25+ Books to Boost Your Career Confidence

Whether you’re new to your workplace or a seasoned veteran of your industry, feeling completely confident in your career can be difficult. Sometimes, when you’re doubting yourself, no one can get through to lift you back up.

When you’re unsure of yourself and need a pick-me-up, there’s nothing like a good book to bring you back from the brink. 

These books, penned by experts in their fields, will set you on the right track and give you the confidence you need.

Table of Contents

Can You Really Learn How to Be Confident From a Book?

If you're skeptical about a single book helping you battle lifelong low self-esteem and anxieties around yourself and your career, we hear you!

However, confidence can be learned.

Just like learning anything, improving your self-image and self-acceptance comes from dedicated, continuous work. Unlike learning about rocket science or history, grappling with your weaknesses will require vulnerability, self-acceptance, and some painful self-discovery. 

However, doing the definitive work on your lack of confidence will cause a huge ripple effect, touching every aspect of your life. So, let's leave the negative thoughts behind. Let's learn how to replace them with some self-loving mantras and affirmations. 

The Best Confidence-Building Books

If you're not ready to read the entire list, here are our favorite books about confidence. Scroll down to see our full list of the best 25+ books about building and maintaining confidence in every facet of your life. 

These self-confidence books can help you fill the confidence gap and take control of your life.

The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self Assurance - What Women Should Know

Before writing The Confidence Code, Claire Shipman and Kitty Kay worked as journalists with access to successful women from a variety of industries. After having the chance to talk to so many women, Shipman, an ABC News reporter, and Kay, an anchor for BBC, discovered that a vast majority faced crippling self-doubt.

They battled the emotional pull of their home lives while trying to climb the ladder and be successful at work, only to be bypassed by their male coworkers.

Shipman and Kay sat down for dinner one night and decided to write the book to share the secrets of confidence in the workplace. They discuss “imposter syndrome” and the feeling that you’re just never good enough.

They researched the psychological reasons that men project more confidence than women and how people can learn to develop self-assurance as a skill, rather than a personality trait. If you’re tired of second-guessing yourself, this book will show you exactly how to do it.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking 

Susan Cain’s New York Times Bestseller, Quiet: The Power of Introverts In a World That Can’t Stop Talking explores the disparity between introverts and extroverts in the workplace and society, along with the idea that introverts are somehow inferior.

Cain did extensive research on biology, psychology, neuroscience, and evolution and found introversion to be a commonality that many creatives throughout history shared.

Cain considers the idea that extroverts are more valuable than introverts to be a great diversity issue in the workplace. She believes that introverts are not given the same opportunities as extroverts because our culture favors extroverted personalities.

Cain explores the difference in temperament from every angle from brain chemistry to personal relationships. If you’re interested in psychology and how different personalities function best in work and life, you’ll be intrigued by Cain’s work.

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No Hard Feelings: Emotions at Work (And How They Help Us Succeed) 

There are so many good things about this book by the popular duo Liz + Mollie that it's hard to know where to start.

If you've ever had an "emotional" day at work or wondered how your emotions play a role in your success, confidence, and more—then you will thoroughly enjoy this read.

The modern workplace can be an emotional minefield, filled with confusing power structures and unwritten rules. We're expected to be authentic, but not too authentic.

Professional, but not stiff. Friendly, but not an oversharer. Easier said than done! Drawing on what Liz + Mollie learned from behavioral economics, psychology, and their own experiences at countless organizations, they'll show you how to bring your best self (and your whole self) to work every day.

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Power Moves: How Women Can Pivot, Reboot, and Build a Career of Purpose

Even before we were in the midst of a global COVID-19 pandemic that was forcing every single person to re-examine their career, looking for career advice that addressed job searching and career development without being a boring read was...hard.

Power Moves, written by Career Contessa's CEO, Lauren McGoodwin, offers the exact advice we need right now. She covers pivots, reboots, inner critics, money, self-care, and taking the "ick" out of networking.

According to McGoodwin, a "Power Move" is an intentional action, decision, behavior that helps you build a successful and fulfilling career on your terms.

Anyone is capable of making a Power Move, creating their own Power Moves approach, and building the habits that lead to success. My favorite part of Power Moves is that McGoodwin provides actionable, practical Power Moves you can try today in each section. 

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The Making of a Manager

In her first book, The Making Of a Manager: What To Do When Everyone Looks To You, Julie Zhuo Facebook’s first intern, shares insights about what it’s like to become a first-time manager and how to navigate the tricky landscape when everyone is looking to you for answers.

Zhuo also tackles various management scenarios with actionable tips and stories from her own experience for getting through them. Whether you're new to the job, a veteran leader, or looking to be promoted, this is the handbook you need to be the kind of manager you wish you had.

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