Practical, expert-led educational programs are one of Fogarty’s foundational pillars, with the goal of shedding light on topics of import to resident companies and alumni, as well as the medtech community as a whole. To this end, one of the most recent Fogarty Lunch-and-Learn programs tackled a highly resonant topic: confidence, presented by Greg Bakan, former director of strategic initiatives at Fogarty. As a departure from more tactical topics, it really struck a chord. Entrepreneurs know that confidence counts, and it’s something that’s an almost-universal struggle.
Although Bakan retired from Fogarty nearly a year ago, he remains one of the organization’s most-requested speakers, as he draws on his wisdom of more than 30 years in the industry —working for recognizable names in early-stage medtech startups, such as Ardian, Nevro and Fox Hollow, as well as large industry leaders like Medtronic and Eli Lilly.
Like his previous compelling presentation around storytelling for entrepreneurs, the idea for this talk came from his ongoing coaching and mentoring work. “Confidence kept coming up as I was working with first time founders and CEOs who were struggling with taking on big new roles”, he says. “This highlighted how important this topic was, but also how little I formally knew about the subject and how confidence forms. Therefore, it seemed like a great idea for a discussion.”
Understanding the roots of confidence
Bakan shared three common misconceptions: that confident people are all extroverts, that it’s something you’re born with, and that confident people are confident all the time.
Instead, he noted that confidence is fluid and often context-dependent, giving the example of professional athletes and actors who, despite being the best in the world at what they do, can feel their confidence dip after a loss or poor performance.
Confidence can be learned, he stresses. “It is a lot more under your control than you think, which is an empowering realization,” Bakan said. “Suddenly you feel a lot more agency when you realize it’s something you can work on and develop.”
As an example, Bakan shared how he built his own self-confidence in the area of social networking back when he was in business school. While company receptions were a common recruiting tool for companies to meet candidates, he found them challenging to navigate. Rather than abandoning them altogether, he decided to conquer his anxiety by starting with companies that he was less interested in, using those lower-risk situations to practice, achieve small wins and thereby build his confidence.
At one such event, a wave of anxiety came over him and he started to walk out. But shortly after leaving the room, he stopped, reminded himself this was a skill he needed to develop, and forced himself to go back in. “I suffered through the next hour and a half, but I had some good conversations. And you know what? The next one I went to was a little bit easier. And the one after that was even easier.”
By taking a very intentional and step-wise approach, he was able to build confidence in an area he had historically struggled with.
A plan to boost confidence
Bakan then shared actionable ways to help build confidence, divided into two categories: mastery and mindset. Mastery involves building necessary skills and experiences that validate one’s ability to take on new tasks, overcome challenges and achieve goals. It leverages the premise that confidence follows competence and includes techniques like skill development, diligent preparation, and seeking out and building upon small wins. All of these were evidenced in the low-risk social networking example noted above.
Mindset refers to how we internalize these life experiences and the perspectives and narratives we build around them. These cognitive processes influence how we approach new situations, and how we handle challenges and setbacks. One of the mindset skills Bakan emphasized was learning how to manage our inner critic.
“It’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing only on our shortcomings or failures,” he said. “Learning to adopt a more balanced and objective perspective can help prevent our inner critic from hijacking our thoughts and undermining our confidence.” The bottom line: “We are the story we tell ourselves about ourselves so be intentional about the mindset and narratives you develop around your life experiences.”
Given the strong positive reception to Bakan’s presentation, Fogarty plans to offer it again in the future. To be notified about this and other upcoming educational workshops, visit the website to sign up to receive communications about future programs.