The Curse of Smart People: Engineer Vs. Coach Perspectives on the Impostor Syndrome

“What I have learned, working here, is that smart, successful people are cursed. The curse is confidence. It’s confidence that comes from a lifetime of success after real success, an objectively great job, working at an objectively great company, making a measurably great salary, building products that get millions of users. You must be smart. In fact, you are smart. You can prove it.

Ironically, one of the biggest social problems currently reported at work is lack of confidence, also known as Impostor Syndrome. People with confidence try to help people fix their Impostor Syndrome, under the theory that they are in fact as smart as people say they are, and they just need to accept it.

But I think Impostor Syndrome is valuable. The people with Impostor Syndrome are the people who *aren’t* sure that a logical proof of their smartness is sufficient. They’re looking around them and finding something wrong, an intuitive sense that around here, logic does not always agree with reality, and the obviously right solution does not lead to obviously happy customers, and it’s unsettling because maybe smartness isn’t enough, and maybe if we don’t feel like we know what we’re doing, it’s because we don’t.

Impostor Syndrome is that voice inside you saying that not everything is as it seems, and it could all be lost in a moment. The people with the problem are the people who can’t hear that voice. “

The above quote is from Avery Pennarun, a Senior Engineer at Google Fiber, and the full blog post is here. It is a well-written explanation about careers and leadership.

The voice, that niggling feeling that drives you to double check, doubt, and reconsider is a fear-based reaction. Every leader, every person experiences it and it’s neither healthy or productive. We know from neuroscience that fear-based reactions release stress hormones that – by design – limit the Prefrontal cortex, the seat of higher-level thinking. Check out this super short video from the Conscious Leadership Group that explains what happens when we have a fear-based mindset which often is below our awareness, and the impact it can have on our leadership:

Is there a healthy version of the Impostor Syndrome, a way of avoiding over confidence and smugness while still achieving excellence? I think the antidote is a combination of appreciation, curiosity, and intuition, some or all of which may feel completely foreign to people who regularly reside on their left side of the brain.

Appreciation is the simple but powerful act of slowing down and acknowledging what’s “right” about you, others, and a situation. Curiosity, especially through structured experimentation, allows the ego to be protected while learning about the world. Think it’ll be “x” and it turns out “y”? When people feel safe, curiosity allows learning and wisdom to appear much more quickly. And intuition is simply listening to wisdom, the inner voice that gives you a hunch. Over time, if you allow yourself, intuition can be one of the most powerful tools in life. The ego, however, likes nothing more than to discount intuition because it represents a threat, a leap of faith about the intangible, the unknown.

Taken together, appreciation, curiosity, and intuition are a powerful way to stay sharp, at the top of your game, helping you uncover new insights and achieve your goals….but in a way that engages your full brain, is fun, and very satisfying. Check out our blog post on a growth mindset for further information.

What are your thoughts on the Impostor Syndrome and its antidote?