56% of executive women have feared that those around them will not believe they are as capable as they are expected to be.

The 2020 KPMG Women’s Leadership Summit Report

The impact of imposter syndrome is, likely, immeasurable. 70% of people – both men and women – are likely to feel like an imposter at some point in their working life. The feelings of lacking confidence to demonstrate exactly what we know and that our place is valid are, sadly, more usual than exceptional.

Women are more likely to feel the effects though. Some of the challenges are personal, some social, but some are clearly because of the design of the workplace and the lack of strong women role models:

Men have more cultural examples and role models,” explained one executive woman. “They are naturally taught strategies on how to overcome feelings of self-doubt. I see this happening in schools, athletic teams, within families, etc. It starts when we are very young, most us are not even aware of it, or the roles we play in perpetuating it.

THE 2020 KPMG WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP SUMMIT REPORT

So we’re doing something about it on The Women Talking About Learning Podcast. Our last episode before the Christmas break will be an Imposter Syndrome special and we want to amplify as many women’s voices as we can. We want to create a montage of strong female voices. A collection of women who acknowledge that Imposter Syndrome has an impact on them, but want to role model to other women that it’s OK to be both self-aware, AND a role model.

So we want to hear your experiences with Imposter Syndrome, how it’s affected you, how you’ve overcome it. Record an mp3, making sure you say your name first, or if you wish, say you’re anonymous, and send it to us hello@llarn.com. People have asked us what to talk about so maybe have a think about:

• What it’s stopped you doing
• When you’ve seen it in others
• What happens when you feel it
• How you’ve overcome it
• Who inspires you to overcome it

We have a hard deadline of Friday 18th December for your recordings so make sure you get them into us before then.

All of the signal. None of the noise