“Confidence is not a good parameter for evaluating whether you can trust somebody. Subjective confidence is not a good indicator.” – Daniel Kahneman
I found this line from Thinking Fast and Slow quite relatable. That’s mainly because I’ve seen enough confident-appearing people get unfair attention and I’ve also seen deserving people getting overlooked despite their sincere temperament.
You’ve probably seen it happen, too. Perhaps, you may have concluded that the world’s a sad place that rewards superficiality over substance. Though, it’s not a discussion about what’s morally right or wrong.
The bigger point here is this: we often use appearance, glamour, and smoothness to evaluate others, and hence we’re easily tricked. The face value doesn’t translate into what’s expected and hence we’re disappointed.
Contrastingly, there are also lesser confident individuals who struggle to trust themselves, but does that make them lesser competitive? They eventually catch up when nurtured in the right ways.
The takeaway (for finding the right people)
When searching for the right people, try not to be impressed. Rather figure whether they can create an impact and whether they have a reliable character and integrity.
In most cases, that must be enough, because competitive and useful works when confidence doesn’t.
Also, having confidence is no bad thing – as long as it has got something to back it up. Otherwise, it’s just like pebbles in an empty vessel – loud but not useful.