Reinvention
The impostor syndrome - where you feel like a fraud despite all your achievements and accomplishments - is something that the New York Times has written about quite extensively.
Every one of these articles views the impostor syndrome as a weakness that you need “overcome” by giving yourself a pep talk in the mirror, but what if we flip this phenomenon on its head? That knowing what we don’t know is not a sign of weakness, but a strength to seek knowledge and collaboration? That it’s exactly this kind of mindset that leads to you pushing against any professional box or ceiling to learn new skills as part of your long-term career arc?
We launched a podcast! Episode 2 of the Crossover Connections Podcast talks about the hidden costs of innovation - from telescopes to microscopes. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or watch the video version on YouTube.
Let’s keep talking about the impostor syndrome today, but not just dealing with it, instead leveraging it, exploiting it even, to push our professional learning in a positive direction. This week I’m going to be comparing my framework against the New York Times “How to overcome impostor syndrome” guide. Their first tip recommends that you make a list of at least 10 things that show you are just as qualified as anyone else for the role you’re seeking, or working in now. Try to find evidence that you’re less qualified than anybody else, and see if there is something that makes you more qualified even. I think this is a really helpful strategy for self affirmation, but we can do one better.
On top of the 10 things you can already do, think of 5 that you’d like to be able to do. Odds are many of these are just an extension of your existing skillset, and all you need to do is to have a grasp of the vocabulary and different contexts you can apply those skills in and voila - you’ll know as much about it as anyone in a short amount of time using stage 1 of the uncertainty framework - over and over again:
The Googleables - background research you should be constantly doing in your own time in online discussion forums, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. The more you understand about the parameters of the problems you’re facing at work, the more intentional you can be with how you spend your time at work.
The second recommendation in the New York Times guide is to own your accomplishments. Be proud of them, and don’t try to explain them away with pure luck or help from others. Most jobs tend to reward employees for past performance, with the hope that it predicts the upwards trajectory of future outcomes, so the more you can own your accomplishments, the more opportunities you’ll have to learn new things. This is when stage 2 of the uncertainty framework comes into play:
The Mentionables - “inside baseball” questions that are contingent on the unwritten rules of social etiquette specific to your immediate professional environment. You should learn to become comfortable mentioning these topics with your peers over coffee or a drink to try and learn the ropes in semi-casual situations.
When you are mentioning the possibility of learning new skills to your professional network, put together a pitch - what you’ve done previously, what you’ve been successful at, and why this new skill will bring you, your colleagues, your managers new value, efficiencies, or synergies…
The third recommendation in the New York Times guide about the impostor syndrome talks about the power of visualising and pre-visualising success - precisely how you’ll navigate a situation successfully before it happens. Imagine yourself doing great in the interview, nailing the presentation, publishing the breakthrough paper… or in this case applying the new skill you haven’t yet learnt at the highest level and all the benefits it will bring to you and your organisation. How impactful these accomplishments are perceived to be though, is contingent on stage 3 of the uncertainty framework:
The Untouchables - strategic questions surrounding leadership and vision that affect your whole organisation. These are typically questions that can only be answered by your senior managers, but you should constantly be reflecting on how they align with your current role and your professional values overall
If you’re still relatively new to your current role, it is unlikely that you will have the cachet or career capital to ask your manager about these “untouchable” questions. The main thing that matters at this point is understanding how your current task, role, or project fits into the bigger picture. The opportunity to learn new skills is not a given, or a right in every workplace, so you need to put together the pitch for why your manager should give you these learning opportunities.
Have you already taken advantage of every free workshop or information session that the company offers?
Have you already spoken to the people in your organisation with this skillset, and assessed if it’ll be viewed as diminishing returns if you develop that same skillset?
Have you already visualised the new applications for these skills that are unique to your role and context, and why this combination redefines you, making you even rarer and more valuable?
If you follow the 3-stage uncertainty framework multiple times, learning new skills and reinventing yourself over and over again, this will ultimately lead you to phase 3 - levelling up. More on this next week.
Talk soon,
Jack.
If you’re interested in careers in science and technology - super competitive fields that require multifaceted skills - you may be interested in this video “How to reinvent yourself this year” - leveraging the impostor syndrome to learn new skills as part of your current role.
