Quiet confidence has fewer enemies because it needs fewer comparisons.

Comparison generates opposition. If your sense of yourself depends on being ahead, every peer becomes a threat and eventually behaves like one, because people can feel when they are being measured. Confidence that does not need the ranking simply produces fewer conflicts.

Pay attention to how often you position yourself relative to others in conversation, even subtly. Try a week of describing your work without reference to anyone else’s. The reduction in friction is usually noticeable.