How to capture the power of impostor syndrome

Plus my canine-in-law, Ramsey! She is a good girl (yes, she is!).

Hello and welcome to Academia Made Easier. I am so glad that you are here. 

Many moons ago, I was at dinner with some colleagues from across Canada. A few beers in, the stories came out. One person told us about the formerly married faculty members who each started new relationships with non-tenured instructors in the department, with predictable tensions. Another person told us about a colleague who was strategically incompetent, using the asshole strategy of deliberately being useless on committees to avoid being asked to do service work.

“I can top all of you,” Evan said. 

Evan (not his real name) told us about a tenure case in his department way back in the day that went poorly. The faculty member had a strong record and the tenure process seemed like a no-brainer. But then some … irregularities were discovered. The faculty member’s PhD was fake! 

Evan was right: no one had a story to top that one.

Stories of fraud in academia are always concerning. There is growing attention to issues of fraudulent claims of Indigenous identity. There are troubling cases of data fabrication, plagiarism, and other deliberate efforts to mislead. 

Fortunately, true academic impostors appear to be uncommon. Feeling like an impostor, though? That appears to be rather widespread. So many people in academia state they feel inferior, inadequate, or insufficient. 

I know from personal experience that these feelings suck. And I also know from personal experience that these feelings can be reframed to be a source of power. And that is what today’s small thing to try immediately is all about.

One Small Thing to Try Immediately: Apply the Triple-A Model 

Back in 2016, actress-writer-producer-director-total boss Mindy Kaling released her bestselling book, Why Not Me? This title is, for me, inspiring. 

Why not me?

Why not me? 

I have a lot of answers to that question. I am too [personal stuff] and not enough [other personal stuff]. Plus there is [waving my hands in the air]. Sound familiar?

It is classic impostor syndrome. I used to try to stuff it down by channelling my inner Stuart Smalley (“I’m smart enough, I’m good enough, and doggone it, people like me!”). But since that approach didn’t do much for me, I decided to turn my impostor feelings into a source of power. I do this by applying what I will call the Triple-A Model. It has three parts: Acknowledge, Ask, and Advance.

ACKNOWLEDGE that imposter syndrome is structural (rather than personal). Evidence suggests that impostor feelings are both ubiquitous and patterned. Individuals who do not fit the norm for “professors” a century ago (read: white, male, able-bodied, heterosexual, cis-gender, neurotypical, non-immigrant, privileged background) are more likely to report imposter feelings. A 2019 study found that over nine in ten (!!!) academic women report at least some impostor feelings. Other studies find that impostor feelings are high amongst scholars from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. 

Given all of this, it is time to acknowledge that this is probably not about you. Here are two thought exercises to help with the acknowledgement process:

• Reflect on the ways in which academic institutions and disciplines implicitly assume “academics” are white, able-bodied men from particularly privileged socio-economic backgrounds. Acknowledge how your own personal characteristics, identities, and background are or are not included in this implicit assumption. 

• Interrogate the assumptions underlying dominant definitions of what is “excellent”, “important”, or “impactful” work in your institution and discipline. Acknowledge how your own career stage, research areas, and teaching approaches are inside or outside these definitions.

Acknowledging that impostor feelings are individual responses to structural realities opens your mind to the idea that you are not what needs to be fixed.

ASK yourself how differences can benefit academia. In my own decades in academia, I have observed how individuals have pushed academia forward in small and large ways. They have done so by introducing new ideas, approaches, and methodologies to their disciplines. They have done so by asking previously unvoiced questions and advocating for previously ignored groups and topics at their universities. Their efforts have made academia more inclusive, scholarship more relevant, and programs more student-centred. 

Academic institutions and academic disciplines are constantly evolving. Ask yourself how you believe your institution and discipline should evolve and if you might be able to contribute to this evolution. If you don’t fit the implicit image of an academic and/or if your approaches challenge dominant approaches, consider the possibility that “different” is exactly what your institution and/or discipline need. You may bring unique perspectives, understandings, or skills. You may ask uncomfortable and important questions. You may be a role model and advocate for students and colleagues. 

Asking how differences can benefit academia opens your mind to the idea that you may have unique and important contributions to make.

ADVANCE academia by capturing the power of imposter syndrome. If you are going to feel shitty feelings, you might as well get some benefit from them. Imposter feelings are powerful, so find ways to capture and redirect that power.

For me, the power of imposter syndrome comes from the power of empathy. Having felt, and occasionally still feeling, inferior, inadequate, or insufficient allows me to show greater compassion to others. It pushes me to consider how I can be supportive of others, how I can make the changes I want to see in my institution and my discipline, and how I can become the person I want to be in academia.

If this resonates with you, there are myriad opportunities to capture the power of impostor syndrome to show empathy for your students and your colleagues. Some ideas to consider:

• Amplify underrepresented voices in your syllabus, in your teaching, and in the works you cite in your research.

• Inform yourself about student diversity and consider how you can adapt your teaching practices to best meet student needs. 

• Create or serve on mentorship committees for early career researchers. 

• Point out when committees, hiring short-lists, panels, and other bodies lack diversity, and ask for change or reconsideration. 

• Take on leadership or service roles in your national disciplinary association, department, or university. Use these roles to advance changes you feel are needed.

This Triple-A Model has been useful for me. It helps me rise to Mindy Kaling’s challenge. Why not me? And why not you?

Chipping Away: What I Have Been Up To

A quick update on some of my own activities since my last newsletter, since I have your attention:

• Over the holiday break, my family and I binge-watched both seasons of The White Lotus. So much fun! 

• An opinion editorial I coauthored was published in The Globe and Mail. In "Canada needs to plan for inevitable future pandemics", we write, “Any effective plan must treat future pandemics as wicked problems, not just scientific problems. This will require Canada to bring together knowledge from both the sciences and social sciences – and to act now.” Please read and share with your network!

• I spent some quality dog time with my canine-in-law, Ramsey, in Calgary’s lovely Nose Hill Park. Isn’t she beautiful?

Until next time…

Thank you to everyone who responded to the 2022 Academia Made Easier Reader Survey. I appreciate your generosity with your time and feedback. I will use the information to inform my posts in 2023, so watch this space! 

Stay well, my colleagues. 

P.S. Returning to the topic of imposter syndrome and academics, a 2022 study found that “the more that success in a field was perceived to require brilliance, the more that women—especially women from racial/ethnic groups that are traditionally underrepresented in academia—and early-career academics felt like impostors”. Given research that finds that white men are more likely to be described as brilliant – even by kindergarten students - this makes sense to me. It also speaks to the need to see impostor syndrome as a structural issue. If you agree, please share this post with a few of your colleagues and initiate a discussion to get their thoughts.

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If you are interested in having me lead faculty success and/or graduate student success workshops at your campus, please contact me by replying to this email!

Loleen Berdahl, Ph.D.: I am a twin mother, wife, runner, cat lover, and chocolate enthusiast. I spend far too much time binge-watching television and my house could be a lot cleaner. During the work hours, I am the Executive Director of the  Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. I am the author of University Affair’s Skills Agenda column and my most recent books are  Work Your Career: Get What You Want from Your Social Sciences or Humanities PhDandExplorations: Conducting Empirical Research in Canadian Political Science.

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