The Realities of Imposter Syndrome
When we think of Maya Angelou, poet, author, singer, screenwriter, and civil rights activist are a few descriptors that come to mind. But even as the world marvelled at her creations, Angelou believed she was a fraud who would be discovered at any time. While most of us may not accomplish as much as Maya Angelou did, one thing many have in common with her is the experience of Impostor Syndrome or a gnawing sense of incompetence, even without any proof of inadequacies.
Impostor Syndrome is the idea that one’s success is a result of luck, not effort, talent, or qualifications. First coined in 1978 by Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes, those affected by impostor syndrome refuse to internalize and accept their own success because they don’t feel responsible for it. Patterns of impostor syndrome present themselves across all groups—among perfectionists who set exceptionally high standards, experts who constantly undergo training they don’t need, soloists who consider asking for help a sign of weakness, and people who push themselves harder than needed to prove their worth to others.
There’s no single answer to why impostor syndrome exists; some believe it lies in personality traits such as anxiety and neuroticism, while others find family, behavioural causes, and childhood memories as leaving a lasting impact on the experience of worth. People who internalize others’ words and actions, and the core belief of those starved of positive experiences in an environment fuelled by achievement become, “To be loved and worthy, I have to achieve.”
While the role of childhood relationships and influences can’t be denied, the world a person lives in plays a massive role in how impostor syndrome manifests itself. Clance and Imes’s work was groundbreaking at the time because it threw much-needed light on how women’s experience in the workplace, but the sample they studied lacked diversity. The perspectives of women of colour, people of different classes, genders, and professions were notably absent.
Traditionally, the onus is placed on the individual without accounting for the cultural and historical contexts that contribute to the way feelings of impostor syndrome develop in people. Many minorities are implicitly and explicitly told that they don’t belong in male-dominated and white-dominated workplaces. When a sense of belongingness does not exist, confidence deteriorates. The more people look and sound different than you, the more isolated you feel. When individuals from these backgrounds hold themselves up to standards that no one else needs to meet, the pressure to succeed amplifies. For minorities, especially women of colour, the roots of impostor syndrome stem from their battles against systemic bias and racism.
Confidence is universally (and falsely) equated with success and leadership, precisely the type displayed by white male leaders. Several companies in Asia use this confidence to their benefit, particularly corporations in China that have white male executives represent their interests, in an attempt to be more persuasive and appear more global. Unfortunately, arrogance and overconfidence have an inverse relationship with what actually constitutes leadership: inspiring followers, building high-performing teams, and setting aside selfish agendas for the common good of one’s group. The very same system that rewards abrasive confidence in men punishes women for lacking it, for showing too much of it, and for demonstrating it in any way that seems deviant from set standards. Women of colour are viewed as threatening once they gain an influence in the positions they hold. This isn’t a common occurrence with all women of colour, but too many have navigated stereotypes that hold them back from attaining everything they can.
The title of “impostor” is heavy, tinging the complicated sense of being out of place in one’s environment and being responsible for one’s predicament. Everyone experiences a sense of uncertainty, but consequences of microaggressions, fighting expectations, assumptions, stereotypes, and racism shouldn’t be confused as battling impostor syndrome. Perhaps we shouldn’t be directing our energy into fixing people, but fixing environments characterised by levels of power and prejudice.
