Below is a very short but insightful video about why we should lean into impostor syndrome by Harvard professor Arthur Brooks. I’ve written about impostor syndrome before here, but these takeaways are different.
If you’re reading this, you are probably someone who is striving to grow a business and create something of value. Brooks says:
What all strivers I’ve ever met have in common is that the higher they climb, and the more success that they have, the more insecure they feel in their own success because they’re not quite sure that they’ve earned it or deserve it. That’s called imposter syndrome, of course.
As a career transition coach, I have yet to work with a professional who does not experience impostor syndrome from time to time.
Brooks explains that in many cases other people will see what you are doing well and only you will know what isn’t going well, or what you don’t know. Since our brains are wired with a negativity bias, you will naturally focus on the negative and may undervalue or underestimate the positive.
That said, there also will likely be things that you can improve on or learn. Brooks says that experiencing impostor syndrome brings an opportunity for growth:
So what do you do if you have imposter syndrome? The answer is to understand it, keep up to date with it, and keep trying to get better at the things that you’re not good at yet. This is an opportunity. It’s for growth, for becoming the person that you truly want to be.
From the YouTube description:
Why do ambitious “strivers” so often feel they haven’t truly earned their success? Harvard behavioral social scientist and author of “The Happiness Files” Arthur C. Brooks argues that self-doubt is usually evidence of healthy humility—not incompetence—and a clear contrast to the overconfidence of “dark-triad” personalities. Brooks shows executives how to reframe imposter feelings as diagnostic feedback, then “lean in without giving in” by targeting the specific skills and knowledge gaps those feelings reveal, turning discomfort into a disciplined catalyst for growth.
