The Power of Confidence: From 16 to CEO — What Colleen Callander Taught Me About Saying Yes
"I'm not good enough. I'm not old enough. People are better than me."
If you've ever talked yourself out of an opportunity before anyone else had the chance to talk you into it, you'll recognise that voice.
It's the inner critic. And it doesn't care how talented you are, how hard you've worked, or how ready you actually are. It just wants you to stay small.
I recently sat down with the extraordinary Colleen Callander — award-winning CEO, bestselling author, and founder of Mentor Me Women, for one of my favourite conversations on the Bend Like Bamboo podcast.
Colleen spent over 30 years in retail leadership, rising from the shop floor at 16 to CEO of Sportsgirl and Sussan. She has led thousands of people, written three books, and built a platform dedicated to helping women find their confidence.
And in our conversation, she told me a story about the moment she almost said no to all of it.
When opportunity knocks and self-doubt answers the door
At 18, Colleen was offered her first management role. No degree. No formal training. Just two years of showing up and doing the work.
Before her manager had finished the sentence, Colleen had already decided the answer was no.
"I'm not good enough. I'm not old enough. People are better than me."
Her manager Vivian didn't accept it.
She said eight words that changed Colleen's life:
"I believe in you. Now you need to believe in yourself."
But what made those words land, what Colleen was so clear about in our conversation — wasn't the encouragement alone.
It was the commitment underneath them.
I'm going to be here to support you. I will pick you up when you fall over.
That's real belief. That's what changes a life.
Colleen said yes. And went on to lead some of Australia's most loved brands for over three decades.
What this conversation made me reflect on
I have my own version of this story.
In my early 20s I was working on the shop floor at Sportsgirl — customer facing, loving it, comfortable in it, when an opportunity arrived out of nowhere to work with Sabatini Knitwear in their head office.
My immediate response was no.
I can't do that. I don't know how.
My future manager called me directly.
"Yes you can. I will teach you everything. Just say yes."
I said yes. Within a year I had become their Australian Coordinator — working alongside designers and operations teams to get ranges out to stores across Australia. It became one of the most formative experiences of my professional life.
I've thought about that moment often. About how close I came to letting that no stand.
What I understand now — that I couldn't see then — is that the no didn't come from an honest read of my abilities. It came from a nervous system that had learned somewhere along the way that staying in the familiar was safer than stepping forward.
What Colleen and I explored in this conversation
In our podcast episode, Colleen and I went deep on:
Why high-performing women self-sabotage before anyone else gets the chance
The difference between confidence and certainty — and why we've confused them
How confidence is a muscle built through doing, not through waiting to feel ready
The role mentorship plays in giving people permission to believe in themselves
What burnout at 36 taught Colleen about sustainable success and rebuilding differently
Why the foundations we build in our early careers shape everything that follows
Confidence is not certainty. It's the willingness to try.
This is what struck me most from our conversation.
We have collectively built a myth around confidence, that it's a feeling you arrive at before you take the step. That the right time to say yes is when the fear goes quiet.
But the fear doesn't go quiet first.
The evidence comes first. And the evidence only comes from the doing.
Colleen didn't feel confident at 18. She felt terrified. She said yes anyway.
And rep by rep, role by role, year by year, she built the evidence that she could handle it.
That evidence became her foundation.
This is also what I see in my clinical work as a kinesiologist.
When the nervous system is dysregulated, when we're running on cortisol, when the inner critic is loudest, when the body is stuck in low-grade fight or flight, saying yes to growth feels genuinely impossible. Not because we lack courage. Because the nervous system is doing its job of keeping us safe.
But safe and small are not the same thing.
The work of the BAMBOO Method is this, building the inner foundation that allows you to say yes to your life. Not recklessly. Not without discernment. But without letting fear make the decision for you.
The question I keep sitting with
Is there a yes you've been avoiding?
A role you've talked yourself out of. A conversation you haven't started. An opportunity that keeps arriving and keeps getting filed away under not yet.
Vivian didn't just say I believe in you. She said I will be here. I will pick you up when you fall over.
Sometimes we need someone to refuse our no before we'll say yes to ourselves.
This episode is that, for a lot of people.
Listen to my full conversation with Colleen Callander here:
https://www.amandacampbell.com.au/blog/the-power-of-confidence-from-16-to-ceo-at-sportsgirl
If you're ready to start building the foundation that allows you to say yes:
With warmth,
Amanda Campbell
Kinesiologist | Author | Speaker | Founder, Bend Like BambooWHO THIS IS FOR:
✓ CEOs and executives experiencing stress or burnout
✓ People with autoimmune conditions seeking healing and transformation
✓ Leaders wanting to build sustainable high performance
✓ Leaders navigating chronic health challenges while maintaining demanding careers
WORK WITH AMANDA:
HEAL Program (Autoimmune & Stress): www.bendlikebamboo.com/heal-bamboo-method
THRIVE Program (Executive Burnout): www.bendlikebamboo.com/thrive-bamboo-method
Foundations Program (The Bamboo Course): www.bendlikebamboo.com/bamboo-foundation
Free Clarity Call: calendly.com/amanda_campbell_/15min?month=2025-11
Free Resilience Toolkit: www.bendlikebamboo.com/heal-subscribe
Join our Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/680729421231191
The Podcast on iTunes podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-bend-like-bamboo-resilience-podcast/id1536494209
The Podcast on Spotify open.spotify.com/show/3bu07WcTq6VDbzTlK197zw
YouTube youtube.com/@BendLikeBamboo
CONNECT:
Website: bendlikebamboo.com
Instagram: @bendlikebamboo
Facebook: @bendlikebamboo
LinkedIn: amanda-campbell-resilience-coach