Exposed: Feeling Like a Pretender

By Susan Flansburg

When I started out as a freelance advertising/marketing/PR strategist and writer, #&$%^&* years ago, I was sure I’d be exposed as a fraud.

Who was I to claim I knew more than the next person about … anything?

Although I’ve built a successful career in this field, back then I was sure someone would challenge my worth or my expertise.

Sound familiar? Probably. “Imposter Syndrome” affects up to 70% of people at some point in their lives. 

Here’s a quiz to take to find out if you have it.

Young women are especially vulnerable. I try to counter it whenever I have the chance, whether with the university students I meet or with colleagues and clients.

I try to help them see they have earned – and deserve – their accomplishments. We all should.

Some Iowa State University engineering students – women – recently told me their male peers believed the women were getting job offers just because they were female. If that isn’t enough to trigger Imposter Syndrome, I don’t know what is. 

Helping young women manage the fear that they’re not good enough is a job for everyone. And it’s not just the young who face it.

I recently had a brush with Imposter Syndrome again myself, while exhibiting at a conference I had attended as a member for 17 years. I had never pitched my strategic communications services to this group. But I took a deep breath, and guess what? Everyone was welcoming and solicitous. I ended up having a fantastic time.

If I hadn’t gone, I wouldn’t have had a chance to meet Joan Chittister, a spectacular speaker, author and moral compass. (That’s Joan, in the above picture … sitting at her own table!)

Next time, I’ll believe I belong, too.  

How about you?

Seth Godin riffed on Imposter Syndrome in a recent podcast. As usual, Seth’s take was different from others. He said we will always feel like imposters - pretenders - when we first do or begin anything, because it hasn’t been done before (or at least not by us). Seth has been a source of wisdom and information for me for years, most recently in an online marketing seminar.