sussexby

Hi HN!

In recent years I’ve grown weary of working for large companies and have longingly looked at taking up either bigger roles in smaller firms or launching something myself.

I am, however, burdened with imposter syndrome and seemingly always tending towards IC roles where I can hide away.

I have technical knowledge. I’m a seller. I’ve digested plenty of books on the intersection between business, innovation, technology, and organisational psychology. I have recruiters calling me daily. And I’ve worked with some of the biggest companies on the planet but I cannot overcome the feeling that I shouldn’t be there.

When I’ve tried to push myself above the parapet in more personal-centric pursuits (e.g. posting to social media to develop my presence, or launching internal campaigns) I feel physically sick and often succumb to feelings of anxiety where I’ll either stop working on something or sabotage it. At current I find this is limiting my progress and my ambition of taking on positions of leadership.

So, HN, my question more specifically is - how do you combat imposter syndrome, and are there any techniques that you’ve used to reduce it’s impact?

The more I’m looking at business success the more I’m realising that some successful businesses are based on their ability to contain a raft of solutions to a single product or solution. e.g. I buy an iPhone because I know everything it can do without needing to make a chain of decisions about CPU, memory, display quality etc...

I’m after some books to help understand: Why is this? What about the human psychology yearns for things being wrapped up neatly? Where does this come from in nature? Conversely, why do some of us like to tinker and not be bound to containers? Are there natural examples of this?