New Book, Contagious Confidence, Reveals How Purposeful Leadership Builds Belief and Drives Performance

The ultimate performance variable isn’t strategy or resources. It’s confidence.

Organisations around the globe are operating against a backdrop of significant uncertainty and volatility. Leaders are being asked to deliver more ambitious agendas with the same – or fewer – people and resources. So what can leaders do to convert an ambitious agenda into reality without risking burnout for themselves or their team?

For leadership coach and award-winning author Julie Smith, the answer is to unleash a confidence contagion. This is the idea at the heart of her new book, Contagious Confidence: A leader’s guide to building belief and powering performance (Practical Inspiration Publishing, 23rd June 2026). Smith shows how team members are highly attuned to signals from those in authority, absorbing and mirroring what they pick up. Every leader is already spreading belief or doubt, whether they intend to or not. Contagious Confidence shows them how to lead in a way that purposefully builds belief – and powers performance.

Drawing on her 15-year corporate career with Mars and PepsiCo and on her experience coaching executives and their teams since founding leadership consultancy Talent Sprout in 2010, Smith outlines a practical three-part toolkit that helps leaders unlock exceptional performance.

Part one invites leaders to reflect on the ways in which their own self-trust and self-doubt impact confidence within their team. Smith illustrates how confidence saboteurs, such as perfectionism and ‘comparisonitis’ quietly create a contagion of doubt if they are left unexamined. Part two explores how leaders can deepen individual confidence: how to empower rather than rescue, how to offer the right blend of support and stretch, and how to help under-confident yet brilliant team members to see their strengths more clearly. Part three turns to collective confidence and concrete ways to build a strong shared sense of ‘we’ve got this’ through psychological safety, clear direction, skilful collaboration and embedded feedback habits.

Woven throughout are 50 Contagious Confidence Tools. Simple, yet powerful, these help belief-building leaders translate ideas into everyday practice – from personal reflection exercises and easy-to-run team activities to resources that support the implementation of new behaviours. Memorable concepts such as ‘Taking the Monkey’ – Smith’s vivid frame for the moment a leader unknowingly takes ownership away from a team member – help leaders to see themselves on the page, deepening awareness and sparking action.

Grounded in research, first-hand coaching experience and real-world stories, Contagious Confidence makes a practical and persuasive case: belief-building leaders spark exceptional performance.