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For Imposter Syndrome Sufferers Everywhere: Amol Rajan We Salute You.
May 18, 2021
“10pm last night I had a full-on panic attack. Worked myself into a frenzy, catastrophising about first shift…had 3 massive rums. Got 1 hour kip. Survived.”
For anyone who has ever felt like a fraud just waiting to be found out because they ‘don’t deserve’ their promotion or are just ‘not good enough’ to do their job, the above quote will sound all too familiar.
So, who is it from? A nervous teen about to start their first job? Someone returning to the job market after long term absence? No. It’s a tweet from Amol Rajan; a seasoned journalist who can count being the editor of a national newspaper, the BBC’s first media editor and now one of the lead presenters on BBC Radio4’s flagship Today programme among his many achievements.
His heartfelt and honest tweet is proof that even the most outwardly confident and accomplished people can suffer from self-doubt.
When, in 1978, psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes first identified Imposter Syndrome – the idea that you have only succeeded due to luck and not because of talent or qualifications – they theorised that it was a phenomenon most prevalent in high achieving women.
But in reality, Imposter Syndrome has no bias for gender and subsequent literature suggests that 70% of the US population has experienced it at some point in their career.
While the root causes may be myriad – such as familial factors, behavioural bias towards perfectionism, external pressures such as being different to your peers – the resulting feeling is self-limiting.
The first step to overcoming Imposter syndrome is to realise just how many people suffer from it and how quickly you will elicit a ‘me too’ if you broach the topic.
And at Pumpkin, it’s something we look at when coaching leaders in how to handle presentations and interviews with the media.
We always take time to remind clients that they are the experts – no matter how nervous they may feel.
We work with them to shape a meaningful narrative they can deliver in their authentic voice.
We help them identify when a question has been successfully answered and how not to be nudged into saying something they may later regret.
We give them permission to not always know the answer – but to ensure full and timely follow-up.
We give them handy insider tricks of the trade to buy time to craft an answer or to confidently move the conversation on.
And we maintain the conversation and follow-up. Every opportunity is an opportunity to test and learn.
So, thank you Amol Rajan, for your honesty and the insight it will give so many people who are just waiting to be ‘found out’.
Your Today programme debut was a triumph, and while I might not recommend our clients down 3 massive rums before a presentations or interview, they can raise a collective virtual glass to you for showing that even the best of us have self-doubts, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve to do what you do.
Maureen Corish