Michael Fenlon, global talent leader for PwC, discusses his company’s Aspire to Lead initiative, which seeks to guide the next generation of women leaders. In order to be a great leader, you have to have the confidence in yourself to make others around you better.

This year, as we look towards our next Aspire to Lead global video webcast, we’re going to touch upon the topic of confidence. You know, there are consistent research findings that show that men tend to overestimate their competence and women underestimate their competence. Research has also shown that women are actually more competent leaders and that startups with women at the helm, that boards with more women on them, and that organizations with greater gender diversity outperform their competitors.

Understand that if you aspire to a career, a profession, a leadership role, in many respects you're going to be judged and evaluated on your ability to bring out the best in others, to create a work environment that's truly inclusive, that allows the best ideas to percolate and to come from all members of your team, your organization. And to do these things, to bring out the best in others, we've got to start by bringing out the best in ourselves by building self-awareness, understanding our own implicit beliefs, the stereotypes we carry around that can hold us back, and hold others as well.