Much is spoken of imposter syndrome these days, but when we start to explore it, it is much more complex than just a simple label.
Broadly speaking imposter syndrome refers to the sense of being less entitled to what everyone is doing or experiencing at the time, perhaps even fraudulent in one’s social/organisational position. At it’s very worst it can make one feel one is effectively doing things under false pretences or “faking”, with anxieties of being discovered.
It can happen to anyone, and is associated with anxiety, self-doubt, erosion of self-image, second-guessing oneself and avoidable stress. It interferes with forming a reasonable appraisal of ones qualities, juxtaposed with the environments they are presented in.
Those of you who know me know that “syndromising” is not my style. I believe there’s an overuse of pseudo-illness type terminology, which fills consulting rooms but achieves little else. The truth is this issue appears nowhere in diagnostic criteria although can be subsumed under anxiety disorders, social phobias, and the like. The reality is there are multiple realities and ethics demand we have a real debate about this.
Just as Nietzsche highlighted the value of declaring what we consider our worst qualities as perhaps our best, my view of the imposter phenomenon is that it is actually a healthy sign. Here are a few thoughts around this:
Firstly, there is desire that things in life should be pleasant, and you should have a progressively upward vector of confidence and competency as you proceed through life gaining wisdom and expertise. However desirable, this is a false notion. Careers do not proceed in this way and often people have to transfer their skills across sectors. As you gain experience through life, if anything, the world is less certain than it was with simpler, less informed understandings of it. That state of awareness has its attendant stresses. Secondly, we live in a world that celebrates extroversion however many people are primarily introvert and have their right to be heard, participate and influence. Indeed, we all have extrovert/introvert tendencies and these manifest themselves in context specific ways. The ‘party animal’ may struggle with the presentation and vice versa. Some people get their energy from the people around them, others from within, we are all different. Our introversion tendencies, tend to make us more self-reflective and sensitive to the perceptions of others. In some situations, this may be a positive advantage but equally in others it can paralyse. Conscience and confidence are often context dependent. Next, no one likes to be rejected – avoiding it is programmed into us. Yet putting yourself out there, perhaps coming up with a view that is at odds with others, is the way thinking develops and new paradigms of understanding are born. We have an evolutionary fear of rejection, at more primitive times it affects our survival prospects, but in a modern world, ‘disruption’ is celebrated, but we have to surmount concerns as to what other people think in order to be truly free to be a disruptor. Finally, there is no one reality. In a diverse world with multiple perspectives, we are going to get people who will agree and disagree with this. Equally, if our role and function in an organisation, family or community is to simply ‘fit in’ then we never need to put ourselves out there in ways that will get noticed. We simply become ‘friends of fog’, followers looking for a leader, never leaders ourselves. It then becomes axiomatic that the experience what we call colloquially “imposter syndrome” actually involves courageous people with views and ideas, seek to advocate these, advance thinking and self-promote whilst running the risk of rejection and having to balance a perfectly natural fear of failure that is so present in people as to be commonplace not pathological.
In my view, when people feel perhaps they should not be where they are, it is to recognise the opportunities the modern world brings. We no longer exist in a purely rules-based world wherein doing the time, working through the ranks and accepting ritual and convention as a way to expand our careers and social standing. Radically different views, new ways, need styles of presentation that often challenge people, businesses, societies and cultures in ways that we have never previously seen. That sense of not necessarily being entitled to be there, calls into question our value fundamentally as improved human rights and increased opportunities to be socially mobile in systems that were once made for only the compliant, privileged few. The fact that we expose ourselves to challenges that are a personal stretch or brings challenge to an organisational culture that has had traditional rites of passage, is bound to render us in situations where we must rely more upon on our own internal resources, whilst finding external ones upon which we can rely.
So here it is, imposter syndrome may not be a “syndrome” as such, but may be a reflection of modern social mobility, a move away from traditional rule-based meritocratic thinking into a modern world that has greater opportunity for all. Those who seek to exploit it by improving their careers, challenging previous oppression or simply wishing to define themselves as different, will inevitably have attendant anxieties when challenging norms both within themselves and within the social systems they engage with.
It’s like a lot of things I have found in the personal development and coaching field – if you hope to feel confident and competent and don’t get that, it’s probably a sign that you are facing challenges and growing!
Give me, any day, the uncertain person who with humility proceeds anyway, challenges thinking, speaks the truth clearly, represents change and perhaps hopes nobody notices the tremor in their voice or perhaps that flushing around the throat! Sure, if their experience is horribly disabling due to uniquely personal issues there is help. My real concern however lies in ensuring we create within organisations cultural changes that truly promote high support where there is high challenge. Changes which recognise that people putting themselves out there, need support, acceptance, great feedback, which welcome debate, celebrate difference and eschew stereotypes!