This library exists for the part of you that likes to understand what sits beneath intuition and lived experience. Here, you’ll find research, articles, and thoughtful pieces that echo the core of this work: leadership and confidence as a living, relational practice grounded in the nervous system, self‑trust, and communication. None of it is offered as prescription or protocol; it is shared simply as context, companionship, and “oh, that makes sense” support as you notice your own patterns and experiments in real time.

 

1. Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Effectiveness

Research consistently shows that leaders with higher emotional intelligence create stronger team performance, higher engagement, better decision‑making, and more effective conflict resolution.

  • Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, and Work Teams (NIH/PMC, 2023)
    A review of 104 peer‑reviewed articles confirming the link between emotional intelligence, leadership effectiveness, and team performance.
    → Read the study

  • Emotional Intelligence and Leader Outcomes (SAGE Journals, 2024)
    Findings indicate that leader emotional intelligence is positively associated with relational leadership, effectiveness, and a broader range of task‑related outcomes than previously assumed.​
    → Read the study

  • Optimal Leadership and Emotional Intelligence (Wiley, 2024)
    Emotional intelligence helps leaders and their teams sustain optimal performance through accurate perception, understanding, and management of emotions.​
    → Read the study

  • Role of Emotional Intelligence in Leadership (University of New Hampshire, 2025)
    Concludes that emotionally intelligent leaders show better decision‑making, higher employee engagement, and more effective conflict resolution, with significant implications for personal and organisational effectiveness.​
    → Read the study

  • Emotional Intelligence in Leadership: Why It's Important – Harvard Business School Online
    Reviews how emotional intelligence enables leaders to manage stress, deliver feedback, coach teams, and advance both individual and organisational outcomes.​
    → Read the article

 

2. Self‑Regulation, Confidence, and Leadership Performance

Self‑regulation—the ability to manage your internal state and remain composed under pressure—is strongly linked to leadership confidence, effectiveness, and transformational leadership behaviours.

  • The Association Between Leadership Self‑Efficacy and Developmental Leadership (PMC, 2021)
    Cited by 38 studies. Found that leaders who are more confident in their ability to lead are more transformational in their style—and that confidence in managing one's internal state is a distinct, trainable dimension of leadership.​
    → Read the study

  • The Role of Self‑Regulation in Developing Leaders (ScienceDirect)
    Examines how self‑regulation underpins the attentional resources required for effective leadership behaviour under conditions of high performance expectation.​
    → Read the study

 

3. Impostor Narratives in Women Leaders

Research identifies impostor syndrome as a significant performance and well‑being risk for women in senior roles and one that is directly addressable through targeted inner work.

  • Advancing the Future of Women in Business – KPMG Women's Leadership Summit Report (2020)
    75% of female executives report having personally experienced impostor syndrome at some point in their careers. 47% attributed it to never expecting to reach their current level of success.
    → Read the report

  • 75% of Women Executives Experience Impostor Syndrome – Forbes (2023)
    Reports on the KPMG study and notes that women respond to impostor feelings by pushing harder to prove value, generating higher stress and anxiety even when meeting performance expectations.​
    → Read the article

  • Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome – Harvard Business Review (2021)
    Reframes the conversation: impostor feelings in women are not individual deficits but responses to real structural barriers, calling for work that addresses both environment and inner experience.​
    → Read the article

 

4. Soft Power, Influence, and Women in Leadership

Soft power—the capacity to influence through emotional intelligence, relational credibility, and trust rather than force—is increasingly identified as a measurable leadership differentiator.

  • Female Leadership and Soft Power: Do Women Outperform Men? – Brand Finance (2020)
    Links female leadership styles with soft power attributes including inclusion, collaboration, and compassion, and argues these are becoming critical drivers of organisational influence and reputation.​
    → Read the article

  • Soft Power: Not Just Winning Hearts and Minds, But Saving Lives – Harvard Kennedy School (2025)
    Grounds Joseph Nye's soft power concept (influencing through attraction, trust, and values rather than coercion) in current leadership and policy contexts.​
    → Read the article

 

5. Social Intelligence and Biology of Leadership

  • Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership – Harvard Business Review
    Identifies social intelligence—attunement to others, empathy, and the ability to influence group dynamics—as a core driver of leadership effectiveness with neurological foundations.​
    → Read the article

 

6. Confidence and Guided Imagery

Guided imagery is a structured mental rehearsal technique: people are guided to imagine specific scenes, sensations, and outcomes to shift their state and behaviour. A substantial body of research shows it reduces stress and anxiety, improves attentional control, and supports better performance under pressure, key ingredients of felt confidence.

  • Guided Imagery and Health Outcomes (Scoping Review) – Journal of Palliative Medicine / CDC / NIH
    A scoping review of randomized controlled trials found that guided imagery led to significant, positive changes in 76.9% of the examined outcomes across diverse conditions.
    → Read the review (NIH)

  • Guided Imagery and Stress, Brain Activity, and Attention – Frontiers in Psychology (2023)
    Guided imagery significantly reduced stress and increased relaxation; it also enhanced alpha brainwave power, which is associated with better attentional control—critical for confident performance in high‑pressure contexts.​
    → Read the study

  • Guided Imagery for Anxiety Disorders – Randomized Controlled Trial (2023)
    Patients receiving guided imagery showed statistically significant reductions in anxiety symptoms and improvements in quality of life versus controls, demonstrating its efficacy as an adjunctive psychological intervention.​
    → Read the study

Together, these findings support using guided imagery as part of a confidence‑building protocol: by reducing stress and anxiety and improving focus, leaders are more able to access their existing competence in the moments that matter.

 

7. Confidence, Mindfulness, and Meditation

Meditation and mindfulness practices are strongly associated with improved self‑esteem, self‑efficacy, and reduced self‑criticism—all central to a more stable experience of confidence.

  • The Mindful Self: Mindfulness, Self‑Esteem, and Self‑Efficacy – Frontiers in Psychology (2022)
    Mindfulness was positively correlated with both self‑esteem and self‑efficacy; regression analyses showed that higher mindfulness significantly predicted higher self‑esteem and self‑efficacy.​
    → Read the study

This data supports using brief, regular meditation‑style audio practices as a way to reduce self‑attack and increase self‑trust—two levers you explicitly work with.

 

8. Coaching and Confidence in Leaders

Coaching has documented effects on leaders’ confidence, role clarity, and behaviour change. This is especially true in transitions and high‑stakes contexts.

  • Leadership Coaching Effectiveness Research Study – Dion Leadership (2025)
    In a multi‑year study of leadership coaching clients, 87% of coachees agreed that coaching improved their confidence, up from 84% the previous year.​
    → Read the summary

  • How Coaching Supports Challenges to Confidence in Senior Leaders – Oxford Brookes University (2022)
    A qualitative study of senior leaders in transition found that coaching supported confidence through three main mechanisms: a psychologically safe space, increased clarity of leader identity, and targeted feedback and support.​
    → Read the paper

These findings align with our approach: using coaching not just to “talk about” confidence, but to shift underlying patterns and translate that into visible changes in communication and presence.

 

9. Books on Confidence

This corner of the library is for long‑form companions; the books you can sink into slowly, dog‑ear, and return to when your confidence feels wobbly or newly awake. Rather than quick fixes, these are works that treat confidence as a relationship with yourself: something you can practice, repair, and deepen over time.

These books are completely optional companions and there is no required reading for this work. They’re simply titles I’ve found supportive or thought‑provoking and offer here in case they resonate with you. None of the links on this page are referral or affiliate links; they’re shared purely for your interest, reflection, and further exploration.

Leadership Confidence

  • Coming Soon.