Joe Navarro

I think confidence can absolutely be trained. Coming from Cuba, where we lost everything, arriving as a refugee, having nothing, and then all of a sudden, the FBI asked me to become an... I didn't apply to the FBI. The FBI actually came to me and asked me to apply. And then all of a sudden, I said, are you guys serious? It's like, I'm 23 years old. I'm barely learning how to shave.

And with no confidence whatsoever, and they teach you to be confident. You can teach confidence. And what I tell people is the easiest way to learn confidence is to be confident about one thing. I don't care if it's you stack papers better than anybody else. I don't care if it's the way you make your bed, any small things. Show me that you're confident.

And with no confidence whatsoever, and they teach you to be confident. You can teach confidence. And what I tell people is the easiest way to learn confidence is to be confident about one thing. I don't care if it's you stack papers better than anybody else. I don't care if it's the way you make your bed, any small things. Show me that you're confident.

Show me that that's better than anybody else's. And the minute you can be confident about one thing, now you can be confident about two things. And then you can be confident about three things. This nonsense that I often see people say, well, just come in and be confident. I think that's nonsense. I think you have to learn and your physiology has to learn to be confident about one thing.

Show me that that's better than anybody else's. And the minute you can be confident about one thing, now you can be confident about two things. And then you can be confident about three things. This nonsense that I often see people say, well, just come in and be confident. I think that's nonsense. I think you have to learn and your physiology has to learn to be confident about one thing.

With me, I was confident in playing football. I was fast. I could do certain things. I was confident about that. I knew that in basketball, I could shoot a three-pointer. Confident about that. but not confident about a host of other things. To be in a room full of executives, I remember when I had no confidence. So how do I work on that?

With me, I was confident in playing football. I was fast. I could do certain things. I was confident about that. I knew that in basketball, I could shoot a three-pointer. Confident about that. but not confident about a host of other things. To be in a room full of executives, I remember when I had no confidence. So how do I work on that?

You cannot, unless you're a world-class actor, you cannot walk into a place and all of a sudden pretend you're confident. I tell people, learn to be confident about one thing. And sometimes it's knowledge. I always, there is no meeting I go into that I am not well read on that subject. If you want to achieve confidence, know everything that you can about a particular subject.

You cannot, unless you're a world-class actor, you cannot walk into a place and all of a sudden pretend you're confident. I tell people, learn to be confident about one thing. And sometimes it's knowledge. I always, there is no meeting I go into that I am not well read on that subject. If you want to achieve confidence, know everything that you can about a particular subject.

And that gives you so much great confidence. And I've seen young people come right out of college and they're sitting there, you Their elbows are in. They're almost mousy looking. They're nervous. They're looking about constantly. They don't know where to look. And, you know, and I tell them, know your subject. Know your subject.

And that gives you so much great confidence. And I've seen young people come right out of college and they're sitting there, you Their elbows are in. They're almost mousy looking. They're nervous. They're looking about constantly. They don't know where to look. And, you know, and I tell them, know your subject. Know your subject.

Because the minute they begin to talk about that, they begin to flower and change.

Because the minute they begin to talk about that, they begin to flower and change.

Yes, and that's what the military, like the British military, that's what they take young people, 17, 18, 19 years old, and they say, we're going to change you into a warrior. Well, how's that? By running, by getting you to climb up that rope, by doing any number of things where you can come away and feel that confidence.

Yes, and that's what the military, like the British military, that's what they take young people, 17, 18, 19 years old, and they say, we're going to change you into a warrior. Well, how's that? By running, by getting you to climb up that rope, by doing any number of things where you can come away and feel that confidence.

So let me talk about those. Don't try to reinvent what's successful. A confident person doesn't have to talk fast and doesn't talk high. I remember the first arrest I made and I said, stop, this is the FBI. My voice was, nobody was going to stop. Nobody. Nobody. And the guys that were with me said, Joe, you got to work on your voice. You have to have a command voice.

So let me talk about those. Don't try to reinvent what's successful. A confident person doesn't have to talk fast and doesn't talk high. I remember the first arrest I made and I said, stop, this is the FBI. My voice was, nobody was going to stop. Nobody. Nobody. And the guys that were with me said, Joe, you got to work on your voice. You have to have a command voice.

Well, a command voice is down. Like? Like, stop right there. I'll give you an example. You talk to most executives and you say, no, that's not acceptable. It's too high. No is always said down. No. Are we going to? That sounds like a complete sentence. Do you get them to practice saying no? Absolutely. I did it for 10 years.

Well, a command voice is down. Like? Like, stop right there. I'll give you an example. You talk to most executives and you say, no, that's not acceptable. It's too high. No is always said down. No. Are we going to? That sounds like a complete sentence. Do you get them to practice saying no? Absolutely. I did it for 10 years.

Every February, the guy that, Brian Hall, who encouraged me to write one of my books called Louder Than Words, invited me to go to Harvard. And I'll never forget, I had a complete Harvard class. I think there were 76 students. And I had them all saying the word, no, no, no. No, going down lower. He had stepped out of the room to take a call. When he came back, he thought I had a cult going on.