Empower yourself with confidence to keep imposter syndrome at bay
After having recently run several women's programs with female founders and executive leaders alike, I was struck by the amount of self-doubt there was in the respective rooms. Here you have A-players of their business/industry and they are constantly having to work against a loud voice of doubt.
How much energy does that drain?!
When I dig deeper on this, I think one of the reasons behind it is that they do not have a tried and tested approach to leadership that feels authentic to them. The leadership style that we rewarded and lauded in the past was modelled after the wars and leaned heavily on approaches used in the military. Command and control, hierarchical, and in some ways binary.
Not only does this style not feel authentic to many, it also doesn’t land well anymore either. I think often people assume when we say not to command and control, they think “anarchy”. No. Leaders must set direction, but let go of the how. They must create a safe environment for ideas to be heard, priorities set and drive collaboration and accountability. A functioning team is built in grey - it needs space to experiment, fail and adapt. It can’t afford for one leader to hold all the answers. It’s democratised decision-making, and therefore leadership.
The playbook for leadership was documented, tried and tested. We don’t have that equivalent for the leadership style that will serve us into the future. Hence why we have amazing leaders riddled with doubt and imposter syndrome.
How do we move forward?
Unfortunately I think the answer is knowing we don’t know. Recognizing that there is no playbook and we are currently at the time of transition where we are writing it. This is exciting. This comes with responsibility. This comes with effort.
This transition into a new leadership style is starting to take shape and finally the world is ready for it. What’s both exciting and challenging is that it’s not yet taken shape, so it's prime time for all of us to get in there and take the reins. We can shape the style of leadership that we believe is right and appropriate to create a more inclusive and healthy workplace.
Imagine a world where we are encouraged, acknowledged and valued for being ourselves, where we can show up with vulnerability without fear of being seen as weak, where we find balance and positivity in what we do and who we work with. Imagine the ripple effect of that essence being brought back into our homes, our communities, and beyond.
Recognize that YOU are leading a transformation, this isn’t about leading to fit in to what’s known and familiar, but leading to create the change we all know is needed. This takes energy, it takes courage and it takes time. We're pushing against the status quo, and some of your allies might recognize the need to change but don't know how to do it and subconsciously might not want to do it because it's new. When we don’t understand it, we can feel threatened by it.
Start building the blueprint for leadership in the future, which:
Encourages psychological safety
Seeks diversity and inclusion
Holds people accountable to their values and principles
Collaboration over competition (internally and externally)
Awareness of their actions; self, teams and business