We're told that the key to success in life and business is confidence: believe in yourself, and the world is yours. But building confidence can be a challenging task. And, as leading psychologist Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic argues, confidence can actually get in the way of achievement; self-esteem is nothing without competence, the core skills, to back it up. Confidence is feeling capable. Competence is being capable. None of the figures whose success is put down to supreme self-belief, Barack Obama, Madonna, Muhammad Ali could have achieved their goals without the hard-won skills (and years of training) behind the confidence mask. Successful people are confident because of their success, and not the other way around. Whether you want to improve your social skills, get a promotion or that all-important first job, this game-changing exploration of how to build success, in the mould of Robert Cialdini's Influence, Susan Cain's Quiet and Steven Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, will change the way you think about achievement.

Chamorro-Premuzic has rethought confidence - a fresh, more balanced, approach, presented in a well-researched, accessible, and, enjoyable format. I like this book: a lot -- Robert Kelsey
Confidence nails it - read this book and you will never look at the concept of self-esteem the same way again -- Laura Vanderkam
Persuasive ... fantastically sensible -- Lucy Kellaway * Financial Times *
I can't remember the last time I finished reading a book and wanted to applaud. Confidence is a life-changing book - it will convince you -- Heidi Grant Halvorson
Maybe you have always intuited, as most sensitive people do, that all the talk about boosting self-confidence and raising self-esteem is not the answer to success or happiness. This charming and thoroughly fact-based book will give you the evidence to back your wisdom, that being kind and competent works best. -- Elaine Aron, author of 'The Highly Sensitive Person' and 'The Undervalued Self'

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic is professor of Business Psychology at University College London (UCL) and visiting professor at New York University. He is the author of six books and writes regular blogs for Harvard Business Review and Psychology Today. He lives in London and New York, and frequently appears in the media. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic has been named one of Thinkers50 next generation of business gurus, 'most likely to shape the future of how organisations are managed and led'. You can learn more about Tomas on his website www.drtomascp.com/