Roundtable: Impostor syndrome

Melita: Hi, listeners! I’m Melita, and I’m the audio editorRedakteur(in)editor of Business Spotlight Audio, and I’m here in the studio today with our editor-in-chiefChefredakteur(in)editor-in-chief, Judi, and two of our editors, Rachel and Richard. Today, we’re talking about impostor syndromeHochstapler-/Impostor- Syndromimpostor syndrome. Now, you might have heard of this. in a nutshellkurz gesagtIn a nutshell, this is the feeling of not being good enough for a job or something that you’ve been asked to do. Does that sound familiar? I know I can relate (to sth.)(etw.) nachvollziehenrelate. What about you, Judi? Is impostor syndrome something you’ve experienced? 

Judi: Well, yeah. I know I’ve been in ­professional situations where I thought, “Oh, no. I have no clueAhnungclue what I’m doing.” And it’s ­really an awful feeling. The first time was when I was working in an Off-Broadwayin New York außerhalb des Broadway aufgeführt/gelegenOff-Broadway theatre in high school in New York, and the stage manager I was working with was also working on another show. And in that show, the lightingBeleuchtunglighting guy (ifml.)Typ, Menschguy, the electrician, got sick right before the premiere and had to drop outausfallendrop out. So, they really needed somebody to replace him fast. And the stage manager asked me if I would do it. And I was like, “Yeah, sure, whatever.” Because at the theatre I was working at, there was a really basic lighting system. And I got to this other theatre, and they had this totally complex lighting system with a real huge lighting console, and I had absolutely no clue at all what to do. None. 

On the outside, I was like, “Yeah, no problem,” even though I was really stuckfestgefahren; hier: perplexstuck and be embarrassedhier: Bedenken habenembarrassed and scared (ifml.)verängstigtscared. And I remember coming back with my father when the theatre was dark, and we sat there, and we figure sth. out (ifml.)etw. verstehen, aus etw. schlau werdenfigured this board out, and he didn’t have a clue either. But we managed to do it, and after that, I run a lot of lights (ifml.)hier: die Beleuchtung oft übernehmenran a lot of lights for ­other shows at other theatres. So, that experience launch sth.etw. startenlaunched a bit of a career for me, and it was fun.

Melita: Well, it’s great that you gave it a give sth. a goetw. versuchengo and perseveredurchhaltenpersevered. I think so often we are actually ­capable of so much more than we realize, but fear and anxietyBesorgnisanxiety can kind of get in the way of that. Rachel, is this something that also is familiar to you, impostor syndrome?

Rachel: Oh, completely. And so often, I then ­realized that, actually, most of the time, I do know what I’m doing, what I’m talking about, and I’m not a complete fraudBetrüger(in)fraud. Once, I was invited to speak at a creative writing panel discussionPodiumsdiskussionpanel discussion with someone who has a huge social media following and had published a book. Very ­quickly, it became clear that she’d only written the book because of her social media presence, and ­actually, she didn’t have much to say about the craftHandwerk(skunst)craft of writing. I think, a lot of the time, half the half the battle is...es ist schon ein großer Erfolg / halb die Miete, wenn ...battle is put oneself out there (ifml.)etwa: sich vorwagenputting yourself out there and then later realizing that, actually, you maybe do have the skills that make you uniqueeinzigartig, einmaligunique and valuable. 

Melita: Yeah, absolutely. I think it’s about leaving your comfort zone. That’s a great way of proving your capabilities to yourself. I was reading about this the other day, actually, and several studies point to a gender divideGeschlechterkluftgender divide when it comes to impostor syndrome. I found this quite interesting. It suggested that women experience impostor syndrome more than men. Now, Richard, I don’t want to put you on the put sb. on the spotjmdn. in Verlegenheit bringenspot here. I know that you’re the only man in the studio today, but what’s your takehier: Ansichttake on that? 

Richard: I’ve also heard that women experience impostor syndrome more often than men do, and maybe it’s true. Or maybe women are just more open about admitting it. I know I’ve felt that way before, and it’s not a pleasant feeling. I find the name a bit harshhartharsh, though. An “impostor” is someone who deliberatelyabsichtlich, bewusstdeliberately pretends to be someone else, usually to trick sb.jmdn. täuschentrick other people. But that’s not what most people are ­doing. ­Really, most of us want to take an opportunity or try something new. Perhaps, one of the ­advantages of getting older is that you know yourself better, and you know what you’re good at and what you’re not good at, so impostor syndrome happens less often. I remember, many years ago, I held a seminar on how to write a job applicationBewerbungapplication in English. And there were all these hopeful young people looking to me for career advice even though I wasn’t much older than they were, and I certainly didn’t feel like an expert. 

Melita: Yeah, I think at the end of the day, it’s a really human feeling. And I suppose that’s quite comfortingberuhigend, tröstlichcomforting. You know, we’re not the only ones who feel like this. And another thing I ­wanted to touch on was career changers, because sometimes, midway through someone’s career, someone will move to a completely different industry. What are your thoughts on this? Do you think career changers experience impostor syndrome a little more? 

Judi: I would say, perhaps. But I would also say that people do know why they hired you. I had one other job where, honestly, almost everyone knew more than I did, even the other people at the entryhier: Berufseinstiegentry level. But my bosses loved me. They loved what I brought to the company. And this surprised me every time. So I learned from that. And I think people shouldn’t forget that the way you perceive oneselfsich (selbst) wahrnehmenperceive yourself is not necessarily the way others perceive you, and you might be overlyübermäßigoverly critical.

Melita: I do think it’s really great to have a team with mixed abilities, right? So that people bring different strengths to the bring sth. to the tableetw. beisteuerntable. Maybe sometimes we feel a little bit too self-conscious about that. And I’m curious, do any of you have any strategies that you’ve used personally to manage impostor syndrome?

Rachel: Sometimes, I think you just have to ­accept and admit that you don’t know everything. There’s that old adageSprichwortadage, “Fake it till you make it.Tu so, als ob, bis du es schaffst.Fake it till you make it.” And I disagree with that. I don’t think that necessarily helps. I think sometimes, we should just embrace sth.etw. akzeptierenembrace that we don’t know it all and be honest about that.

Richard: The more you work in one area, you realize, “OK, I’ve taken one path and other people have taken a different path.” I was a career changer once. I didn’t always work in journalism. I started in teaching. And then, you realize that even people who are younger than you have had more experience in the industry, but I found ways to, you know, use my own experience in the work that I was doing at the time. 

Melita: Yeah, there’s definitely a make a case for sth.für etw. plädierencase to be made for the less traditional career path, I think. Well, thanks so much for taking the time out to have a chat with me about impostor syndrome. If any of you at home listening to Business Spotlight ­Audio have experienced impostor syndrome and you’d like to share your thoughts on the topicThematopic, then feel free to get in touch with us either via LinkedIn or Instagram, or you can contact us via email. We would love to hear from you. So, we’ll catch you next time with the next roundtable of Business Spotlight Audio. Bye.

Judi: Bye, everybody.

Rachel: Bye. 

Richard: Bye.