If you suffer from imposter syndrome, a good way to actively combat it is to simply help someone professionally. Better yet, work time into your schedule to do this each week. In my field (biopharma VC), this might mean calling a portfolio company CEO to check in / offer...1/5
...help on some initiative; mentoring or sharing deal flow with a talented younger investing professional; taking extra time to give feedback to a company I liked but where I passed (for now), if that’s useful to them; or even just serving on a panel or penning a Tweet. 2/5
...There are multiple ways in which this approach assuages imposter syndrome: 1) you are immediately reminded of your expertise and contributions, and probably of why you chose the field you’re in to start with; 2) experiencing someone’s gratitude tends to make us more...3/5
...grateful too, which shifts the paradigm from “am I worthy?” to “aren’t I lucky?”; 3) interacting with more junior professionals reinvigorates us and reminds us that we also have the potential to continue growing; 4) building our networks is a tangible way to measure one...4/5
...element of professional growth; and 5) mentorship, especially of people who themselves might be prone to imposter syndrome (underrepresented groups), is a way to break the cycle – having someone believe in you enough to invest time in you is always confidence-building. 5/5
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