Impostor Syndrome

It is found even in the most confident women.

- Dr. Sanjay Teotia

Impostor syndrome, also called perceived fraudulence, involves feelings of self-doubt and personal incompetence that persist despite your education, experience and accomplishments.

In order to counter these feelings, you might end up working harder and holding yourself to ever higher standards. Despite more women getting professional degrees, they remain invisible in positions of power and influence.

Despite external evidence of their competence, those experiencing this phenomenon do not believe they deserve their success. They may incorrectly attribute or may think that they are deceiving others because they feel as if they are not as intelligent as they outwardly portray themselves to be.

Impostor syndrome can stem from and result in strained personal relationships and can hinder the individuals from achieving their full potential in their field of interest. Women want some flexibility on the input but no concessions on the output.

Professional women are equal to men in terms of their ability and their ambition and yet you find that so many of them are not making it to leadership positions and decision making roles. It is only because their challenges are different and they are wired differently.

You have to create different networking opportunities for women because it is something that they have traditionally lacked within the office and externally. Many say that women don't stake claim to what they deserve, they don't ask why they are not on a project or ask for a promotion.

If a woman doesn't speak up, they mistake it for their lack of competence. Leaders should understand that women are wired differently; they respond to feedback differently, they think of success differently.

Women themselves need to work on important skills and figure out what's keeping them away from leadership positions.