Confidence matters.

Confidence matters.

I took a few days off this past week and traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with some girlfriends for a long weekend. Also present for our getaway was a winter storm which dumped dozens of inches of fresh snow on us for the 4 days we were there.

When we left this morning, the wind was blowing from every direction and the snow was coming down so hard that it was hard to see in front of your face. I am a white knuckle passenger as it is, but walking out of the tiny Jackson airport to my plane in the wind, snow and frigid temps made me incredibly nervous.

I borded the plane and sat in the first row immediately buckling in, putting in my air pods, and started my "take off playlist"- yes, I have take off music- and yes, it includes Limp Bizkit, "Behind Blue Eyes". I have no idea why this is the music I play to calm myself during take off, but here we are.

I began scanning the plane, listening for every noise, watching the de-icers do their magic on the wing to my left, and my eyes must've screamed THIS WOMAN IS GOING TO HAVE A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, because the next thing I knew the pilot was standing in front of the cabin and addressed us. He was calm, collected and very matter of fact. He had not a hint of concern about his task ahead. He oozed confidence, and when he spoke it's like that confidence spilled from his mouth and filled my lungs up.

"Good morning. I am Captain Jack, and my partner Dave and I have been flying together for years. We are both retired fighter pilots and it is going to be bumpy on the way up and out of Jackson, but this is routine for us and we are going to get you to Denver safely."

Relief. Deep sigh. BREATHE, Andrea.

He was right. There were a few bumps along the way, and then the most beautiful view of the sunrise from above the storm clouds, but he got us there safely, and early, which, if you know me, is basically one of my favorite things--early is on time.

As I waited to deboard the plane for my connecting flight home to Austin, I thought about how he stood in front of a plane full of regular people. People who don't fly planes for a living. People who were counting on he and his partner to get us from point A to point B through some tough situations and not ideal conditions- and how his confidence and reasurrnace was all I needed to be at ease for the trip.

It made me think about my role in sales- our roles as sales executives- it is our job to be confident in our abilities no matter what the situation- to know that our training has prepared us to handle any circumstance a business is up against, and help a client get from point A to point B, even if they don't know how, or are nervous about getting there. We need to stand confident in our expertise and then over-deliver.

Confidence matters.