I Thought I Was A Hiring Mistake
Imposter syndrome is a serious problem for consultants. We joke that we hire exclusively insecure overachievers, but experiencing it firsthand is no fun.
When I joined consulting, I couldn't believe my luck. That was a stratospheric jump in my career, and I felt I had gone way above my league.
I thought I was a hiring mistake. I expected someone to call and tell me that I had to leave because there had been a mix-up in the recruiting process.
This is how I experienced the acute symptoms of Imposter Syndrome for the first time.
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A few months passed, but nobody seemed to correct that hiring mistake.
You might expect that I felt some relief, but I developed a new, even stronger, insecurity. I started to believe that I was not smart enough for this profession.
I couldn't keep up with the project pace, contribute meaningfully to the team's work, and produce usable outputs. I was a liability, not an asset. I didn't feel I added enough value to compensate for my salary and position.
Every subsequent performance review seemed like it would be my last one. Yet, by some miracle, I survived.
Every time, I was astonished at how people tolerated me for so long.
So, my first year in consulting felt like a never-ending nightmare.
Unfortunately, nobody told me that it was a normal situation. Even the smartest and most accomplished people get intimidated by consulting.
The situation improved slightly after attending the offsite training with 50 other consultants.
They had the same tenure and role as me. It helped me calibrate and realize they had the same challenges as I did. I was not the worst one in that cohort.
My problem was that I compared myself with more tenured colleagues. They all seemed like superhumans to me. But I didn't account for the tenure difference and how much one can grow at this job in just a few months.
Instead, I needed to compare myself with my peers. But at the consultant level, we can rarely do that. We usually work in small teams with diverse profiles.
This year marks my 10th year in the consulting profession.
Imposter syndrome never disappeared. It continually transformed from one form to another.
Even now, writing this post, I think, “Who am I to write about imposter syndrome? There must be people who are better at this.”
Apparently, you can’t get rid of it completely. But you can learn to live with it.
Learning to work well helps a lot. Then, lots of unnecessary pain goes away with all the stupid mistakes I used to make.
My mission is to help consultants to achieve high performance. This newsletter aims to equip consultants with the right knowledge and best practices.
Managing one's emotions and stress is a critical skill in consulting. If you want a more detailed post on my journey of managing stress, including imposter syndrome, read this post:
P.S.
I feel your pain.
As a consultant, I struggled to perform and faced an impossible situation with extremely high expectations and minimal support.
My life turned into relentless stress, pain, and anxiety. But I always suspected that there should be a better way.
All that pain was not necessary with the right support.
Nine years later, I designed the coaching program I desperately needed back then. Its sole focus is helping you excel and achieve high performance.
Only then can you build strong sponsorships, find great projects, and become confident.
If you are an MBB consultant and want to achieve high performance, please
Book a 1-1 Discovery Session.
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