What is imposter syndrome?

Everyone experiences imposter syndrome. There’s always going to be a situation where you feel out of your element. Especially when big changes are happening. Because I work in a startup, things are changing all the time. I always feel out of my element, every day is a brand new unknown.

If you handle it poorly

In an IC role, imposter syndrome can cause you to get stuck in analysis paralysis. That voice in the back of your mind saying “what if they find out I’m not good enough?” It can affect your ability to focus and get your work done, and it could impact people on your team.

As a manager, your leverage is increased, and that cuts both ways. If you’re still not handling your imposter syndrome well, that impacts your work, your team, and the other managers you interact with regularly. That can affect the outcomes that other teams are driving towards.

A worse, and more toxic potential outcome is the bozo explosion. Managers that don’t believe in themselves, and keep trying to hide it, won’t hire people that improve the organization because they see those hires as a potential threat to their position. This leads to a series of worse and worse hires that can put a department or the company as a whole in a tailspin.

How do I handle it?

Imposter syndrome can create a feeling of isolation and shame. Outwardly it seems like everyone is doing just fine and you’re the only one struggling.

Lately I’ve been watching a lot of business content on YouTube and Alex Hormozi’s content keeps coming up in my feed. I don’t agree with everything he says, but I really like how he says “shame only exists in the shadows.” So when I feel imposter syndrome creeping up again, I make sure to check in with my team. Because I know I’m not the only one feeling it. As a team we can support each other, celebrate some of our wins, and look at how far we’ve come over the last year. It helps me and my team to be more at ease with the uncertainty of the situation so we can plan how to handle what’s coming next.

I have a deep love of learning, and for me, imposter syndrome is just an uncomfortable sign that it’s time to do more learning and growing. To grow with a growing company, you have to become more comfortable with the certainty that uncertainty will keep coming back.

Rule #1: talk to your team

When big changes are on the horizon, I try to get ahead of it by talking with my team. I let them know that changes are coming or we’re about to attempt something that hasn’t been done before. I like to say “if it was easy, someone else would have done it already.” Along the way we might run into challenges, certain aspects might feel impossible, but what’s important is that we keep lines of communication open and keep asking questions. If we combine all our brain power, we can figure it out. If they get stuck, they can talk to each other, or to me. We can work together to make sure we’re not overcome by fear.

Lean in to that feeling of imposter syndrome and discuss it openly. By providing a forum for people to feel psychologically safe expressing their concerns, you can take power away from the fear, and give that power back to your team.

If you’re still stuck on how to talk to your team, just watch JFK describe why America must go to the moon. Doing what is hard is the path to growth.