Confidence at work often drops when the situation changes, not the person. A new manager, a restructure or a bigger remit can remove every signal that told you that you were doing well. Here is how to tell the difference, why pushing through can backfire, and how evidence rebuilds confidence.

You do not become a leader on the day somebody changes your job title. The evidence has usually been forming for years, in decisions nobody was scoring at the time: whether you spoke up when something wasn't working, how you behaved under real pressure, and whether you helped someone else think a problem through instead of solving it for them. That accumulation of ordinary judgement, made long before any promotion arrives, is what actually builds leadership people are willing