, focus on a milestone. Maybe you'll never beat your athletic best friend at tennis, but if you fine-tune your lob and drop shot, you can win a few more games. Maybe you'll never turn your child into a straight-A student - but you can tutor her so she doesn't fail math. "Small wins can improve the odds of bigger successes later on,'' Ms. Kanter said.

Don't expect empathy from losers. Ms. Kanter points to a friend, a freelance writer who was treated shabbily by editors at a money-losing magazine yet treated well by those at its healthier rival. "Secure people are emotionally generous, while people who feel like failures will take their frustration out on you,'' she said. If you must deal with losers, flatter them shamelessly. "If you build their confidence," she said, "they may stop undermining yours.''

Compartmentalize your life. If you are emotionally battered at home, it is hard to feel confident at work, or vice versa. But it is possible. "Sometimes you can develop sufficient confidence from your successes in one sphere so that it spills over to the other,'' Ms. Kanter said. But don't focus all your attention on the sphere that works well, she cautioned. "Then you'll have a self-fulfilling prophecy - your marriage is deteriorating, you throw yourself into work, and the marriage deteriorates even more.''

It may be a cliché, but living well really is the best revenge. "Anger is not cathartic, and you won't break a losing streak by exacting revenge on your perceived enemies,'' Ms. Kanter said.

Take responsibility for your mistakes. You'll be less likely to repeat them. Ms. Kanter attributes her Asian fiasco to a lack of preparation. Now, before any speaking engagement, she finds out everything she can about her audience and about the other speakers, and thus feels confident that she can handle hostility. "You can only stop sabotaging yourself if you don't think you were someone else's victim,'' she said.

The corollary is that classic psychoanalysis does not work as well as behavioral therapy in restoring confidence.

"Understanding your deep psychic structure isn't what's important in breaking a self-destructive cycle,'' she said. "Find someone who will help you use the talents you have today, rather than focus on what your mother did to you.''

To read Deutsch's entire story about Kanter go to: NYTimes.com

USA Today also wrote a review of the book at: USATODAY.com

Upon publishing this post, Amazon had only audio CDs left in stock with more on the way.

To order the book and audio CD Confidence, as well as other books by Rosabeth Moss Kanter click below.

On Tuesday, November 11, 2004 will host a Harvard Business School Publishing Virtual Seminar featuring Kanter and her new book.

From your office or conference room, you are invited to join in by phone and through an optional Internet link.

Depending upon your time zone, the conference will be held at the following times:

05:30 - 7:00 p.m. GMT
12:30 - 2:00 p.m. U.S./Canadian Eastern
11:30 - 1:00 p.m. U.S./Canadian Central
10:30 - 12:00 p.m. U.S./Canadian Mountain
09:30 - 11:00 a.m. U.S./Canadian Pacific

To register, go to: Harvard Business School Publishing

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful and confident living!

~ Jennifer King