Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End

From the boardroom to the locker room to the living room—how winners become winners . . . and stay that way. Is success simply a matter of money and talent? Or is there another reason why some people and organizations always land on their feet, while others, equally talented, stumble again and again? There’s a fundamental principle at work—the vital but previously unexamined factor called confidence—that permits unexpected people to achieve high levels of performance through routines that activate talent. Confidence explains: • Why the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team continues its winning ways even though recent teams lack the talent of their predecessors • Why some companies are always positively perceived by employees, customers, Wall Street analysts, and the media while others are under a perpetual cloud • How a company like Gillette or a team like the Chicago Cubs ends a losing streak and breaks out of a circle of doom • The lessons a politician such as Nelson