Filed under: Authenticity, Colleagues, Creativity, Culture, Emotion, Management, Professionalism
I’ve written a lot about imposter syndrome over the years.
How it’s ability to debilitate can be all consuming and how some have found a way to use that to keep moving them forward – even if it hurts.
But one thing that is rarely discussed in terms of imposter syndrome are those who don’t suffer from a lack of confidence, but have too much of it.
The one’s who act like they’re always right.
Know more than others.
Are better than all.
I once met a planner who told me he was advising his client to get rid of the people they were working with, because they could do it better.
Except the people they were referring to were an architectural firm and they were designing a bloody airport.
No joke.
We all know these people. Or have come into contact with them.
But rarely do we refer to them as suffering imposter syndrome, even though that is exactly what they do.
And while it is easy to sympathise more with those who are paralysed by imposter syndrome than those who are emboldened by it, the reality is they both are dangerous and leave terrible scars. The only difference being one is held back by the weight of pressure they place on themselves whereas the other affects those who have to engage with individuals overflowing with overconfidence.
Imposter Syndrome is an equal employer destroyer.