Leave it to a powerful woman to tell it like it is. The great real estate tycoon Barbara Corcoran excoriates a young entrepreneur on the TV show Shark Tank. The only thing he needs, she says, is a bit more humility.
I was in your shoes, with wild enthusiasm, wanting to be the queen of New York real estate when I was 22 years old. What was so important in my journey to make it wasn’t my optimism, which I had in spades, but it was the self doubt and the insecurity I felt all along the way, that made me pause and think, “Oh my god, I better be careful. Can I do it? How will I make it? Who do I use? Who do I trust?” My judgment card built my business. You’re a wild-ass, enthusiastic entrepreneur. Very capable. You’ve got a great product. All that’s fine, but you’re missing the self-doubt card.
(Thanks, Ruthie Warshenbrot, for showing me this great quote!)
What is this “self-doubt” card? Is it the same thing as shame? The truth is, we could all use a little bit of self-doubt, but none of us needs to be swallowed up by it. I think that’s what I’m trying to get at in my ELI talk. I think there’s a middle ground, and I’m eager to be around people who are living in that muddled middle, trying our best to be useful in the world.
Rabbi Abby Sosland 
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