Do I really Belong here?

Imposter Syndrome – how to deal with it.

In a business galaxy far away (well in time anyway), there was a young person who had, by luck, or so it seemed to him, to have hit one of life’s jackpots. He had secured a position as a Product Specialist with Medtronic. The company was astonishing to the young person, and quite unlike anywhere else he had previously worked - in a good way! The people were all friendly, optimistic, polite, and all, without exception, seemed intelligent and focused. The young man’s boss was highly educated, inspirational and enthusiastic; the boss’s favourite phrase was “fantastic!” And this is what the young man thought; this really was fantastic. The pay was fantastic (and particularly the company car!), the organisation was fantastic, and the products were well, really…… fantastic.

But for quite some time after the young man had achieved his dream job, there was something that made him feel very anxious. A feeling that he really shouldn’t be there. That he was not qualified for the job. That he was not considered a genuine peer by those who were doing a similar role.

When he attended European meetings, everyone was older and much more experienced than he was. Almost all the people in that business unit had master’s degrees or PhDs in biomedical engineering, whereas he did not. He joked to one colleague that it had taken some time to learn how to spell the word “tachyarrhythmia” to which he received an amused wry smile. The young man wondered whether he would last the intensive training course, or whether he would be accepted by the customer group; one that was known to be one of the most demanding of those in the medical profession; the subset of cardiologists known as electrophysiologists.

That young man, as you have probably guessed, was me (aged 26 and ?). I was suffering from something that is known as “imposter syndrome”. This is a psychological phenomenon (identified by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes), where individuals have persistent feelings of self-doubt, incompetence, and fear of being exposed, maybe as a fraud, or as someone who should not be in the role they are in. This maybe despite significant achievements, capability, or qualifications.

Psychologists have recognized five types of imposter syndrome:

• The Perfectionist: These are people who have high standards and greatly fear making mistakes. They are often overly self-critical.
• The Expert: They can never know enough and seek more knowledge. They downplay their expertise and attribute their achievements to luck or other factors.
• The Natural Genius: They believe that they should be able to achieve with minimal effort. They struggle when they encounter setbacks.
• The Soloist: Believe that they need to accomplish everything on their own, fearing that asking for help will expose their inadequacies.
• The Superhero: They believe they should excel in all areas of life simultaneously, sometimes leading to disappointment and burnout.

The Perfectionist may be helped by them realizing that in most cases “good enough” will be just that. They need to learn that making mistakes is OK and will lead to growth.

The Expert will adapt better by recognizing and internalizing their accomplishments. They should embrace lifelong learning while giving themselves the credit for the knowledge that has brought them to where they are today, while the Natural Genius can seek to understand that true expertise comes from effort, practice and learning from failures.?

The Soloist can improve and mitigate the phenomena by recognizing the importance of collaboration and seek help to achieve this, and the Superhero can improve through understanding that success in one area does not require mastery in all aspects of life.

When I look back on my early days with Medtronic and remember those discomforting feelings of whether I was actually up to the task, I don’t exactly recall which of the above traits applied. Probably a mixture. What I do know was that I was perhaps worried too much about comparison with others - something I have worried less about as I have got older.

I realise now that my then boss had hired me not to be a carbon copy of the other people in the European team, but to hire someone with a commercial edge combined with some technical capability, where, with respect to the latter, good enough really was good enough! The fact that I was different was not seen by him as a negative, it was seen as a positive.??

Knowledge of imposter syndrome and how to mitigate it in our friends and colleagues is a hugely useful skill. Understanding it in ourselves and how to deal with it is essential.

Have you ever suffered from imposter syndrome? How did you mitigate it? Would be really interested to hear your experiences in the comments below.

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