It’s coming up for Christmas and so it’s that time of year: The school nativity play.

Now, there are the favourite parts that everyone wants. And when you’re a 7-year-old girl, you want to be an angel. Except I didn’t get to be an angel.

But here’s what I did get: the chance to develop communication skills and public speaking.

Alone.

Alone can get a bad rap.

It can mean less of.

Inferior.

But the opposite can be true.

Alone can bring all kinds of riches.

Everyone has a wobble, a crisis of confidence. This is a story about what one of my role models did when that happened to her.

Colleen was one of my teaching tutors at Uni.

She was creative, had a glint in her eye in the best kind of way and made good teaching look really easy.

I recently wrote about my recent experience at a networking event, that women were holding themselves back and that we need to talk about confidence. In this follow up blog I’m going to share 10 ways that can develop your confidence (whether you’re a woman or a man).

This means that the next time you’re given a brilliant opportunity you’ll reply with gusto “Why of course, I will be there with bells on - just try and stop me!”

Are you woman? Read this. Men, do you know any women? Show them this article. It could change their career.

I was recently at a breakfast networking event on the topic of listening. You know, that part of communication that we understand makes all the difference but that can be maddeningly challenging. And I learned something shocking: Sisters are screwing it for themselves.