1.
Defeating the Impostor Syndrome:
Empowering Women to Success

2.
Agenda
• History
• Who does it apply to
• What causes
Impostor Syndrome
Quiz
Am I an Impostor?
• Practices to implement
• Things to remember
• Your directional statement

3.
WOMEN DON’T GIVE THEMSELVES ENOUGH CREDIT FOR WHAT
THEY CAN DO. YOU SEE IT IN THE 21 YEAR OLD COMING OUT OF
UNDERGRADUATE, THE PH.D CANDIDATE COMING OUT OF
GRADUATE SCHOOL, AND YOU SEE IT IN THE PROFESSIONAL
WHO’S BEEN WORKING 10, 15, 20 YEARS.
!
- DIRECTOR OF MINORITY AFFAIRS, WOMEN'S COLLEGE

4.
Impostor Syndrome Definition
People who have a persistent belief in their lack
of intelligence, skills, or competence. Unable to
internalize or feel deserving of their success, they
continually doubt their ability to repeat past
success. When they do succeed, they feel relief
rather than joy.

5.
History
• The term "impostor syndrome" first appeared in an article
written by Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in 1978
• Feelings pop up most during times of transition or when
faced with a new challenge
• Dr. Gail Matthews, conducted a study of successful people
and found that 70 % of the subjects reported feelings
associated with impostor syndrome

6.
Only for women?
• Impostors are everywhere. They are people of all races,
religions, and socioeconomic classes
• Men experience the impostor syndrome too, but it affects
women more.
• Men generally place blame differently. Where men will
blame external factors, women will tend to look internally
and put themselves as the problem

7.
!
!
!
Are you an Impostor?

8.
Quiz
!
Do you ever credit your success to
luck, timing, or error?

9.
Quiz
!
Do you agonize over the smallest
flaws in your work?

10.
Quiz
!
Are you crushed by constructive
criticism?

11.
Quiz
!
When you succeed, do you feel like
you “fooled them again?”

12.
Quiz
!
Do you worry it’s a matter of time
before you’re found out?

13.
Quiz
!
Are you reluctant to accept
responsibility in fear that
you’ll fail?

14.
Results
• If you answered yes to any of these questions, then no
matter how many degrees you’ve earned, how high
you’ve risen, or how accomplished you really are you
think that you are an impostor, a fake and a fraud.

15.
Reasons you might feel like an Impostor
• The environment you were raised in
• You’re a student
• Your work environment
• You represent your entire social or racial group

16.
!
!
Who’s helping to promote Women’s
Success?

17.
Overcome Impostor Syndrome

18.
Lean In

19.
Black Girls Rock!

20.
Ban Bossy

21.
!
!
!
Find your success

22.
I ALWAYS DID SOMETHING I WAS A LITTLE NOT READY
TO DO. I THINK THAT’S HOW YOU GROW. WHEN THERE’S
THAT MOMENT OF ‘WOW, I’M NOT REALLY SURE I CAN DO
THIS,’ AND YOU PUSH THROUGH THOSE MOMENTS,
THAT’S WHEN YOU HAVE A BREAKTHROUGH.
— MARISSA MAYER

23.
Embrace Moments of Doubt
• Moments of doubt are inevitable, but you can’t let it define
your experience
• Fake it till you make it
• Be true to yourself, but think about the person you want to
be
• “Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you’ll be
criticized anyway.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

24.
You may encounter many defeats, but you must
not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to
encounter the defeats, so you can know who you
are, what you can rise from, how you can still come
out of it.
– Maya Angelou

25.
Do a Reality Check
• When you have a setback, you have to use it as an opportunity to learn
• Do a weekly retrospective
• Failure is just a curve in the road, it’s how you handle it that makes all
the difference
• Q-TIP = quit taking it personally!
• Shift your thinking from being scared, ”I can't do this”, to being
enthusiastic, ”I can figure this out.”

26.
Build Your Support System
• Mentor
• Someone you can learn from
• Alliances and friends
• Lean In Circles, women's groups, coding groups, conferences,
meetups, etc.
• Ask for feedback and advice

27.
We must not, in trying to think about how we can
make a big difference, ignore the small daily
differences we can make which, over time, add up to
big differences that we often cannot foresee.
- Marian Wright Edelman

28.
Define Your Own Success
• Define what success means to YOU
• Celebrate both large and small victories
• No one is perfect
• What would you do if you weren’t afraid?
• Think about if you’re holding yourself back from success
because of the fear that you will fail

29.
!
Take Action

30.
I’VE COME TO BELIEVE THAT EACH OF US HAS A PERSONAL CALLING
THAT’S AS UNIQUE AS A FINGERPRINT – AND THAT THE BEST WAY TO
SUCCEED IS TO DISCOVER WHAT YOU LOVE AND THEN FIND A WAY TO
OFFER IT TO OTHERS IN THE FORM OF SERVICE, WORKING HARD, AND
ALSO ALLOWING THE ENERGY OF THE UNIVERSE TO LEAD YOU.
— OPRAH WINFREY

31.
Think about how you feel now
• Think about when you most often encounter the impostor
syndrome and how you feel.
• What situation makes you feel most like an impostor?
• What negative feelings do you experience?
• What do you typically do to handle this?

32.
How would you rather feel?
• Now think about how you would rather feel
• What self-affirming things would I rather feel in that
situation?
• What do I want the new positive voices in my head to say?
• What is one thing I can do to make the situation better?

33.
Make Your Directional Statement
• Set a positive foundation that packs emotional power to
override the negative beliefs of your impostor ways
• Example: I am a beautiful and extremely competent
individual, who deserves to be where I am in my career

34.
SHOW THE WORLD WHAT YOU CAN DO

35.
QUESTIONS?
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Meaghan Lewis
mlewis@thoughtworks.com