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It’s difficult for me to take any discussion of imposter syndrome seriously that doesn’t consider the possibility the subject feels like an imposter because he
by User23 6y ago
It’s difficult for me to take any discussion of imposter syndrome seriously that doesn’t consider the possibility the subject feels like an imposter because he is. Having been personally acquainted with several such imposters and having never seen such a discussion I’m left to conclude the entire concept is deeply unserious.
Edit: sibling is making much the same point. The concept is only useful if actual imposters can be identified.
- TheOtherHobbes 6y agoYou can't have impostor syndrome if you don't care about your ability to do your job. Likewise if you believe - probably correctly - that your failures don't matter because you can bullshit and bluster your way through them. And if that doesn't work, a quick word with your sponsors will sort out your problems. Impostor syndrome is the opposite - caring about quality, feeling you fall short (because quality is hard), and relying on substance not superficiality to get ahead.
- User23 6y agoThere are at least three dimensions here: Feels like imposter, is imposter, and cares. I'm not going to enumerate all 8 values since that's trivial, but realize my point is that conflating the first two dimensions is what makes the exercise intellectually empty. There are people who feel like imposters (or aren't), are imposters (or aren't), and still don't care about their ability to do their job. I'm still quite skeptical, but even this simple conversation is far deeper than any discussion I've seen on the subject. I would never have bothered to think about the caring dimension if you hadn't mentioned it.