As I walked into my new office, on that cold Monday morning, I realised there was only a tiny corner where I wasn’t visible, through the internal windows, to everyone else in the main open-plan office. I shut the office door and manoeuvred myself so I couldn’t be seen. Taking deep breaths to try to stop my heart leaping out of my chest, I asked myself … “Oh God, what have I done?”

At that moment I knew I wasn’t prepared … I wasn’t ready and I wasn’t experienced enough to be doing the job I had been given. The previous Friday I had left my desk in the open-plan office and today I was in the corner office. I knew nothing had changed over the weekend and any minute now someone would notice.

That was over twenty years ago but I haven’t forgotten that moment.

I have got used to the feeling of not being entirely confident …

I now recognise it as the precursor of great opportunities to come. The feeling of fear and excitement are the same, it is just what you label them that makes the outcome different.

My team of professional actors at ‘Partners With You’ have taught me their techniques to look and sound more confident. And I have trained with a number of experts working in the field of Neuroscience, to better understand what is actually going on in our brains and how to affect our behaviours and reactions.

Combined with this I have a lifetime of clients and colleagues who have taught me as much as I have been able to show them and of course the myriad of people whose paths have crossed mine. And to all of them I am grateful.

This book is an amalgamation of everything I have learnt and I’d love to share my knowledge, experience and expertise with you!

Sally Hindmarch