By Amber Van Schooneveld
Do you ever get stuck in your head as a leader? You have good ideas and big plans, but instead of taking action, you go around and around the revolving door of self-doubt in your head?
Though many leaders project supreme confidence, self-doubt and imposter syndrome are secret friends to many of the most skilled leaders. They don’t lead without self-doubt; they’ve simply learned how to short circuit their brain’s familiar self-doubt pathways.
Here are 3 ingenious ways from leadership experts and Global Leadership Summit faculty to short circuit self-doubt so you can bring those big plans to fruition.
Write your leadership identity statement.
Craig Groeschel, host of the Craig Groeschel Leadership Podcast and Senior Pastor of the largest church in the U.S., admits to experiencing imposter syndrome. Based on his own experience, he believes one of the biggest reasons leaders aren’t as effective as they could be is that they don’t truly believe they are leaders. They get stuck in self-doubt and inaction.
As Groeschel puts it, “The biggest force that shapes your leadership actions is actually your identity.”
What we believe about ourselves determines our actions, and our consistent actions determine our outcomes. Groeschel’s advice to talk back to your self-doubt is to write your leadership identity statement. Ask yourself: What kind of leader am I? What kind of leader do I want to become?
Your leadership identity statement might read:
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- “I am a compassionate leader who deeply loves people.”
- “I’m an empowering leader who brings out the best in others.”
- “I’m a disciplined leader who always prioritizes the day.”
Write down who you are and who you want to become. And then step into that identity each day and make choices accordingly.
Tell yourself a story.
Storytelling and leadership expert, Kindra Hall, says that one of the most powerful ways to hurdle self-doubt and imposter syndrome is to become a storyteller—to yourself. She recommends telling yourself three stories when you’re struggling:
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- Tell yourself a story about a time you did something awesome. As Hall says, “Sometimes, the simple reminder of when you nailed it is enough to pull you out of a self-doubt rut.”
- Tell yourself a story about something completely unrelated. When you start down a self-doubt spiral, give your brain a break. Tell a story of your favorite vacation or a favorite family memory to jolt your brain out of the familiar self-doubt groove.
- Tell yourself a story about a time you failed—and something better came along. Self-doubt and fear of failure are intrinsically linked. To overcome our self-doubt, we must stop catastrophizing failure and instead tell ourselves better stories about the function of failure in our lives.
Speaking of failure, that leads us to our final tip.
Think like a scientist and embrace intelligent failure.
Much self-doubt is rooted in the fear that we will fail. But Amy C. Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School, asserts that failure is necessary for success.
“There’s a deeply rooted belief in our culture that success means never failing. That failure’s unacceptable,” says Edmondson. “Of course, that’s nonsense. Failure is part of the journey toward success.”
But we shouldn’t blindly run toward any failure. In her book “Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well,” Edmondson outlines how to embrace intelligent failure: Think like a scientist. Determine what gaps in knowledge you need to fill. Welcome the lessons that each failure will bring. Experiment to see what works well and what doesn’t. Reframing failure in our minds as intelligent experimentation will allow you to take the healthy risks you need to succeed.
Leverage each of these three tips to draw yourself out of the revolving door of self-doubt. And if you want to continue to grow as a leader, each of these experts, Craig Groeschel, Kindra Hall and Amy C. Edmondson, are speaking at this year’s Global Leadership Summit. The Summit, from August 8-9, 2024, is the premier leadership event where you will be equipped to design a better tomorrow. Learn more and get your tickets here!
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