Louise Mathias is a barrister (lawyer – think wig and gown), mediator (Harvard), and Founder of The Confident Leader Blueprint. She is also a certified leadership coach and consultant in high-performance, emotional intelligence, and dare-to-lead methodologies.
With a passion for demolishing obstacles and questioning convention, Louise's non-conformist approach and her ability to triumph over significant obstacles unveil a story of resilience, continuous growth, and success. (Before entering law, she managed specialist medical practices, teams, and businesses and had other diverse roles).
Louise is dedicated to integrating emotional intelligence and the latest conflict resolution techniques to enhance the enjoyment and success of participants. Her goal is to uplift leaders' mindsets, performance, and routines so they confidently lead, make decisions more quickly, sharpen their clarity, and communicate with influence with "The Confident Leader Blueprint,” using high-performance strategies validated by respected leaders, Olympians, and celebrities.
Louise empowers her clients through a blend of High Performance, Emotional Intelligence, Dare To Lead, and Harvard methodologies, engineering not just external success that everyone admires but profound internal confidence, which supports high performance over the long term while optimising well-being, outcomes and fulfilment.
Her goal for the Confident Leader Blueprint is to transform conflict resolution with EQ and the latest proven high-performance practices AND boost 5000 leaders, lawyers, barristers, and businesses' performance (and results) Australia-wide and internationally in the next ten years.
Louise Mathias, The Confident Leader Blueprint
You have debunked the myth that leadership (and life) success hinges mainly on a supportive upbringing, attending the right school, having an impeccable head start, and then getting the right opportunities to become a leader and work in a leadership role. Can you tell us more about that.
In leadership, business, and life success, we often hear stories of extraordinary financial achievements, millions of followers, getting promoted to a leadership role and all of the external measurements of success. However, we rarely see or hear about the struggles behind success.
My success started with challenge (I promise this relates to you). I grew up in high conflict, in an unsupportive environment, led by parents who had an authoritarian leadership style that taught me vividly what NOT to do.
Bad leadership significantly negatively impacted my self-esteem, communication and conflict resolution skills, and ability to navigate social dynamics. It left me struggling to express my emotions, except for anger.
The ‘How NOT to Lead & How NOT to Resolve Conflict” curriculum was impactful.
I now realise that my past experiences are my secret weapon.
Rather than weighing me down, they have served as a compass and driver for personal development, growth, and improvement.
My ability to detect poor leadership practices (mindset obstacles and beliefs), power imbalances, poor or avoidant communication, and low emotional intelligence gives me a unique advantage in navigating people and situations.
Experiencing adversity has taught me the importance of confident leadership routines, habits, and emotional intelligence in successful conflict resolution and leadership.
The world doesn't spare the Louise Mathias' of the world; it can transform them into successful individuals inside and out.
It's essential to take a moment to reflect on your internal narrative. This includes the lies you tell yourself about your past and present circumstances or yourself. It's common to think that things will never get better, to feel stuck and uncertain, that you’re not good enough or intelligent enough, or that you don’t have the right opportunities.
Now, analyse these thoughts; what does the evidence prove – are your thoughts verifiable? What evidence can you find to debunk your automatic, habitual thinking and beliefs? (‘evidence’ – it’s the lawyer in me). Will your thoughts and emotions carry you to your desired life and leadership success? What thoughts, beliefs and actions would make you a role model?
Did you ever think you’d be a successful Barrister (lawyer), Mediator (Harvard), and Founder of The Confident Leader Blueprint – Leadership Coach and Consultant?
No, I was a high school dropout, suffering from high-functioning depression until my early 30s.
Did I want more? Absolutely, I knew I could do more; I could be more even though I had failed in the past.
I wanted to feel more energised and in control of my thought processes and emotions, to lead myself with confidence and courage, and not be held hostage by fear and self-doubt.
I had to decide, and I had a choice – don’t do anything different, avoid not moving to the next level and stay where I was, living small, depressed, not reaching my full potential, which would be a certain outcome or take a look into the future and see a better future for myself, becoming a more confident and competent person, and that required taking risks and different action.
I realised time goes by whether we’re making changes or not, so I decided to prioritise getting outside my comfort zone, to radically rewire my mindset and manage my emotions, saying no more to fear, self-doubt, lack of confidence and choosing to feel more joyful, fulfilled and confident.
When I had practised and got better at mastering my inner game, I was willing (and able) to take more significant risks and set larger goals, such as starting to study law.
Once I decided to give this new chapter, starting to study law, my best, I kept pushing forward with routines, habits, and actions to achieve my goals because I desired more, and it began with a bold decision. These are the primary reasons for my achievement in becoming a lawyer and then a barrister (in Australia with the UK Model).
What would you like to feel, be, think, do and achieve in six months or a year? Would you pursue mastering your inner game, upskilling in leadership or conflict resolution skills, improving your relationships or health, becoming an influential communicator, getting more clarity, decreasing distractions and increasing productivity, or something else? Success, joy and satisfaction always live on the other side of your biggest challenges.
It requires you to master your inner game and take different bold actions.
Then, in 2014, I had a wake-up call that turned my world upside down. For me, it was these four words:
“Louise, you have breast cancer.”
As a resilient woman, I had been used to being the strong one for a long time. I pride myself on my work ethic and ability to lead and show up for others. I learned that this would stop for one year to undergo surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation.
It wasn’t the first time I had faced my mortality, but this time, it was different; this was out of my control:
Was this it?
What’s essential in my life?
Whose idea of success am I trying to live up to anyway?
How would I lead myself (and others) through this uncertainty and change?
How will I treat people and communicate in ways I don’t later regret?
Do I want to continue working as a litigation barrister or focus solely on mediation and helping others lead confidently?
Time is our most precious possession, and we can’t ever get more time (we can always make money).
I invite you to, at some point soon, face your mortality and contemplate the uncertainty and impermanence of life for you and those who are important to you (nothing stays the same) so that you move forward and intentionally design your life and leadership to live without regrets.
I’ve seen so many leaders, lawyers, barristers, businesses and organisations spend their precious time focusing on improving technical skills, working and hustling and expecting 24/7 commitment from themselves and others, people glued to their phones, on their laptops, distracted with little time for family and friends, and focused solely on climbing the ladder and feeling guilty when they took a vacation or slow down to rest and recover.
Then, they question why...
There are so many leaders, lawyers, barristers and business owners with mental health issues not having been taught how to manage stress, overwhelmed, with mindset limitations, and they turn to substance and alcohol abuse and just surviving, not thriving, which impacts performance and profits.
I have watched (and experienced first-hand) people working with low morale, dealing with high stress and working in disempowering, bullying environments, with knee-jerk reactionary, stressed-out, authoritarian, positional leaders who lack empathy and long-term vision even though they have excellent technical skills. Still, they have never been trained in the human skills of leadership. Can you relate?
I decided to change direction (again) and follow my passions: improve conflict resolution to incorporate EQ and human skills, boost the number of high-performing confident leaders and businesses with leadership coaching, consulting (and education), and create a ripple effect over time.
I wanted to use my precious time, diverse skills, energy and expertise to help leaders, lawyers, and barristers (and businesses) get the right things done as the best version of themselves, master their inner game and learn proven tools, habits and strategies to minimise stress, overwhelm and burnout and maximise performance, profits and success in conflict resolution, leadership and business.
Research shows emotional intelligence and high performance are fundamental skills for leaders and conflict resolvers: confidence, career impact, work quality and satisfaction. It’s for those who want to be more and positively impact many people, not staying stuck as an entry-level ‘leader’ relying on technical skills alone.
Suppose you aim to be a confident, influential leader and conflict resolver. In that case, you have to stand up for what you believe in and push yourself and others beyond the ‘wall of willingness’ (even if you and others fail when you try new things) because you, as a leader, have to envision a compelling, different and vibrant short and long-term future vision that you may be uncertain about how exactly you’ll get there.
When you take steps to improve, show up as your best, and work towards your best future version of yourself, you will break through and get momentum, confidence and energy, and that’s irreplaceable.
Are you saying to yourself, “I can’t keep up the pace, “ or “There’s got to be a better way”, or “I don’t want to sacrifice everything to be successful in my career/leadership” I’m here to say to you, you’re RIGHT there is a better way.
How Do We Boost Performance: Mindset, Productivity, Clarity, Energy, Communication, Purpose, Happiness and Conflict Resolution Skills and Results?
The name The Confident Leader provides a clue.
Confident: Confidence is what you get when you start taking bold action and making changes (it's cumulative). When you try something new and get stuck, you decide you will be courageous (and borrow it from your past if need be) and now you're in the confidence game because you continue to take bold action, make mistakes, learn, iterate, on your way to mastery.
The buck stops with you to confidently challenge self-doubt, scepticism, your use of your time and responsibilities and your commitment to more. As harsh as it sounds, no one is coming to save you. You are responsible for overcoming obstacles and getting your best results.
Of course, you need other people, but in the words of Stephen Covey, “Change – real change comes from the inside out.”
Leader: Most people don’t identify themselves as a “leader” unless it’s written into their role, even though leadership is a human skill, a practice, it’s not a title. I’ve seen many early career professionals and individual contributors project more influence than their leaders.
The best leaders are the ones who are working towards mastering self-leadership and learning how to become influential leaders by shifting their perspectives, mindsets and communication skills. They don’t wait for a promotion to step up.
They practice self-leadership and know that their level of success is directly proportional to the value they add to their team or organisation (or family and friends) and the number of people they impact as a result.
The good news for you is that I discovered the scientifically proven methodologies that boost your performance and results, and they form the foundation for the Confident Leader Blueprint. I utilised High-Performance Emotional Intelligence and Dare to Lead principles in my transformation to guarantee their success. And my reputation depends on their success.
I had to come to the realisation (after wasting 15 years reading books and taking no different action) that there is a big difference between reading books on leadership, human skills and conflict resolution in an attempt to boost your mindset, skills and, habits and having a high-performance emotional intelligence and dare to lead coach and consultant by your side who is trained to lift you, who's there with you step by step, who has the perspective, and, frankly, the skills to rattle you out of that mediocre place.
That mediocre place can feel like a cage or like a trap, or like it’s just not enough, or it’s too much to handle because you have to believe there are so many great things in your life, leadership, business and conflict resolution practices that you could have if you had the right help to guide you there.
The Confident Leader Blueprint helps you get clarity, pushes you to the next level, challenges your limiting beliefs and thoughts, helps you treat and communicate with people as an influential role model, and how to boost your productivity, focused on meaningful pursuits as you rise to your best self: a high performing leader.
Here's the other booster: congruence. There's the starting level of keeping yourself congruent with who you know you are now. There's a whole other level to challenge you to think bigger, to think better to DO and BE better, getting you back on track and in the right place quickly.
You are challenged, supported, and cheered on at an accelerated pace in The Confident Leader Blueprint. Otherwise, you'll do it when convenient, and nothing will ever change. You'll prioritise ease over your impact when it's easy for you.
When you’re trying so hard to achieve something meaningful without a leadership specialist to talk it through, brainstorm, listen, and reflect at that level, you will struggle to get to the next level (otherwise, you would already be there, just sayin’)
Accomplishing things alone can feel lonely, especially at the top. And that's what most people fear - being alone, lonely, unaccepted, or not belonging and unable to be vulnerable with people.
If you had The Confident Leader Blueprint at your side to give you remarkable energy every week or two, to help re-fire your clarity and confidence, and to boost your performance action and results to the next level. That would be worth it.
That’s why The Confident Leader Blueprint methodologies are so powerful.
You can unlock your leadership and conflict resolution potential and optimise performance and outcomes with The Confident Leader Blueprint:
🚀High Performance, confident leadership coaching & consulting: Elevate your performance mindset, EQ, clarity, communication and results through personalised coaching and consulting.
🚀Legal mediation and workplace disputes: Navigate complex conflict resolution easier with EQ, ensuring a collaborative, safe environment and optimal results.
🚀 Courses and CPDs: Stay ahead in the ever-changing leadership business and conflict resolution landscape with curated programs empowering you with the latest strategies.
🚀Speaking engagements: As a sought-after speaker, amplify your event, workshops and lunch and learn success.
As someone who has embarked on a lifelong journey of self-leadership mastery, I have made my fair share of mistakes, learned valuable lessons, tried and failed many times, and overcome significant obstacles to create my success.
This lifelong pursuit of continuous improvement focused on taking bold action has enabled me to achieve more goals than I ever thought possible.
The good news is that you don't have to go through the same trial-and-error process, the mistakes, taking the time to discover what works and experience the failures like I did.
I have already done the hard work, made the mistakes, learned from them and succeeded, so you don't have to waste your precious time, money and energy traversing the same path.
