That’s it. I’m finally done. Which is absolutely terrifying and exciting at the same time. It’s that time of year, where once again, and for the last time, as a class we put together the Spring Exhibition. The overall theme for the exhibition this spring was Comic Con, and as grade 12’s we tied in our project by having panel discussions similar to the ones held at Comic Con. Within the panels the objective was to talk roughly about topics answering our driving question, What can we learn from authors about achieving personal and professional success? The panels consisted of five of us, each person having read a different self help book. We then discussed similar themes and ideas, as well as where the books we read contradicted each other. 

I chose to read the book The Confidence Code, written by Katty Kay and Claire Shipman. I chose this book as it’s focused specifically on Women’s confidence and why often women seem to have less of it than men. This idea fascinates me, as I see it all around me at school and especially at work. I never had the confidence to go right up to my boss and ask for something, even if it was small. However I often saw my male co-workers go up without a second thought, and they were asking for much bigger things (time off, promotions, ect.). What I noticed about this is that they if not every time at least pretty consistently got what they were asking for, and that would often make me frustrated as I had just sat on the side trying to think of the perfect way to ask so my boss was more likely to say yes. What frustrated me even more was that I knew I was a better employee than some of them. So I started to put on this mindset of if a guy would ask for it why can’t I? It was the idea of going forward without the second thought and being confident in yourself when asking something of your boss. It was this mindset that actually ended up getting me promoted and its exactly this mindset that I think this book talks about. That is partially why I was so drawn to it, because I had already started experiencing all these things in the workplace that these two women were talking about. I had also seen now first hand how important confidence was and wanted to learn more about how to embrace that and use it in my everyday life. As I was reading this book I found it really impactful how much I was able to relate what they were talking about. Not just as hypothetical situations, but as things that had actually happened to me. 

Alongside reading The Confidence Code, I also looked into both of the authors and put together a little authors bio. As all of us grade 12’s did this we thought it would be nice to share this with the audience on the night of the exhibition. That’s why me and Ryan put together a page with everyone’s ideas collected in one space. Throughout all of high school me and Ryan have always worked really well together. We developed what I consider a unique bond/skill where we are easily able to bounce ideas off eachother and fill in what the other has missed. Whenever I am suck on something I know Ryan will have the answer or will be able to help me get to my final product. Creating this collection of all the author bios was sadly our last time working together in high school, and as always we supported eachother in every way needed. Click here if you want to check it out! We displayed this as a QR code for everyone to scan as they walked in to watch the panel. The idea was as they were waiting for the preformance to start they could go through and learn a little more about each of the authors and the books. 

My panel consisted of me, Jordan, Dries, Jonathan, and Keenan. Together we made up the motivation and success in the workplace panel. Originally I wasn’t part of this group, so when I was moved into it, I think some of the group member felt my book didn’t necessarily connect super well. While I think this is semi true, as my book doesn’t directly address success in the workplace, confidence is super key to achieving that and the authors imply it throughout the book. I think this is why I was able to connect and input my thoughts and ideas during the  discussion. Overall I felt the panel went well as our group was able to hold a cohesive discussion that flowed throughout the 30 mins. 

 Something I wish I was able to talk about more during the panel discussion was the direct correlation of confidence and women. As a topic though, it was hard to tie into the rest of the discussion while still being able to bring it back to something the other panel members could talk about. What I really enjoyed was that at the end of the discussion when there were questions from the audience, I was asked specifically about a topic related to my book that I was able to connect to women and confidence. I found I was easily able to talk on that subject which was something I was worried about. I think what helped was the fact that I went into the panel discussion knowing what the authors talked about in regards to confidence in women, and tricks I can use in my everyday life. I think one of the biggest changes for me that helped with my confidence was simply just a mindset shift. Just by gaining the understanding that I am in charge of my own confidence helped me, as well as understanding that guys tend to overthink things way less. The fact that some rarely even consider what they’re saying before announcing it to an audience made me jealous, why cant I do that? I would be able to share my ideas and get recognized more often. So I used that to shift my mindset into, if the can why can’t I, and it has helped me to speak up in certain situations and I know with practice will be benifitial to me post graduation and in the business world.