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“There’s also diversity and inclusion factors. If you are one of, or a few of, the only people who look or sound like you in your company, then you’re not going to feel as confident because you might not feel like you belong. We’ve got a transient industry, where a lot of people are coming from overseas. Doing business in a different language, and a different culture, can make you feel like you don’t belong.
“Your work is looked at from subjective standards and you are apt to
Aimee Buchanan at GroupM: “We try to spend our whole career glossing over weaknesses, but basi- cally, we are all deeply f lawed human beings..
“When a team understands each other’s strengths and weak- nesses, in a very transparent, real, genuine way, it’s the ‘unlock’ because you suddenly accept those things. Don’t try to hide it or over- compensate for it.
“My gut guidance on that from a leadership point of view is we’ve all got things we’re not good at. And I’ve done it here ... this is the thing I need to work on and this is what I’m hearing from your feedback.
“We’re all flawed. Its acceptance and acknowledgement is growth.
“It’s usually inherent for your entire career. It’s the same one or two things you’re juggling. It’s way better to get that out in the open: ‘Go hold me to account when I’m not practising that properly.’
“That was a massively liberat- ing thing for me, because I felt the anxiety about the things you’re not good at.”
Suzanne Roberts, managing director, VCCP, said: “As a leader, I don’t feel that imposter syndrome has crept up on me throughout my career. This is because I’ve sur- rounded myself with good mentors and role models who nurtured me, giving me positive and negative pointers. And this is something that I implement for my team - to ensure that I build them up and bring in peo- ple who positively contribute to their careers and not hold them back.
“On the flip side, as a junior account handler coming up the ranks, I can see how imposter syn- drome manifests itself from early on.
“Young account team members are expected to sit in meetings and reviews with far more senior peo- ple and specialists and have an opinion on the strategy, creativity, and media. A lot of the time, cre- ativity is subjective and there’s no right or wrong. This can be incred- ibly intimidating.”
Kara Bombell, chief operations officer, Digitas: “Traditionally, women are groomed from birth to be unassuming, to act small, to be invisible. And often, women who challenge that paradigm are made to feel like they ‘take up too much
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judge yourself more harshly, because you’ve got high expectations. Imposter syndrome is very much linked to high achievers and achieve- ment arenas as there’s a lot of pressure to perform.”