Go From Faking It to Crushing It — Here’s How You Beat Imposter Syndrome
“Humility drives away Satan and keeps the graces and gifts of the Holy Spirit safe within us.” St. Francis de Sales
Most of us have suffered from imposter syndrome — the fear that we’re not really up to the job and if people find out they will laugh at us, and fire us, and then we’ll die.
Like the first day on the job when I had to ask my staff how to turn the copy machine on…
Well, there’s a virtue for that! Here are 3 ways humility helps ease imposter syndrome:
#3: Own your deficits
Fearlessly looking at our strengths and weaknesses gives us the clarity to be open about what we’re not so great at. For example, I’m a word person and not a number person. And one of my first jobs was as an assistant in a photo studio, which included adding up the daily checks and cash and making sure that they matched with the receipt book.
I felt bad that they hardly ever matched. With more humility, I could have told them that because I had never successfully balanced a checkbook, they may want to give that task to someone else.
#2: Ask for help
Years later, as director of a government office, I had an employee in her thirties who was like a petulant teenager. I had run out of ideas for drawing out the happy self-starter I knew she could be, and went to my supervisor for guidance.
Familiar enough with the benefits of humility by then, I knew that asking my boss for help would come across as a strength, not a weakness, because I was putting the good of the office first and my ego last.
It’s liberating to be straight about our deficits and trusting other team members to have our back. No hiding, no fear of being found out. We can then bring more confidence to doing what we’re good at, which encourages the rest of the team to do the same.
#1: Work from your strengths
If we help build a culture in which it’s okay to admit what we’re not good at, and get training for that or assign it to another team member, the benefits are huge. There’s less shame, more productivity, and more worker engagement — because people are doing what they can succeed at — which leads to greater employee retention.
Humility to the rescue
Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza, said, “I believe the most important trait of a good leader is humility.”
A man who reported to Monaghan for 10 years explains how this virtue showed up in his boss’s leadership: “For all his accomplishments, Tom is unmistakably humble. In demeanor, he is soft-spoken and polite. In leading meetings he’s Socratic, asking more questions than giving direction.”
There is power in a billionaire founder walking into a meeting with the attitude that he’ll find his best solutions from the people in the room!
Monaghan’s employee went on to say, “He is humble in self-disclosure, often quite spontaneously. I was initially surprised at this. He had a habit of citing a personal shortcoming or failure, sometimes very nonchalantly.”
Tom Monaghan was one of the most successful entrepreneurs ever. He didn’t have imposter syndrome in part because he was open about his mistakes and deficits, and he relied on his team to come up with great solutions — which allowed him to work from his strengths.
And by doing that, he set a great example that makes for a flourishing office culture.
After all, our humility is rooted in our heavenly destiny and the great glory we enjoy as baptized children of God even now.
In light of that, our weaknesses become simply ways by which we reach out to help and gratefully receive help.
About the Author
Rose Folsom is a convert and Lay Dominican who teaches people leadership skills that business schools don’t teach them. Virtues like humility, prudence, and courage are the foundation of good leadership and make us confident leaders that people trust, respect, and want to follow.