Leadership Begins with Confidence

UNCAGED CLINICIAN
Blog

October 5, 2025

The key ingredient for everything else!

Today, more than ever, leaders need to step up in order to make the impact they desire.

Stepping it up has little to do with knowledge.  It’s about the mental toughness between the ears.

Mental toughness allows us to have proactive leadership.

More importantly, resiliency or mental toughness determines the level of success we achieve.

Many may admit that they need to be more mentally strong.  

But it’s one thing to tell someone to be mentally tough; it’s another thing to teach someone how to apply it and master it.

This begs the question: How do we unlock the potential in people?

Matt Phillips, founder of both MattPhillipsCoaching and ProAthleteAdvantage, believes gaining mental toughness and proactively leading can be funneled down to one skill.

Popular answers will list attributes such as communication, listening, and accountability.

All great answers.

However, there is a commonality to all of those skills; one which makes each one effective.

That road leads to confidence.

To some, confidence as the top skill may not make sense.

It can be argued that a person is either born with it or they are not.

Matt fully believes (as do I, and the rest of the UNCAGED CLINICIAN team) that confidence can be built.

Communication, listening, and holding others accountable are amazing and vital leadership skills to have.

The truth is many of us are not good at holding others accountable, because it’s not fun nor easy to “call out” someone who falls short of expectations.

Holding someone to a set standard starts from a place of confidence - in self.

Calling out another individual opens the door for possible retaliation with comments that can chip away at our own self image.

Self image is already a battle unto itself for most.

Good, effective communication happens when there is understanding and clarity in the message we - the speaker - are delivering.

Clarity and understanding feed confidence; and vice-a-versa.

However, even in our pursuit of confidence, which leads to proficient communication, listening, and accountability, there are times when we can still get “off track”.

The best in sports have “off days”.  We have off days.

In these moments it is helpful to recognize it and acknowledge it.

Having a trusted mentor, coach, or even a close confidant in your corner is extremely valuable for these moments, which will occur.

Strength and humility are needed to admit, “I’m in my head, and I need a reset.”

This can be a hard pill to swallow for some.  But it can be one of the most rewarding things for a leader to do; not only for themselves, but for their business, their team, and their customers.

Becoming a leader is possible in all of us.

Doing so is not a 1-2-3 action step process, as so many falsely believe.

Becoming a leader means growing into a leader.

It involves growing as an individual.

We must learn to Be before we can Do.

One of the best ways to grow in our confidence is to simply put in the reps without care of success or failure.

We should enjoy the process, taking something from each interaction.

Look for the lessons and the necessary adjustments rather than the criticisms or “losses”.

Remain humble.

Display courage, even if it is imperfect courage for only a few minutes.

Focus on the ultimate goal instead of the immediate results.

Personal and leadership growth will begin to be recognized.

Those around you will see it, as well.

For a more in-depth conversation on today’s subject, be sure to check out this coming week’s edition of The UNCAGED CLINICIAN Podcast! (found on iTunes and Spotify)

David will host Matt Phillips in an engaging conversation.

Confidence can be the number one thing that holds many back from taking the leap.  

This is why we have created UNCAGED UNIVERSITY! 

Our new program gives you the guidance and clarity to obtain your goals, your success.

We have eliminated time-stamps from the program.  You get to go through it at your pace.

You also get to choose how much personal guidance you receive.

Why have we structured UNCAGED UNIVERSITY this way?

Because we recognize that everyone has different needs and desires when it comes to the help they are looking for.  

Want to learn more about UNCAGED UNIVERSITY? Schedule an UNCAGED UNIVERSITY Application call with us today!  OUR PROMISE TO YOU: NO HARD SELLING.

Details about UNCAGED UNIVERSITY can also be found here.

Also, be sure to check out our website for other resources!

Your Success is our success!

The UNCAGED team