Free Downloadable Guide: How to Overcome Impostor Syndrome

Do you often doubt your abilities? This 18-page guide may help.

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I’ve felt like a phony multiple times in my career. I’ve wondered things like:

• “Can I actually do this?”
• “Why did my boss pick me for this promotion?”
• “Why do people trust me to give this big speech?”

The first time I managed a team, these feelings hit me hard.

Target hired me to lead a 50-person logistics team at one of their stores. Multiple other leaders at the store wanted to be in my role (and probably should have been), but because I had just graduated with an MBA, I got to jump the line and start in a senior role.

Within hours of setting foot in the store, I realized I was in over my head.

My MBA courses had prepared me to analyze balance sheets, opine on case studies, and woo venture capitalists, but they hadn’t prepared me for leading a team of flesh-and-blood humans making $8 an hour who didn’t give a rip about company profitability. I second-guessed every decision I made.

That self-doubt came back even stronger years later at a different job when I got a big promotion.