A psychological experience of fraudulence
JPWN is presenting an empowering event delving into the signs and symptoms of impostor syndrome and showing how to overcome it.
Jewish Professional Women’s Network (JPWN) is hosting Alison Shamir and Ellie Gurgiel in conversation to address the complex issue known as impostor syndrome.
JPWN is presenting an empowering event delving into the signs and symptoms of impostor syndrome and showing how to overcome it.
Moments of self-sabotage hold women workers back from reaching their full professional and personal potential.
Regardless of seniority, experience, or talent, no one is exempt from bouts of self-doubt in their lives or workplace.
In 2013, Shamir was living the corporate dream.
One day whilst preparing for an important meeting she felt a strange feeling come over her body.
“I felt that this was the moment everyone was going to find out that I was a fraud who had faked her way to the top.
“My anxiety shot through the roof, and I had an extreme panic attack.
“After calming down a little at home, I realised this wasn’t the first time I had felt this way.
“I needed answers and after a few hours of researching I discovered that this feeling had a name, impostor syndrome,” she said.
From that moment on Shamir became obsessed with learning everything she could about it.
She was desperate to “cure” herself, to stop the feeling and the proceeding thoughts.
As she continued in her role she saw and heard about this feeling impacting so many women and knew she had to do more.
JPWN president Lee-At Jacobson said, “The outcomes the event’s audience will leave with are strategies in terms of how to manage [feeling like an impostor] because we impose these boundaries on ourselves.
“Alison will share with us the symptoms and then secondly, how do we recognise and manage them and then how to push through and achieve our goals,” Jacobson added.
Gurgiel, with almost a decade of management consulting experience, and a background in digital, operations, UX/CX and customer strategy has spoken previously at JPWN events.
“We invited Ellie to help guide the conversation” Jacobson said.
In their book The Great Engagement: How CEOs Create Exceptional Cultures, authors Tom Willis and Brad Zimmerman list 18 famous “impostors”, including Natalie Portman and Sheryl Sandberg.
Portman said in her 2015 Harvard commencement speech, “Today, I feel much like I did when I came to Harvard Yard as a freshman in 1999. I felt like there had been some mistake, that I wasn’t smart enough to be in this company, and that every time I opened my mouth I would have to prove that I wasn’t just a dumb actress.”
Sandberg wrote in her book Lean In: “Every time I took a test, I was sure that it had gone badly. And every time I didn’t embarrass myself, or even excelled, I believed that I had fooled everyone yet again. One day soon, the jig would be up.”
Impostor Syndrome: Self-doubt and knowing your worth, will take place on Wednesday, August 21 from 7.30pm to 9.45pm at a Caulfield location provided after booking. Tickets $20 from trybooking.com/CTIEP
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