Month: January 2020

Michael O’Brien of Peloton Executive Coaching: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing

Michael O’Brien of Peloton Executive Coaching: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor Syndrome”

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Accomplishments List — Develop a list of life and career accomplishments and mantras that will help you counter-balance your self-narrative when it gets negative or anxious. You can develop your list in private and then ask others what strengths they see in you.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael O’Brien. Michael is the Chief Shift Officer at Peloton Executive Coaching. He elevates successful corporate leaders by preventing bad moments from turning into bad days, as he illustrates in his current book, My Last Bad Day Shift. His award-winning, best-selling memoir Shift: Creating Better Tomorrows chronicles his Last Bad Day and near-death cycling accident recovery journey. He has shared his inspirational story and leadership expertise on the TEDx stage and with multiple Fortune 500 companies, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, ABC, Real Simple, and Authority Magazine.

Thank you so much for joining us Michael! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?

Thanks for having me. I’ll start with the promise I made when they put me on the medivac. I made the commitment that if I lived, then I would stop chasing happiness. I made that promise on July 11, 2001, after being hit head-on by a speeding SUV during a bike training ride. I consider it My Last Bad Day. Over time it has become one of my best because it has helped me shift my perspective on almost every aspect of my life and reach the executive suite on my terms.

During my recovery, I knew that I would eventually help others write a different life and career scripts so they can achieve more happiness and success. I see my work today as one of the reasons I survived my Last Bad Day.

Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

When I was a few years into my sales career, I lost my position in a company-wide downsizing. It was my first experience with job loss and I started to become angry and worried about my future.

A few months later, something interesting happened. The recruiting firm that they provided called with a new “ground-floor” opportunity that was too good to pass up. That company became my home for eighteen years, but, most importantly, I gained the type of experience my clients need today. It helped me see that often things happen for a reason or when one door closes; another opens. Now I look back at my downsizing with gratitude because it was a gift that led to many wonderful career experiences.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

It comes down to the results that my clients achieve. Over 87% have gone on to positions with more influence or compensation after they discovered how to lead differently. But the most meaningful results are when my clients tell me that their husband or wife now sees that they are happier, which makes a significant difference at home. They become better partners and parents and become wealthier, starting from the inside-out.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

When I was in the ICU from my Last Bad Day accident, I told my wife to find David. I shared that “he will show us the way.” When I moved from the ICU and my wife asked me about David, I was surprised because I never talked about work at home. She had no idea who he was until I said something in the ICU.

David was the first executive coach in my life. My team hired him about six months before my accident, and he was starting to help me discover different leadership approaches. When my wife shared that I referenced him, I knew it was a sign that I would follow in his footsteps and he’s been a mentor to me ever since.

Thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the experience of Impostor Syndrome. How would you define Impostor Syndrome? What do people with Imposter Syndrome feel?

Impostor Syndrome has impacted seventy percent of the US population and involves feeling like a fake or fraud because you don’t feel like you have the proper skills, training, or experience. What’s interesting about imposter experience is that feelings of loneliness, worry, and anxiety often occur after an accomplishment because you begin to believe that your success isn’t warranted, and others will see it as well.

What are the downsides of Impostor Syndrome? How can it limit people?

The challenges with impostor syndrome are significant because when present, your feelings can restrict you from moving forward with confidence and lose confidence in your ability to perform.

How can the experience of Impostor Syndrome impact how one treats others?

Having dealt with Imposter Syndrome, I can attest that when it’s present, it impacts our relationships. It’s common for us to feel alone, cynical or skeptical. As a result, it’s harder to partner with colleagues and trust and productivity starts to wane.

We would love to hear your story about your experience with Impostor Syndrome. Would you be able to share that with us?

My first experience with imposter syndrome came after I was promoted to National Sales Director. I started to believe that the only reason I got the job was that I was the only candidate willing to move to New Jersey. I also thought I had to lead like all the National Sales Directors in my industry, but that wasn’t my style. As a result, I lost my identity for a few months. It was an extremely stressful period and I wondered if I was the right person for the job. These feelings stayed with me until I shifted my thinking and regained my confidence.

Did you ever shake the feeling off? If yes, what have you done to mitigate it or eliminate it?

Yes, I was able to shake off my imposter syndrome by shifting the conversation I was having with myself by developing an accomplishments list and a few mantras that helped me see why I was promotion. I also started looking for small wins, which I knew would lead to bigger ones down the road, which they did.

In your opinion, what are five steps that someone who is experiencing Impostor Syndrome can take to move forward despite feeling like an “Impostor”? Please share a story or an example for each.

Here’s what I do when I feel like an imposter and recommend to my clients today:

1: Breathe — When imposter syndrome is present, it’s common for your head to be spinning and be filled with emotion. It makes it hard to know what to do next. Focusing on your breath slows you down, shifts your perspective, and sparks a healthier self-narrative.

2: Accomplishments List — Develop a list of life and career accomplishments and mantras that will help you counter-balance your self-narrative when it gets negative or anxious. You can develop your list in private and then ask others what strengths they see in you.

3: Develop Your Network — Since life and career are not solo projects, it’s essential to have a strong network. They can help you see attributes you might not realize — especially when can’t.

4: Small Wins — Look for small victories to gain the type of momentum that will lead to big wins down the road and reframe your situation.

5: Gratitude — Develop a gratitude practice to help you see what’s working in your life. You can even be grateful for your moments of self-doubt or feeling like a fraud because they are a natural part of being alive and an opportunity to show yourself and the world that you are gritty.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

My recovery from my near-death cycling accident has been a miracle. I now believe that one of the reasons I lived is to help over 1,000,000 people have their Last Bad Day and live life and build their career with awareness, purpose, gratitude, and community. I know my Last Bad Day can help others live their best days.

We are blessed that some very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them 🙂

There are so many I wish I could name. If I could only choose one, it would be Sir Richard Branson because he has written his script, achieved great success, rebounded from setbacks, and seems to be wealthy from the inside-out.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Yes, they can follow me on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Thank you for all of these great insights!

Michael O’Brien of Peloton Executive Coaching: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“5 Things We Need To Do To Close The Gender Wage Gap”, with John Schwarz CEO of Visier

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Organizations need to take both a macro and micro look at their pay practices to understand if they are fairly compensating their employees. If there is a clear difference in scale or compa ratios, then it is clear there is a bias.

As part of my series about “the five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap” I had the pleasure of interviewing John Schwarz. John is the Founder and CEO of Visier Inc., a cloud-based analytics platform that helps professionals ask the right questions, see important truths about their business, and plan a better future. Prior to founding Visier, John led Business Objects from 2005 to 2010, where he doubled the size and profitability of the company and guided it through seven strategic acquisitions, including its sale to SAP in 2008. John then joined the SAP Executive Board and oversaw the successful integration and expansion of SAP’s Business Intelligence unit. John was also President and Chief Operating Officer of Symantec during the period of its biggest expansion from 2001 to 2005. He began his career in technology at IBM, where he spent 25 years contributing to its evolution from a hardware company to a software-and-services led business. A respected industry expert, John has been covered in publications such as the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, TechCrunch, and VentureBeat. John is a Director on the Boards of Synopsys, Teradata and Chairman of the Board of Avast, as well as a former board member of SuccessFactors and Verity, and a member of the Dalhousie University Advisory Board.

Thank you so much for joining us John! Can you tell us the “backstory” that brought you to this career path?

I was a brand new immigrant to Canada from central Europe when I started my college education. In my old country, as far as I knew, computers were secret machines only used by the police to keep tabs on citizens. When I started college in Canada, I had to use computers to do analysis on data in my chemistry class. The idea that I could program a machine and give it some data to return an answer to a question was so exciting that I switched majors and joined the first graduating class of computer science at my college. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, my firm is developing analytics to keep tabs on employees — but to help them to be successful, not to punish them for having inconvenient relationships.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?

My first developer role was managing a payroll system in an insurance company that employed people in 54 different countries. They paid them from a central payroll system operated at the HQ. My job was ensuring that all the taxation changes passed in 54 countries were implemented on time so we could cut accurate checks. The challenge was that most of the countries pass laws effective on January 1 of the new year. Guess where I spent my time from Thanksgiving to New Years? Sleeping under my desk and just going home to shower and get clean clothes.

Can you share a story about the funniest or most interesting mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

My most interesting mistake was made mid-career. I was running one of the most successful development sites in my company, with a really significant mission. I was about 2 years into this role, things were going really well and I was having a great time. Then the company changed CEOs, and I was asked to move roles (and re-locate) to become his technology advisor. This was a staff role, with no operational content. Just be an advisor to the CEO. I turned it down. In retrospect, this was the dumbest decision of my career. The new CEO was very successful, and all the people on his staff went on to great achievements in the business. I made up for it later in my career, but never stopped wondering what might have been had I made the change. I have never passed up an opportunity since.

Ok let’s jump to the main focus of our interview. Even in 2019, women still earn about 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. Can you explain three of the main factors that are causing the wage gap?

The conversation about the wage gap is usually limited to the direct numbers comparison, and while that is an easy way of showcasing the disparity, it doesn’t paint a broad enough picture to truly understand what’s happening.

What we have discovered is that the wage gap starts to form at around the age of 32, which coincidentally is the average age at which women start to have children. The gap grows from there until about the age of 45, and then it narrows a bit because women tend to have a better performance rating at mid-career than men, but women never catch up completely. The early thirties are also the age at which people reach their first supervisory position. Women are under-represented as supervisors, and supervisory positions carry a much higher pay than individual contributors, ergo women end up with lower average compensation than their male colleagues in the same age cohort.

One of the driving factors that can be attributed to the wage gap is the penalty of motherhood. By that I mean, in families who chose to have children, it’s much more likely that the woman of the household will take maternity leave than the man. While this seems innocent enough, what can happen is women who do take maternity leave may be perceived as prioritizing their family over their career, even unconsciously. This leads to fewer opportunities when they return to work, not to mention that the time taken off puts them behind their (male) colleagues who decided to stay. Even if the environment in the organization eliminates the perception bias, the simple fact that the woman is absent from the job for a year or more means that she will get her promotion later than the male colleagues, and the wage gap starts to build.

There is also the problem of relationship building. A male dominated work environment has built certain structures to allow for networking, relationship building and general social gathering. We’re seeing that these particular types of social structures, like after work drinks, sports-related outings, networking events, etc don’t necessarily help women in the workforce, especially those with families who are unable to attend events during after work hours. There is of course more nuance to this problem, but it’s something that hasn’t been given much thought of until lately.

Finally, there needs to be more emphasis on learning and development opportunities for women, including mentorship. A shortage of female leadership naturally means fewer natural opportunities for women to seek out successful role models and mentors. It has long been demonstrated that a successful female role model has a dramatic knock on positive drag -along effect on other women in the organization.

Can you share with our readers what your work is doing to help close the gender wage gap?

We specialize in people analytics and workforce data. That means we take the raw data, that every company has on their employees, and help provide meaningful insights into their people. By having these insights at their fingertips, organizations are able to clearly see aspects like their gender diversity (overall and in departmental levels), hiring practices, potential bias, gaps in learning and development and employee relationships. We also deliver benchmarks for comparisons relative to the 7 million employees in our database.

We provide the tools and the best practices for organizations to be able to make the necessary changes, but it’s up to the companies to utilize the insights to the best advantage. Our customers generally produce 2 times the ROIC of the average in their industry.

Can you recommend 5 things that need to be done on a broader societal level to close the gender wage gap. Please share a story or example for each.

It will take a combination of societal changes and individual business changes in order for this to work:

1) Examine pay practices at every level to ensure fairness across employee segments.

Organizations need to take both a macro and micro look at their pay practices to understand if they are fairly compensating their employees. If there is a clear difference in scale or compa ratios, then it is clear there is a bias.

2) Examine the distribution of gender across all levels and functions of the organization. Look for outlier departments and assess the reasons why they are different. Look for bias in promotions to management.

3) Measure and monitor efforts for a more inclusive and diverse workforce. Look for outliers and examine the reasons for the different outcomes. Ensure that there is gender balance in the leadership of the organization at all levels. In California, there is a quota on women in the boardroom. Why not in other, far less responsible positions?

4) Stop penalizing women for maternity leave. Offer women who commit to return to their job positions from maternity leave in a reasonable timeframe the same promotion opportunity as their colleagues who hadn’t taken a leave. Count the maternity leave as time in the job. Offer a subsidy for daycare.

5) Ensure that women in your organization have access to female mentors even if you have to import them from the outside.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I believe that the most serious problem created by technology is that people who work in lagging industries are being left behind. They are left without hope. The consequences are awful — populist governments, opioid addiction, mass shootings, xenophobia and racism. If I could do just one thing, it would be to give these people new hope — a hope in finding a meaningful role, a living wage for the family, a future that is promising. I believe this could be achieved by a massive investment in industries that will replace carbon-based energy and transportation, and by a significant investment in the retraining of people whose jobs are at risk of being obsolete. We will have to do this anyway — if we don’t fix global warming, we will pay for relocating cities to higher ground, defending our borders from masses of displaced migrants and our homes from angry unemployed people.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is the definition of madness.” Albert Einstein. In tech, core innovation happens every three to five years. Companies begin to stagnate as a result of the ‘innovator’s dilemma’. In essence, companies that have a business with a critical mass have a problem re-inventing themselves because the re-invention usually cannibalizes the current business. I used to think this only applies to very large businesses. Not true — every business that has reached a critical mass is subject to this challenge. The relentless pace of innovation will undermine every economic endeavor. Those that want to keep doing the same thing over again do so at their peril. In fact, the pace of innovation is accelerating.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂

I think a meeting with Dr. Yuval Harari would be incredibly insightful. I’ve enjoyed reading his work and commentary on how we as a species have evolved, and where we could be heading in the future. As a person who has some influence on the future of work and the impact of AI, I would like to learn where to draw the line.

This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.

“5 Things We Need To Do To Close The Gender Wage Gap”, with John Schwarz CEO of Visier was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“Five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap”, with Jessica Wooke of RobustWealth

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

More conversations need to take place at the executive level. Organizations need to look at their entire ecosystems to inspect where change needs to take place to ensure there are adequate measures, policies and cultures to foster equality. Everything from recruiting to retirement services needs to be inspected.

As part of my series about “the five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap” I had the pleasure of interviewing Jessica Wooke, Chief Experience Officer at RobustWealth. RobustWealth is an innovative fintech company and B2B digital wealth management platform headquartered in Lambertville, NJ. As Chief Experience Officer, Jess leads the strategic direction of all RobustWealth platform experiences. Jess has a diverse technical and customer-centric background. She previously spent four years at Comcast, most recently as part of the engineering team that launched the Xfinity Mobile product. She has gone against the grain and has been very successful in two male-dominated fields (tech and finance). As such, she is passionate about mentoring younger generations of women in fintech.

Thank you so much for joining us Jessica! Can you tell us the “backstory” that brought you to this career path?

I grew up with two hardworking parents; my dad was a plumber and my mom a chemist, turned entrepreneur. Mom built and ran a successful retail business for over 30 years, and I grew up working alongside her. I think it’s safe to say I got my hardworking attitude, business acumen and technical/mechanical abilities from my parents!

In thinking through potential career paths, I wanted something that was fun, engaging, challenging and creative. I thought a career involving computers and creating software fit that bill, so I studied Computer Science, Information Systems and Technology, and Business at Drexel University. I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems and a minor in IT. Thankfully, my desire to be in the IT industry has proved to be a good path for me thus far! Through Drexel’s Co-Op program, I was introduced to the world of Network Infrastructure Engineering and loved how my career began after those opportunities. It was a heavily male-dominated field, and I learned a lot about engineering, teamwork, leadership and even myself. I stumbled and fell and learned a lot through it all.

Finding my way into the still heavily male-dominated software development field as a technical program lead and scrum master was another entirely different joy. Though by this time, I saw that as an opportunity to challenge the status quo and push ahead with my voice, experience and perspective. I’d say those days of my career were a success and helped me to step into more coaching, leadership and team-building opportunities. The last five years have really been an interesting and rewarding stretch. I’ve overseen dozens of product launches by my various teams and met with customers to listen to their feedback and pain points. This present state of listening, learning and creating has been one of my favorite stops along the way.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?

Early on in my career after taking on new responsibilities, a colleague approached me to share his congratulations. He made a comment that he hoped I would be properly paid now with these added responsibilities. I think he had the best intentions to call out the gap between my compensation and that of my peers, and it was clear he felt the discrepancy was unjust. This for me, however, was a shock. I didn’t know what to do with this information or how to react. It wasn’t something that was discussed openly or debated like it is today; there was no spotlight to shine on issues like this or space to discuss these experiences. This realization has certainly shaped me and how I approach things since, however.

Can you share a story about the funniest or most interesting mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I’m not sure if this qualifies as a mistake exactly, but I find it funny now and it certainly was a great lesson in the long run. I recall when I was interviewing for a role, a colleague from a previous job volunteered to help the hiring manager screen me. He was asking some pretty strange questions. I knew he was aware of my skills and background and that I knew all the answers to his very basic questions. As it turned out, he was intentionally trying to drop some subtle hints about the role and its associated challenges, and I completely missed the message. Needless to say, I nailed the interview and got the job, only to find that it was nothing like what I expected or desired (duh!).

It sounds cliché but I endeavored to make the best of the situation, learned a lot about a new platform and added many great friends and connections to my personal network. At a much later happy hour reunion, I had a good laugh with my colleague when he finally spilled the beans about the interview hints he had been trying to drop for me! The even bigger lesson I learned is hints don’t always work. If you want to convey a message, just get straight to the point.

It is still shocking to see the data around the wage gap. I think there are quite a few factors driving it. I by no means have all the answers here, but I’ll speak from my own experience and perception.

I think for some women who have been in the workforce for a significant stretch already, there’s a challenge to overcome their fears and tune out the critic in their head to seize the opportunity and discuss these gaps. I felt this firsthand when I was entering the workforce. When confronted with the wage gap between myself and peers, I had no idea what to do. I was like a deer in headlights. I was not equipped mentally to march myself into my boss’ office or into HR to have a discussion. Worse, my inner voice would tell me to stop “whining,” and my irrational fears about being retaliated against would stop me from moving forward. So, I convinced myself I had to work my way up like everyone else. Looking back though, and knowing what I know now, not everyone else did earn their place, at least not in that regard. I thought that the rules of working hard, delivering quality results and demonstrating value were the only factors driving pay. I was so naive. Now I try to educate myself continually about these things and coach younger people, regardless of gender, about these issues.
Working to find a clear path to action is another obstacle in our way. It’s one thing to talk about the issues, yet another thing entirely to continue to push the boulder up the hill and down the other side. Some organizations are nimbler and more adaptable while others are large and have decades of policies in place, thereby seemingly presenting more barriers to change. It’s sometimes hard to find the right champions for change, and it can be harder yet to find people with authority to make changes. Getting people past their current mindset and finding those with an authoritative voice to help within those organizations is a path forward to making the gap nonexistent.
Collecting the data, studying the current landscape and communicating to the masses is a challenge. Enabling and creating a safe space for frank and open conversations about the issues is important as well. It’s sometimes difficult for people to feel safe having the conversation. I know I didn’t feel safe talking about my first experience with the gender wage gap until nearly a decade later. It’s the responsibility of my generation and those before me to pave the way and make the future better. We should do all we can to educate and mentor younger generations.

Can you share with our readers what your work is doing to help close the gender wage gap?

Discussing the importance and value of women in finance and tech, as well as mentoring younger generations of men and women entering the workforce is how I help push for change. I think it’s helpful for people in my position to have an open dialogue. I recently joined the Ellevate Network, a global network for professional women dedicated to helping each other succeed. I look forward to connecting with other changemakers and discussing topics like this in safe, encouraging environments.

At RobustWealth, we also make a conscious effort shine the spotlight on the women in our firm whenever we can. One third of our executive team is women. While we know there is room for growth here, we believe that this is a great starting point and a step in the right direction.

We also look to Principal Financial Group, our parent company, for advice on how to make RobustWealth a great place for women to work. Over the years, Principal has been recognized by Forbes as one of the best places for women to work.

Can you recommend 5 things that need to be done on a broader societal level to close the gender wage gap. Please share a story or example for each.

More conversations need to take place at the executive level. Organizations need to look at their entire ecosystems to inspect where change needs to take place to ensure there are adequate measures, policies and cultures to foster equality. Everything from recruiting to retirement services needs to be inspected.
For recruiters and HR, I would recommend reviewing the language used in job postings and being open to different approaches to recruiting. Just because the hiring process worked in the past, doesn’t mean it’s going to be right for the future. I have had tremendous success recruiting and helping my network through recommendations and referrals, which is sometimes a departure from traditional job postings. I recommend that leaders talk with their partners in HR and start the conversation on different methods for recruiting. I’ve found that overly long and drawn out job postings don’t always do the best job of attracting the top potential talent. Looking specifically at the younger generations entering the workforce, there is more interest in what the culture of the company is like and what a typical day would entail. Those should be highlights of the job postings if that is the targeted demographic for the position. Companies should better highlight all the extra perks and benefits they offer, in addition to a few brief bullets about the job responsibilities.
Lean on agile principles, inspect and adapt existing benefits. There are great advancements being made in fintech today — why not use more of this amazing technology to better your employees’ retirement savings outlook? I love when a company uses their own technology to benefit their employees. For example, some fintech firms offer free financial planning for their employees. That’s a fantastic benefit, in addition to company matching 401(k) plans. This would help reduce the barrier for women who traditionally aren’t taking an active role in planning their financial well-being. According to a recent study from UBS Global Wealth Management, 58 percent of women leave financial choices up to their male partners.
It’s amazing how big the gap is between men and women when looking at their retirement savings and other investments. Why make the retirement investment solutions that a company offers its employees a one-size-fits-all matching contribution? Companies should adjust the contributions or employer match to better serve the diversity of employee needs. What if we had a fintech firm offer more innovative investment products and a better factors-based asset allocation alongside this? Women and men approach investing differently, and the technology used to setup and manage their portfolios should take that into account. Leveraging risk-based behavior plus factor-based technology to select the right assets for a person is an advantage that everyone should be able to leverage.
I have had great experiences attending coaching classes, seminars and training events geared toward women. I think more women should be offered access to these events and receive company sponsorship to attend a female-focused event at least once a year. It’s an investment in the employee’s growth with the opportunity to practice presentation, negotiation and coaching skills. This experience would benefit organizations in the long run, so it’s a win-win investment.

I would love to see more visibility for the stories about those organizations or even departments within companies that have been successful in closing the wage gap and making strides for more women in middle and upper management levels.

Organizations should support and sponsor their employees to join coaching groups or mentorships outside of their present roles. There’s so much potential to gain perspective, knowledge and understanding if you step out of your comfort zone and organizational silos.

I’m also a supporter of employees doing a skill/role rotation and being able to “intern” with a different team or organization for 6–12 months. Especially where women in technology is concerned, this provides opportunity for more women to learn about and experience different roles and career paths firsthand. As a visual and hands-on learner, I had the privilege of participating in a Co-Op through Drexel University, and that was the closest thing to a job rotation that I had ever done at that point. It opened my mind to consider the possibility of pursuing new roles and jobs that I previously didn’t think I would like or be good at.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Be yourself. An original is always better than a copy.” This was a quote I followed very fondly in my youth and still to this day. I find when I’m true to myself, when there’s congruence in my actions and my core values/beliefs, I’m at my best. It’s also important that I stay my most authentic self now that I’m a mom, so that my children learn this very important life lesson.

I really admire the work that Sallie Krawcheck does as CEO and Co-Founder of Ellevest. She’s knowledgeable and is a force for good when it comes to financial education for women, creating inclusive environments and standing up against things that don’t serve us or our business ecosystems any longer.

Thank you for all of these great insights!

“Five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap”, with Jessica Wooke of RobustWealth was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Mary Rinaldi: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor Syndrome”

Be honest — Self-criticism is the hallmark of Imposter Syndrome, especially sweeping declarative insults that are patently untrue. For example, saying to yourself “You really suck at pitching ideas, and also your ideas are boring and just really bad, and you don’t deserve your job at all” is a dead-end, and therefore false. But if you choose to be honest and say, “I’m nervous about today because I don’t feel connected to this idea and I’m afraid my pitch is going to go badly,” you’ve just found the way forward, now you have options.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Mary Rinaldi. Mary is an NYC-based brand and product advisor helping organizations and individuals center their stories and products in user research, analysis and contextual thinking. After 10 years in finance and tech, she co-founded Simone to help people build power and agency in their careers. She spends her time mentoring and supporting under-represented creative thinkers and entrepreneurs and is in residence at NEW INC.

Thank you so much for joining us, Mary! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?

Sure! I am a transplant New Yorker — I grew up in Beaverton, Oregon and moved to New York City after college in 2005. I moved to New York because of my parents’ stories. They told me all about their exploits and adventures in New York City as young artists — my father at SVA and my mother at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. I think they meant for their recounting of life in New York to be a cautionary tale, but all I took away was the art and music, excitement and freedom that weaved throughout their lives here while they also struggled trying to make it in the Sixties and Seventies. They never did, honestly. But I dreamed about the artist’s life, and moved to New York to experience the magic of the city. I got a very dependable job as a paralegal at a respectable Midtown firm. After two years, bored out of my mind, I took a job at an investment firm, building hedge fund products for endowments, wealthy individuals and corporations around the world. I knew nothing about finance or banking but it was 2008 and I promptly learned pretty much everything you need to know about the free market — the rich get richer and the poor get poorer (unless you build and enforce thoughtful regulations and public policy). I left finance with quite a few successes under my belt and eventually landed in tech, excited to build products that democratized access to financial education and independence. You guessed it, more disillusionment. After the final straw of sexual harassment and gender discrimination, I got out, co-founded a company and now I work on what I want to — sustainable business ideas (Small is Beautiful, read it) and mentoring creative technologists at NEW INC.

Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

I remember heading to Zurich for a week-long business trip in 2009 to brainstorm new business opportunities with colleagues across the UK and Europe. The company was looking for ways to pivot out of the old business model into a new, profitable one. Only a few years into the industry and six months in a new role, I was excited to be included, so I did my research and prepped to participate.

I learned quite a bit that week.

Most importantly it became clear we weren’t really there to design a new business plan, the whole exercise was about who was going to take power at the company now that the old money-making product line was defunct and assets under management had shrunk in half. Those of us who wanted to do the work and believed that collaboration with our colleagues would yield better results were not even in the same conversation.

That experience taught me that values drive everything, especially when the company experiences stress or a major downturn. If there are competing values, eventually the side with the most power and access to capital will win. I was super proud of how my manager, my team, and our sister team handled the 2008 crisis. We worked hard to be ethical and fair to our clients and our partners. But after that week I had a lower opinion of the company, and the industry as a whole. In theory finance and investing is supposed to be a pure place built on merit and numbers and math. But in reality, like every other business, it’s built on privilege and access. I learned how important it is to accept there’s no hidden good that you just can’t see in a place that feels unequal or inaccessible. Like Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” This holds true for companies too.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

My company is in transition at the moment, but I’m really proud of the work my co-founder and I have done. We started Simone to explore solving the real problem of inequality and injustice at work. Employees have workplace rights but today companies are spending more time and resources managing risk than they do ensuring a safe and equal workplace. We wanted to change that by putting power and knowledge back in the hands of individuals through a concierge service of work guidance, connections to professional experts like executive coaches, employment lawyers and therapists, and a community of peers to people navigating their career. I’m proud of the success our clients had negotiating employment contracts, compensation, separation agreements and planning their next move with a sense of power and excitement.

We both continue this work personally, and I hope we’ll see more entrepreneurs working on expanding access and wellbeing in the workplace.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I learned about the power of sponsorship from my first female manager, Carla. I was nineteen and working at a multinational chemical distribution company. Carla promoted me to manage a team of five, and told me I was smart, capable, and the right person for the role. She saw a bright future for me and gave me the tools and opportunity to build it. Coming from an isolated childhood and not sure if I would ever attend university, my story might have been wildly different if she had not believed in me. I turned the opportunity she gave into another promotion a year later, negotiated for better pay and when the opportunity arose, left for university. She played a huge role in my belief that as a young woman I could do anything, and I am forever grateful to her.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the experience of Impostor Syndrome. How would you define Impostor Syndrome? What do people with Imposter Syndrome feel?

People with Imposter Syndrome feel a constant anxiety that despite repeated success and evidence of their competency, they are frauds. They feel a persistent anxiety that they’ll be caught out as imposters. It’s a very specific experience.

It’s been almost fifty years since clinical psychologists, Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, identified the condition and a lot has changed since.[1] As the stigma around mental health and wellness dissipates, the wealth gap continues to widen, and job security decreases, we’re all talking about Imposter Syndrome all the time, so I think it’s important to understand not only what it is, but also what it’s not:

Imposter Syndrome is not just an anxiety about professional ability or knowledge. We all contend with insecurities and inherently understand (whether we admit it or not) that many talented people could do a better job than us with our opportunity. We are under no illusions in 2019 that merit alone brought us our success, but that we have arrived where we are through privilege and an inherent inequality in our economic and societal system. But, we are still individuals with a personal experience and so we feel we must fight for our brilliance, our skills, and our accomplishments, because if we have no story of individual excellence to tell, what do we have? This is debilitating, but it’s not Imposter Syndrome.
Imposter Syndrome is also not the lack of self-worth or belief. Again, we go through discouragement, runs of bad luck, and unexpected challenges, which we can be tempted to interpret as a result of a character flaw or internal deficiency. It’s hard not to, since the vestiges of the American health and wealth gospel still crop up in our cultural storytelling — we’re taught progress is inevitable for those who truly believe in themselves. So what does it mean when we don’t progress? That we’re less worthy. Fighting this storyline is tough and essential, but it’s not Imposter Syndrome.
Imposter Syndrome is also not the world removing opportunities from our grasp because of our gender, race, sexuality, age, body or a combination of any. Being punished for existing as ourselves is oppression. It is dehumanizing and violent, but it’s not Imposter Syndrome.

When we talk about Imposter Syndrome, it’s important that we don’t unintentionally misappropriate language for other real experiences, like those named above.

What are the downsides of Impostor Syndrome? How can it limit people?

Imposter syndrome is debilitating because it’s a constant experience. When you’re dealing with something unseen that requires mental and emotional energy to combat, the limitations can be heavy. Vulnerability drives learning — you can say “I don’t know” and ask questions with genuine interest. There is a battle going on internally and the solution to that battle is to learn and grow, but when you’re hampered by a crippling fear of being found out, the instinct is to be protective. It’s a vicious cycle.

How can the experience of Impostor Syndrome impact how one treats others?

Dealing with Imposter Syndrome can be a forcing function on self-acceptance and expand your ability to give other people warmth, space, and encouragement. Once you begin a journey to self-knowledge, what makes you feel good or bad and why, you’re on the path to self-acceptance. Sometimes, people who experience the most pain from Imposter Syndrome are the greatest source of healing for others.

We would love to hear your story about your experience with Impostor Syndrome. Would you be able to share that with us?

After building hedge fund products at an investment firm, one of our partners who I worked with closely on a successful project, wanted to hire me into their firm. This firm was one of the best — highly ethical and extremely well-respected. Even better, the team I was to join was run by one of the smartest, kindest women I met during my short career in finance. But, I was certain I would fail if I took the offer. I was fundamentally, fully afraid that without the pedigree (every single person there had attended The Wharton School of Business), the degree in economics (my degree was in literature and history), and a coveted CFA II certificate, I would last for a few months and then be fired. Looking back, I would have flourished. It was a perfect role for me — it combined my love of explicating structure and process (how the portfolio was built) and communicating outcomes (why the portfolio performed the way it did). But I didn’t take it.

Did you ever shake the feeling off? If yes, what have you done to mitigate it or eliminate it?

I don’t think people with Imposter Syndrome permanently eliminate the feeling, since it’s about alignment between your internal self and how you are perceived by the world. But I’ve found some tools to change the internal dialogue about that process. How we work — listening, teaching, and making — can be the best tool for that.

For example, I’ve accepted that I don’t pop up out of bed at 5:30 AM — that doesn’t mean I can’t make a habit of it and I have (for years). But I’ve learned that general productivity — clocking good hours at my job, meeting professional goals, and expanding my network isn’t really what I want. The grueling schedule required a level of anxiety that kept me from the work I really wanted to do. So now, I wake up around 8 AM, and I read or write for an hour with a freshly brewed cup of coffee. I arrive at my work for the day with clarity and intention — I now have multiple essays in progress, a few new roles I’m going after, and more warmth and generosity to offer others.

In your opinion, what are the 5 steps that someone who is experiencing Impostor Syndrome can take to move forward despite feeling like an “Impostor”? Please share a story or an example for each.

Own the problem — The first step is stating that there is a problem, defining what it is without blaming anyone and then getting feedback. For me, this took the form of telling a close friend about my crippling anxiety and that I was done with it. She recommended a book for me to kick off the work and it was life-changing. Hot tip: read The Artist’s Way, it’s profound.
Get into the world around you — Take walks, ride your bike, notice people, count oddities of nature, and notice the cracks in the sidewalk. While I was on a mission to overcome creative paralysis (brought on by Imposter Syndrome), I enrolled in a course called Drawing for Writers. I learned how to observe with attention, how to be present and found honesty and courage in my writing. Hands down, best class ever.
Take your time — Luxuriate in the time it takes to change with no particular outcome other than feeling less anxiety about whether or not you’re worthy of your life, job or what you want. Time is elastic, so just go with it. Move quickly when you need to, move slowly when you need to. It will change your perception of the world.
Be honest — Self-criticism is the hallmark of Imposter Syndrome, especially sweeping declarative insults that are patently untrue. For example, saying to yourself “You really suck at pitching ideas, and also your ideas are boring and just really bad, and you don’t deserve your job at all” is a dead-end, and therefore false. But if you choose to be honest and say, “I’m nervous about today because I don’t feel connected to this idea and I’m afraid my pitch is going to go badly,” you’ve just found the way forward, now you have options. You might have a teammate help you out with the pitch, or interrogate what you feel is missing from the idea. Or you may accept that this one may not go your way and take some rest and refreshment.
Be disciplined — Practice, practice, practice! As you find time throughout your week to do all these things, ritualize them. Changing the conversation is an ongoing practice. You will experience setbacks and anxious moments, and how you respond to them will have a big impact on the steadiness of your outlook. Healthy emotional and mental grooves help us persist through difficulty.

I’d like to see a movement of living in peace with each other. A movement of non-violence for the sake of non-violence. I see violence in most of our structures. It’s used to govern who can move freely, who can vote, who can have a living wage, who can have bodily autonomy, who can express opinions, and the list goes on. This kind of violence needs to end. Today protests go on because governments and societies are unwilling to end the violence that powers systems of inequality. And so people protest and take a stand for autonomy, for freedom, respect and peace.

If we could pass different laws, build different governing systems — ones that are non-punitive, inclusive and respectful, with a universal code of ethics members agree to live by, perhaps we could actually work together to heal our species, our ecosystems and our planet.

That is my deepest hope.

I’m not a scientist, but I believe that we would build a more compassionate, sustainable way of life if we understood ourselves as part of the Earth, not masters of it, just one species among many with a responsibility to help others. Jane Goodall’s work to build that possible future is beautiful and inspiring. I would love to have lunch with her and ask how her work could translate to sustainable diplomacy structures to help the aggrieved and aggriever resolve disputes and conflict.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

I’m on Twitter at @soulcarousel, and I write a newsletter called PSST — it’s a cheeky but serious weekly compendium of work tips, advice and cool stuff people are doing in their careers. I am focusing on people who have deep wisdom to share, and who are also considered “ordinary.” They may not be the next unicorn or have a sexy title, but they make life and work a joy — people are, after all, all we’ve got.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

Mary Rinaldi: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor Syndrome” was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Maiden Manzanal-Frank: “Promote the causes that you are personally and professionally aligned with…

Maiden Manzanal-Frank: “Promote the causes that you are personally and professionally aligned with so that it is not hard work but part of your lifestyle, values, and mores as a person”

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Be yourself. Promote the causes that you are personally and professionally aligned with so that it is not hard work but part of your lifestyle, values, and mores as a person. Whatever you do after that is pleasurable and never about public accolades or recognition but being somebody that can contribute to the common good.

As a part of my series about people who are using their platform to make a significant social impact, I had the pleasure of interviewing Maiden Manzanal-Frank. Known as the Strategy Maven, Maiden Manzanal-Frank is an international organizational development expert based out Alberta, Canada that helps organizations achieve their impacts at the local, national, and international levels. She consults, writes, speaks, and engages others in accelerating business growth, promoting social innovation, and amplifying their impacts.

Thank you so much for doing this with us Maiden! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I worked in international development for almost a decade with considerable international experience working on global projects in 14 countries, including a consulting assignment with the United Nations. I had the privilege and access to the many disciplines that I weaved together to create a tapestry of unique value for organizations that I worked with. My background in social sciences, international politics and development, social economy, public policy and advocacy, and grassroots organizing have profound impact in my development as a career professional and have led me to believe that social impacts can be created not just by those who are steeped in development paradigms but have extraordinary passion to create a better society or community.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?

People asked me how I started with my business and I always say that it happened a few years ago when I was contemplating the possibility of forging my own path vis-à-vis following the traditional model of 8–5 jobs in the corporate or government sector. It wasn’t those ‘light-bulb moments’ but more of the slow, steady realization of the power of commitment to take the next albeit ambiguous step forward. I never looked back since.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I made a lot of mistakes along the way, perfecting my craft, learning from those who had been successful, and learning from all around me in terms of trends, movements, and seismic shifts in many places that could provide inspiration and solutions to my clients. Success, never perfection.

Ok super. Let’s now jump to the core focus of our interview. Can you describe to our readers how you are using your platform to make a significant social impact?

As a global strategist working on impact, social media influencers can definitely use their current platform to speak to a certain cause or support social issues that will benefit the society in profound ways. I have told a lot of influencers to use their voice, talent, and connections that just their social media clout to clarify specific issues, advocate for good causes and increase public attention including the policymakers for underserviced populations needing special needs for government action. I also caution them to pick the right cause that resonates with them as a professional, individual, and as part of a community or network aligned with their own values and interests.

Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted by your work?

In my community, social media practitioners amplify the causes that are supported by the United Way. This partnership increases the public’s focus on the benefits of giving, raises the profile of the charitable organization, and, most importantly, engages the public to become more aware of the ‘unignorable’ issues that beset our community.

Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do help you address the root of the problems you are trying to address?

The community should have a collaborative approach to problem-solving. It should nurture the assets that already exist in the community and not look for ‘the angel investor’ or the ‘enlightened politician’ that will save them from their miseries. Stopping the victim mentality is very important.

The community should look for great examples of things that work. A best practice is seldom a one-size-fits-all. The best “best practices” are found locally, from individuals in the community who champions the cause or are already involved in the community. Developing leaders and honoring those who are leading the way for others have to be taken seriously. Third, the root cause of some of the issues in the community is hard to diagnose. It will need social innovation, to map out the systems which it operates and create the linkages that are important to be able to find the right solutions and the right actors to make it work. Decades-long problems take time to be rooted out because people had come to live with it rather than addressing it earlier when it started.

What specific strategies have you been using to promote and advance this cause? Can you recommend any good tips for people who want to follow your lead and use their social platform for a social good?

Be yourself. Promote the causes that you are personally and professionally aligned with so that it is not hard work but part of your lifestyle, values, and mores as a person. Whatever you do after that is pleasurable and never about public accolades or recognition but being somebody that can contribute to the common good.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

I would tell university students to start building themselves and knowing who they are before they can help the world or their community. “You don’t have to go to Afghanistan and do great things. I know people who do regularly but that is not for everyone. You can do something here locally that with a global impact.”

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I would like that social innovation will have more linkages with corporate innovation. That would be exciting to see. The divide between corporate social good and the social development good is artificial, and we need to see future synergies developing that will address some of the most intractable global issues we are facing.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

There is no shortcut to success.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂

Not right now.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Please follow me at Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook or get more resources at my website: www.globalstakesconsulting.com

This was very meaningful, thank you so much!

Maiden Manzanal-Frank: “Promote the causes that you are personally and professionally aligned with… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business”, With Barbara Bogar Head Digital…

“How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business”, With Barbara Bogar Head Digital Strategist at Reicura

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Show personality. We all know there is a human face behind every one of our favourite IG accounts. No one wants to follow a brand or interact with one that comes across boring, robotic and with a lack of emotion. When it comes to community management for our clients, we really emphasize this and we have definitely seen the wonders a little bit of fun can do for a brand when it’s appropriate for the target audience.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Barbara Bogar, Head Digital Strategist from Reicura’s Toronto office. Barbara leads the social media team for various clients in different industries including fast food chains, retail brands, financial services, and more. She is the true definition of a crazy cat lady, and considers herself somewhat of an internet explorer. On her days off (social media never sleeps, what are those?) you can find her with a glass of red wine, look at memes and catching up on the latest social media news and trends.

Thank you so much for doing this with us, Barbara! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I have always enjoyed using social media, from constantly changing my MySpace layout, to applying the ‘Lark’ filter on all of my photos when Instagram launched. It’s been fun to have my hobby grow into my career! While I was in school and working as a server at a restaurant, I offered to help with promoting the company on social media since I was an avid user and understood the importance of a brand having an online presence. I started with helping out one location and after a year and a half, I was managing the social media content for all 7 locations. I went to school for fashion but realized that digital media was what I wanted to stick to, and the rest is history!

Can you explain to our readers why you are an authority about Social Media Marketing?

To me a Social Media Marketing authority is someone who is constantly up to date with online trends since these change all the time. It’s also someone that constantly keeps an eye on brands and influencers’ activities & content to see what followers respond to and engage with the most. As someone working in this field its also important to be creative and realistic, to be able to see the big picture and have a clear idea of what campaigns looks like from idea to execution. Social media is a powerful tool and if used strategically it can do wonders for a brand — including growing sales.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

I was working on location at a music festival in Europe for one of our music app clients and we had this cool experiential event planned. The merchandise for the event was being shipped and was running into every imaginable customs issue and delay. We didn’t receive the merch in time for the planned activation so we had to ditch our original and planned activation and quickly come up with a new one. There are times when no matter how organized and planned out something might be, things that are outside your control will happen. It’s really important to have a positive and optimistic attitude during these times. Do your best to adjust your plan and move on, don’t spend your energy on something you can’t change.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I was working on a campaign that involved influencers. There was this influencer who had 2 different accounts under different names. I couldn’t figure out why this was the case, maybe something shady was up, I thought. Later I found out that the 2 accounts belonged to 2 separate people. They were twins who had the same exact style and aesthetic. Lesson: do your research and communicate, don’t be afraid to ask questions if you aren’t sure of something, or if it doesn’t make sense in your head. ☺

Which social media platform have you found to be most effective to use to increase business revenues? Can you share a story from your experience?

It depends on the brand and the target audience. I love working with brands that generally target millennials in which case Instagram has always proved to be the most effective to increase brand awareness and revenues. We recently did a huge launch for the first Canadian vegan fast-food chain and social ended up being the most significant avenue for reaching new customers. Our numbers were just insane — both online and offline!

Let’s talk about Instagram specifically, now. Can you share 6 ways to leverage Instagram to dramatically improve your business? Please share a story or example for each.

Show personality. We all know there is a human face behind every one of our favourite IG accounts. No one wants to follow a brand or interact with one that comes across boring, robotic and with a lack of emotion. When it comes to community management for our clients, we really emphasize this and we have definitely seen the wonders a little bit of fun can do for a brand when it’s appropriate for the target audience.
Use influencers intelligently. Nowadays there are influencers for essentially any and every market. Make sure to do your research and determine which influencer would be best for your brand. Look at numbers and make sure the terms of the collaboration are clear before you work together. Don’t think that only mega influencers will bring your brand exposure, as micro influencers actually tend to have a more loyal and engaged following hence them being smaller and feeling like your BFF rather than a celebrity.
Include UGC in your content marketing strategy. User generated content I think is so important for a brand’s success. By sharing your customer’s content, not only are you highlighting them as your true and trustworthy brand advocates, but others seeing the content will connect with your brand in a more personal and authentic way. There is much more value in content that seeks to engage with and is relatable by similar users.
Plan your feed. Instagram is the most visual social platform and some of the most popular brands on IG have an extremely aesthetically pleasing feed. Having a thought-out feed allows your brand to instantly showcase your branding and the visual experience you want your potential followers to have. Each post you put up should work on its on and as part of your entire feed. I think @mariecher has done a beautiful job with how she’s branded herself through her IG feed.
Stories! The story feature on Instagram has become increasingly popular with 400 million monthly active users. Since stories allow for real time, and temporary content to be shared it doesn’t come across as pushy or aggressive as opposed to if you were posting multiple posts a day. The stories feature is meant to be used for storytelling (shocking, right?) which is actually a really important part of marketing for a brand. Be creative and be real!
Know when to post. There are many tools available that will track your audience’s activity and determine when they are the most active. Knowing your best posting times will allow your content to be shown to your followers when they are scrolling through the feed and you guessed it, this will also result in higher engagement.

Because of the position that you are in, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂

I do think it’s important to be passionate about promoting a cause you personally care about whether that be climate change, mental health, pay equity and so on. I think when people who share the same passion come together collectively and support, demand a change that they believe in, is when a movement happens.

Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them 🙂

Definitely Sandra Sandor, founder of Hungarian fashion label @nanushka. I have been a huge fan of the brand for over 6 years and it’s been so exciting to see a small Hungarian label grow up and take on the world. Its really inspiring to see a female founded brand from my home country become so strong and successful.

Thank you so much for these great insights. This was very enlightening!

“How to Use Instagram To Dramatically Improve Your Business”, With Barbara Bogar Head Digital… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor Syndrome” With Elena Doukas of…

“How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor Syndrome” With Elena Doukas of Garrett Leight California Optical

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Get organized: I think common result of imposter syndrome is either procrastination or anxiety. If I find myself freezing up or on the opposite end approaching a project sporadically, I try to get myself organized. I think a huge stereotype is that creative people are unorganized, where I think a lot creatives actually thrive in an organized environment, and they just need to find the best structure for them.

As a part of our series about how very accomplished leaders were able to succeed despite experiencing Imposter Syndrome, I had the pleasure of interviewing Elena Doukas.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?

I’m the Chief Designer at Garrett Leight California Optical and I’m coming up on my 10 year anniversary with the company. I started in apparel design, and after interviewing for a sales position in Garrett’s first optical store on Abbot Kinney, I fell in love with eyewear and knew I wanted to design it. At the time, Garrett had not yet started his own eyewear brand, and he trained me to be an optician in his store. He told me he wanted to start his own collection, and he brought me on as a design assistant. We worked odd hours, between the working in the retail store and working on the collection, and within the year, were making our first hires and expanding to a studio space in Venice. Today the Garrett Leight collection is sold in over 50 countries around the world and we have 5 brick and mortar stores.

Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

After Garrett announced he was launching his own brand, we were traveling to the factories and setting out to sell the collection to the top eyewear accounts around the world. We divided up territories and our goal was to visit stores right before a big eyewear trade show in hopes to be the first to show them something new for the season. The first trip we took we split up across Europe for 3–4 weeks and saw 6 different countries. There was a point during the trip where I would get to 4 cities in one day, catching trains or driving myself. This was before there was an affordable or fast cell phone data plan, and I think I had printed out Google maps!

In hindsight, I was showing up on the doorsteps of the top eyewear accounts in the world, many of who did not speak English, and I think a bit of my naive nature kept my anxiety at bay during that time. I knew the collection was something special, but I had no idea what our brand would grow into. It was also an invaluable experience for me as a designer, to see the reaction to the collection first hand. By the end, I really knew what frames were good and what needed to be improved.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Garrett Leight California Optical is an independent eyewear company, and if you’re not familiar with the eyewear industry, you may not realize that two or three large corporations own the majority of it. Like any industry, when you’re going up against corporate giants you have to find a way to cut through the noise and stand apart.

Ten years ago when we started the company, it was always a mission to bring an authentic brand experience through curated content to our customers. Over the last decade with the explosion of digital interactions, our industry has gone through a lot of changes, but people still want a human experience. And by making that a priority for the brand, we’re able to connect with our end consumer and educate them on everything that goes into our product. Garrett himself has a very specific perspective, and when you’re introduced to the brand, I think that personality comes through. People want to know that real people are behind the brand and the product, and it has made them eager to join the conversation. Early on during one of our long sales trips, a waiter in Paris that was serving us at a restaurant complimented our glasses and said he had the same pair. He proudly pulled out a pair of Garrett Leight sunglasses. I have a few stories similar to this where I’ll be on an airplane and someone will see a Garrett Leight logo on something I have and take a look at their own glasses and connect the dots that I work for the company. Unlike apparel, eyewear is an accessory people wear every day, on their face, so it carries a different weight in their lives. It becomes a part of their personality. Garrett started a cult following early on, and when people talk to you about their appreciation for the product, you can really feel their excitement.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

Without question, Garrett took a chance on me in the very beginning and was willing to teach me the ways of the optical industry. His father Larry Leight, joined our company a few years ago and he’s a walking eyewear encyclopedia. I have been very lucky to work with both of them, and they both have inspired me and pushed me in different ways.

Imposter Syndrome is the feeling of not being good enough, or in a role you’re not prepared for. It’s the feeling when your repeated insecurities creep into your head and cause stress, anxiety and self doubt.

What are the downsides of Impostor Syndrome? How can it limit people?

When imposter syndrome sets in, I think all your energy goes towards fixating on your insecurities. The focus is taken away from what you should be working on and you’re unable to do your best work.

How can the experience of Impostor Syndrome impact how one treats others?

I think everyone is different in the side effects of imposter syndrome. Some people I think freeze up and lack leadership and confidence, and others try to overcompensate and can become defensive as a front to their insecurities.

We would love to hear your story about your experience with Impostor Syndrome. Would you be able to share that with us?

My education was in fashion design, and although there are many parallels from apparel design to product design, I’ve always had regret that I didn’t take product design courses. When I started building out the design team at Garrett Leight, I was nervous that candidates with way more product design skills would not respect me as a boss, or that I wouldn’t know what were the magic ingredients were needed to build a strong team. Designing frames was something I was grasping quickly, but managing a team was something I had never done.

On the flip side, when we were first starting out as a company, there were only a few of us, and I had horrible work life balance. I would stay at the office late, and lost touch with a few friends and had trouble giving my friend base the time they deserved. I also had no time to network or interact with any type of peer group, which made me feel like an imposter when I started interacting in fashion circles. It was like an imposter pendulum; on one side I felt not technical enough, and on the other side not connected enough. I was in my late 20s introducing myself as a design director of an eyewear company with no previous eyewear experience, and bracing myself for questions about how I got the job. I knew I got this opportunity from a combination of hard work and luck, but would constantly question if I was truly the most qualified person for the job.

Did you ever shake the feeling off? If yes, what have you done to mitigate it or eliminate it?

As the company grew, I wasn’t always able to have a clear vision of how I wanted to personally grow, and I realized I needed to make some changes and give more balance to my life. I think the most confusing part for me was the evolution of my job. When I was hired, the company needed me to do a lot of roles (design, development, production, and sales), and as we grew it needed me to be an expert at one thing. It was difficult for me to adapt, because no one had a magic ball telling me exactly how I had to change. However, I got some good advice from one of my mentors to really understand what my best strengths were, and had a real constructive conversation on the things I wasn’t good at. There was no how-to guide on building and managing a team, and giving direction. This was a place of unknown for me. And the irony is, that the advice I was given is that no one is ever blessed with knowing exactly how to do everything. It’s the journey of figuring it out that helps you learn how and continue perfecting.

In your opinion, what are 5 steps that someone who is experiencing Impostor Syndrome can take to move forward despite feeling like an “Impostor”? Please share a story or an example for each.

Get organized: I think common result of imposter syndrome is either procrastination or anxiety. If I find myself freezing up or on the opposite end approaching a project sporadically, I try to get myself organized. I think a huge stereotype is that creative people are unorganized, where I think a lot creatives actually thrive in an organized environment, and they just need to find the best structure for them. Try to schedule out time for yourself when you’re at your best to tackle your most overwhelming issues. For me it’s early mornings, before I’ve checked my phone or email so I have zero distractions. Bullet journaling, which is a daily free form journal, is something I actively do to keep myself organized, and really has helped me not push things to the side. If you google Bullet Journal, don’t compare your journal to the thousands of journal images showing perfect penmanship, art doodles and different colored pens. As much as I envy some of these peoples art skills, it’s absolutely insane to think you should spend that much time working on making your bullet journal perfect. The whole point is to free mind up so you can focus on more important things.
Rinse and Repeat (But with intent): Growing up I played competitive soccer and I had a coach who started every practice saying, “Practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect.” It wasn’t until after I graduated college that I realized the intent of this saying wasn’t to become a perfectionist, but it was to be present in every moment you are working on your goal. Now in my job, I’ve also learned to embrace doing multiple iterations of a design and work on them in the full extent. Even when I think it’s finished, I’ll try doing several more. It’s in the process of exploring all the possibilities that you find something new and original, even if the first version ends up being the one you go with.
Mentor: I’m very grateful to have several mentors in my life, and can’t stress enough how important I think it is to have a soundboard. My brother in law is in a line of work where he’s frequently meeting with investors, and he shared with me that in almost every investor meeting a commonly asked question is, “Who are you talking to?”, meaning who’s in your circle giving you advice, and are they smarter than you? Quite frankly, you’re probably not the smartest person on any one subject, and there’s a bit of relief in admitting it and finding guidance from someone who is. I learned from Garrett not to design in a bubble, and he actively pushes me to get feedback from others outside of the office on designs.
Peer relationships: Having close friends that can call you on your bullshit is equally as important as having a peer group within your industry. I now have several friends who are in fashion and eyewear, and a lot of our relationships are built around a support system we give to each other.
Wellness program: Work life balance is a must for me. Find an activity or routine that allows you to turn your brain off and give back to yourself. Yoga has been my way of turning off, and is a practice in itself of learning to shut down a wandering mind. I’ve learned that the reaction of letting your mind wander to negative thoughts is actually possible to shut down, but it takes practice.

I think emotional intelligence development is so important to us as people — as individuals, as a community, and as a society. Learning the art of self awareness and communication has been helped me grow both in my personal life and in my career. It’s an ongoing process with a commitment to self improvement — learning, accepting, evolving, practicing.

Workwise, I’ve been lucky enough to have learned this from great managers and mentors along the way. I’m still learning of existing programs operated both in-house and externally that support better work environments for a more emotional skilled workplace, but I would love to be a part of a movement that made these more readily available to young professionals. Teaching people how to operate and communicate in a more emotional skilled workplace promotes resilience and self esteem all around and quite frankly, I think could help a lot with the issue at hand here, Imposture Syndrome.

It might be all this talk about emotional intelligence, but I would even take a private coffee with Esther Perel! I think she is brilliant, and I love the discussions I have with friends and coworkers from her books and podcasts.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

You can find me on instagram @elena_glco or LinkedIn

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!

“How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor Syndrome” With Elena Doukas of… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

ZAGENO CEO Dr Florian Wegener: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor Syndro

ZAGENO CEO Dr. Florian Wegener: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor Syndrome”

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Set yourself a stretch goal. As you confidence grows so should your ambition. You may decide that you want to bring some media attention to yourself and your brand by pitching an idea to a journalist or submitting your company for a speaking opportunity or industry award. While these can be very hard to achieve they will help you suppress and mitigate feelings of inferiority.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Florian Wegener. Dr. Florian Wegener is the co-founder and CEO of ZAGENO, an award-winning online marketplace serving the needs of research scientists. He is also a board-certified physician. In 2015, Florian co-founded ZAGENO Inc. and has since led its commercialization and go-to-market strategy. He relocated to the Greater Boston area in 2018 to continue ZAGENO’s development — principally its marketing, sales, vendor development, integration, investor’s relations and brand reputation. Prior to ZAGENO he was a vice president and global head of eCommerce for Qiagen GmbH, located in Hilden, Germany. At Qiagen Florian led the company’s digital transformation, through executing an e-commerce strategy and by implementing a new digital marketing and sales platform responsible for approximately $400 million in annual revenue. Between 2007 and 2013 Florian was a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Munich, Germany. At BCG, he drove international projects including one that defined a long-term strategy for a portfolio company in the biopharmaceutical space. These included a project based on a patient segmentation/ dynamic patient model for the development of a lifecycle management framework. At BCG his work extended to transatlantic engagements (Europe and US), for big pharma and med-tech players. This offered Florian exposure to the regulated laboratory market and the creation of a business unit for clinical testing. Further, this work provided him with significant experience in the life science market — specifically along the value chain. Florian became a fully certified MD in 2004 and in 2005, gaining the title Dr. med., magna cum laude. After completing his medical degree at the Universities of Freiburg, Frankfurt, Toronto, and at New York University, Florian spent two years as a practicing cardiologist at the University Hospital of Frankfurt, where he performed invasive electrophysiological studies and heart surgeries. Following his full-time medical career, Florian attended the IE Business School where he earned his MBA in entrepreneurship, corporate finance/valuation, strategy and negotiations.

Thank you so much for joining us, Florian! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’?

Before co-founding ZAGENO I worked as a physician — specifically as a cardiologist.

It was during this time when I learned how to make an impact on people’s lives by performing exploratory EP studies, inserting heart catheters and measuring electricity within the beating heart. When signs of a life-threatening arrhythmia were detected, I would insert an ICD (implantable cardioverter-defibrillator) to prolong the life of the patient and increase their quality of life.

During this period I paid close attention to healthcare systems — especially in the three regions where I did my training — the United States, Canada and Germany. This would turn out to be the impetus for my future, broader vision.

Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

For most people, becoming a physician is a life accomplishment — the reward of summiting after a long and difficult climb. Said another way it is not something from which a person easily walks away.

That said, I think the most interesting story from my career is the one that people find most surprising — the fact that I chose to end my career as a physician in order to pursue one as an entrepreneur. While medicine was a very enriching experience it was not everything I thought it would be. As I evaluated my prospects for the future I didn’t like what I felt would be my career for the next decade, which seemed like a long, dark and lonely tunnel.

I ultimately decided to leave the hospital to pursue a different path and sought opportunities that would make a bigger impact — this could be accomplished in a business setting.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Since ZAGENO’s earliest days we talked about the EUREKA moments that our successful venture would engender. By significantly reducing the administrative burden of scientists, ZAGENO would enable more time for science, leading to more (scientific) EUREKA moments.

I have since come to accept and embrace the idea of ZAGENO itself was a EUREKA moment because of the win-win-win situation it has the potential to create.

Scientists win through a platform designed to save time and provide choice in the supplies they procure.
Procurement teams win through centralized invoicing to simplify order processing and fulfillment.
Suppliers win through a new channel to market — especially with the fast-growing category of smaller biotechs
The idea of a multi-vendor marketplace is not new. Industries from transportation to utilities, and all ranges of consumables have long-held strategies predicated on this model — but not within life science.

ZAGENO is unique in its goal to solve a complex problem while also creating a brand new market.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

Without hesitation I would say that my wife has been that person who most helped me get where I am today. In supporting me she built on the efforts made by my entire family.

For her part, my wife grew up predisposed to globalism — she was multinational before it was trendy. Being raised in different cultures: Germany, Spain and Latin America afforded her a unique and open minded perspective on the world. From very early on in our relationship and up until the present day she has taught and encouraged me to adopt this type of ideology and to ultimately follow my heart.

Among the many positive outcomes of this life approach, this has resulted in a company (ZAGENO) that is among the most diverse of its kind. Within a company of approximately 75 professionals we are proud to have 25 different nationalities and 17 languages spoken.That diversity is our strength.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the experience of Impostor Syndrome.

How would you define Impostor Syndrome?

Impostor syndrome is a commonly held but not often discussed or defined feeling that can occur in virtually every walk of life. This could manifest in a professional athlete who is made a team captain but somehow feels unworthy of the honor. It could be experienced by a team leader or CEO who faces a particular uncertainty, specifically related to their leadership role.

What do people with impostor Syndrome feel?

The overriding feeling is simple — inferiority. Regardless of the situation or environment, the feeling of inferiority can exist as a response to an assumed role and responsibility. It hinges on the person’s uncertainty in their ability to meet and exceed that role and those responsibilities.

What are the downsides of Impostor Syndrome? How can it limit people?

A clear and unfortunate downside to impostor syndrome is wasted time. Time is a precious commodity in business, which is why any downside — due to a lack of productivity — can interrupt any number of day-to-day business goals like meeting employee needs, addressing customer demands or achieving sales targets.

Whether as a functional leader or a company’s top executive the notion of being an impostor can cause a ripple effect across any business.

How can the experience of Impostor Syndrome impact how one treats others?

On this point there is actually an upside to impostor syndrome, which I would describe as a value of vulnerability.

Much like medicine, being a CEO can also be a lonely existence largely because of perceptions of the position by those around you. If you value transparency — as I do — you communicate to your staff about the positives and negatives. This is especially true within start-up organizations where the work is extremely collaborative and usually in tight quarters. If within this environment mid-level managers and even junior staff see and experience humanity in their leadership it can have a net-positive effect on bringing people together and removing unproductive hierarchies.

We would love to hear your story about your experience with Impostor Syndrome. Would you be able to share that with us?

I experienced this in several ways; I suspect most entrepreneurs would agree, attest and empathize with this part of the journey.

In the earliest days, a start-up presents ideas and aspirations to an audience of one or in the situation of co-founders, two. Sitting at a table and doodling ideas on the back of a napkin are experiences that all successful entrepreneurs vividly remember. As time goes by these memories can take-on a deeper meaning.

What immediately follows that initial ideation is the endless selling that follows.

Selling your idea to investors.
Selling the idea of employment to the best people despite having no brand recognition.
Selling a nascent offering to customers.

While I always believed in the core objective of ZAGENO the above points were key moments experienced by me and my co-founder. For every positive meeting with a venture capitalist, prospective employee or customer there were far more negative ones that could have knocked us back and make us feel like impostors.

Did you ever shake the feeling off? If yes, what have you done to mitigate it or eliminate it?

Yes, of course, you can shake-off the feeling of impostor syndrome.

In my experience success begets success so a focus and rigor on achieving incremental steps towards your bigger vision is critical. If successful you will eventually experience a momentum with enough funding to attract the right people who can execute a winning strategy.

In your opinion, what are 5 steps that someone who is experiencing Impostor Syndrome can take to move forward despite feeling like an “Impostor”? Please share a story or an example for each.

Find a coach and talk about it. There is truth to the saying that a problem shared is a problem halved. Having a person with whom you can speak directly and demonstrate vulnerabilities that are not appropriate in a work setting can help provide a much-needed perspective.
Set small goals and achieve them. Even establishing a regular routine can be a professional win. Take the time to map out a number of goals that may not amount to much independently but that, taken as a group, will demonstrate clear progress.
Celebrate success. Enjoy the progress you’ve achieved with some kind of celebration. Hiring your next great sales executive may earn you a break from the normal grind to hit the gym or try that new lunch place around the corner from the office. Meanwhile, a new customer win could be cause for a more significant way to celebrate.
Meet your peers. Locate ways you can engage with other business leaders in a setting that’s interactive and organized around problem-solving. You’re likely to find that you’re not alone in the challenges that can feed impostor syndrome.
Set yourself a stretch goal. As you confidence grows so should your ambition. You may decide that you want to bring some media attention to yourself and your brand by pitching an idea to a journalist or submitting your company for a speaking opportunity or industry award. While these can be very hard to achieve they will help you suppress and mitigate feelings of inferiority.

It’s a great question and somewhat ironic because the ideas that cause impostor feelings are the same that can help you pivot away from those feelings.

The idea of ZAGENO can be seen through a business lens but can also be thought of as a lever to disrupt an industry and — in turn — cause a positive societal impact. If through the ZAGENO marketplace we can reduce the time spent by a single scientist to procure lab supplies by 70% and that time gets reappropriated to achieving successful research outcomes then what began as an idea by a so-called impostor evolves into a viable business that can inspire a movement.

Now, take the improvements to that single scientist and scale it out to hundreds and even thousands of scientists. It is fair to say that this would be an inspiring movement!

I would love to have a working lunch with Elon Musk. During lunch, we could discuss how he sees the world as a person with insatiable curiosity and a track record of setting and achieving extraordinary goals.

I believe that he is either the antithesis of an impostor or someone who has perfected the art of overcoming the negative impacts associated with those feelings.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

I am an active LinkedIn user and would welcome engagement and new connections to https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-florian-wegener-2b575218/.

Thank you for all of these great insights!

ZAGENO CEO Dr Florian Wegener: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor Syndro was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“5 Things We Need To Do To Close The Gender Wage Gap”, with Sarah Bolt of Forth

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

We need to stop devaluing women once they have children. Taking time out of your career to have children doesn’t mean that you eradicate the years of experience you have or are less ambitious or less invested in a company. We need to harness the experience these women have by offering more flexibility in the workplace whether it be flexible hours, remote working or job sharing.

As part of my series about “the five things we need to do to close the gender wage gap” I had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Bolt. Sarah is the founder of Forth an innovative personal biometrics tracking platform, which helps people navigate their way to better health. Through her career, Sarah has worked across a number of industries from music to the global technology company Dyson, before finding a passion for supporting behaviour change within the world of healthcare. Sarah raised initial investment to launch Forth in 2017 through crowdfunding after being turned down by a number of investors. She is a strong advocate of female-led businesses especially in her home town of Bristol which has a thriving start-up community.

Thank you so much for joining us, Sarah! Can you tell us the “backstory” that brought you to this career path?

Birthdays can often be the trigger for change and it was turning 40 which was the landmark one for me. I decided I wanted a career that made a social impact, and at the time I was working as the New Product Development Manager for Dyson. The two options were politics or healthcare, and I choose the latter.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?

In the early days of the business I did a number of 15 minute investment pitches. At one such pitch I was almost superfluous to proceeding, as the investor panel spent most of the time arguing between themselves as to whether I had an investable business. I actually came out feeling quite bullish as I realised investors certainly don’t hold all the answers, and I knew more about the industry I was intending to launch in than any of them.

Can you share a story about the most interesting mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I think you often underestimate what it takes to start a business and the stress it puts you under. When we were trying to raise initial investment, I took my laptop on holiday with the intention to work on the investment deck. It was a huge mistake. On day one my son, then aged 10, accidentally spilt a full glass of fizzy drink onto the keyboard. The laptop never switched on again and I learnt the lesson that family holidays and work should never mix! You have to choose one or the other and give yourself a break (as well as giving your family a break from seeing you constantly at the keyboard).

I think women under-sell themselves. When a woman looks at a job specification, they think ‘I can do 80% of it’ then worry about the remaining 20% they may have little experience with. Men however go with the approach, ‘I can do 80%, therefore I am perfect for the role’. Men believe more in themselves and believe they are worth it. We undervalue ourselves and don’t push ourselves forward as much as men do.
I believe that some women are more focused on achieving work/life/value balance rather than the pure monetary element of a job. They opt for a salary that gets them by, and enables them to do things they want to do. Because of that, they are not always pushing on earning more.
When management teams are majority-led by men, there is the risk of inequality. They try to get away with what they can and women don’t push hard enough.

Can you share with our readers what your work is doing to help close the gender wage gap?

We are looking to balance our workforce and to ensure that regardless of gender there is a straightforward pay level. For example, at the moment we have an all male tech team, but our next techie recruit has to be female. There isn’t a difference on pay by gender but on skills, and as a female founder it is really important to me that we are building a business that has both the right environment for women and for all to develop regardless of gender.

Can you recommend 5 things that need to be done on a broader societal level to close the gender wage gap. Please share a story or an example for each.

We need more women at the heads of business. It needs to be the norm rather than the anomaly. In Fortune’s list of the top 500 companies, females make up fewer than 3.1 % of executive staff.
To do this, women need to be seen as less of ‘a risk’ and viewed more as ‘an opportunity’ in line with men. The risk/opportunity gender imbalance is highly visible in the investment world where female-led start-ups which only get 7% of total venture funding.
We need to stop devaluing women once they have children. Taking time out of your career to have children doesn’t mean that you eradicate the years of experience you have or are less ambitious or less invested in a company. We need to harness the experience these women have by offering more flexibility in the workplace whether it be flexible hours, remote working or job sharing.
Looking more broadly at society, we need to encourage girls at a very young age that anything is possible, getting them more involved in business with female role models in business being visible. These role models are not held up as the norm, but they should be. Successful women in business are the norm.
We need more transparency in salary scales in companies. This is clear in the public sector where it is equitable, however there is plenty of obfuscation in the private sector resulting in a discrepancy in salaries based on gender.

I would campaign for compulsory food technology lessons in schools for all kids up until the age of 16. Type 2 diabetes is the biggest growing health epidemic facing the modern world. Gaining knowledge of food and cooking is so crucial to our future health and it should have the same importance as Maths or English. We need to encourage the next generation not to grab for sugar laden snacks and the ready-made processed option at mealtimes.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Eleanor Roosevelt.

This really speaks to my belief that a key element of what holds some women back is a lack of self-belief. This is something they need to overcome to build equality. I’ve experienced this many times myself, especially when I originally founded the business and was seeking seed investment. These days I’m far more bullish and embrace more of a ‘Yes, I can’ attitude.

Given my line of work it has to be Elizabeth Holmes –the disgraced founder of Theranos, now one of Silicon Valley’s biggest fraud cases. The book ‘Bad Blood’ which charts the journey of Elizabeth and Theranos is truly jaw dropping. Elizabeth’s vision was to provide technology that provided a wealth of information on the health of a person using a tiny sample of blood. She raised $400 million and the company was at one point valued at $9bn.

However, it turned out that she didn’t have the tech and is now facing criminal fraud charges. She started with an amazing vision, and I’m sure similar to many people who go into healthcare she was driven by the desire to make a positive impact on people’s lives. I’d really like to sit down with Elizabeth and ask her when did she lose sight of this. When did human life become less important than ‘success at all costs’.

This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.

“5 Things We Need To Do To Close The Gender Wage Gap”, with Sarah Bolt of Forth was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Liz Forkin Bohannon of Sseko Designs: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor

Liz Forkin Bohannon of Sseko Designs: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor Syndrome”

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

When we exist in a state of fear of “being found out” we naturally start to act out of a scarcity and threat model. You will become less generous and trusting of others. You will spend more time comparing yourself to others which, in addition to wasting your time, is also a form of objectification. Instead of seeing others for the unique and worthy person they are, you start to see them only in relation to how the “measure up” to you. Others will become either an object of your jealousy or apathy. Not sure about you, but that’s not the kind of person I want to become!

I had the pleasure of interviewing Liz Forkin Bohannon. Liz is the founder of Sseko Designs and author of newly released Beginner’s Pluck. Sseko is an ethical fashion brand that works to educate and empower women. By providing employment and educational opportunities, Sseko enables women to continue their education and become leaders in their country. In four years, Sseko has grown from three women making sandals together under a mango tree, to an international fashion brand that provides employment, educational opportunities and entrepreneurial training to over 50 women in East Africa. Using her unlikely story of a journalist-gone-shoe-maker, Liz also recently wrote a book called Beginner’s Pluck. This joyfully hilarious self-help business leadership memoir shares her passion for social enterprise, conscious consumerism, social justice, creative leadership, gender equity, risk-taking, and empowering women. She believes deeply that business is a powerful platform for social change and that girls are our future.

Thank you so much for joining us, Liz! Can you tell us a bit about your backstory and how you started Sseko?

Well, I share much more about how Sseko Designs (unexpectedly!) came to be in my book that just launched — Beginner’s Pluck — but the short story is that I moved to Uganda with a journalism degree, wanting to learn more about the issues facing women and girls living in extreme poverty. While there, I met an incredible group of female scholars who tested into college but couldn’t afford to go. In response, I designed a pair of sandals, set up manufacturing, hired three young women (Mary, Mercy & Rebecca) and promised that if they made these sandals during the nine month gap between highschool and college that they would earn enough money to attend university. Ten years later and we are now a women’s lifestyle brand with over 300 products, all sourced from ethical, fair-trade manufacturers. We’ve enabled hundreds of female scholars to go to University and have created jobs for thousands of women across the globe and right here at home.

What is the most interesting story from your career? Were there any lessons or take aways you learned from that experience?

Starting fashion brand in addition to a vertically integrated manufacturing company in a developing economy has meant a fair share of interesting stories. I share my favorites in Beginner’s Pluck, including but not limited to getting locked in a shoe factory and closing a business deal on top of a roller coaster at 2 am in the Middle East. I also hosted the President of Uganda at our factory and met Michelle Obama who shared the story of my colleague and general manager with an audience of dignitaries across the world. It all taught me to go after the impossible thing.

What do you think makes Sseko stand out? Is there an example of this?

I think we are extraordinary at connecting consumers to the story of their stuff and inviting them into the community. Instead of selling through stores, we sell through female entrepreneurs in their own communities. Those women here in the U.S. get to connect, one on one, with a woman on our production team in East Africa. And some of them even get to travel, all expenses paid, on the adventure of a lifetime to Uganda where they get to see their impact and connect with the global sisterhood they are building in person.

Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are today? Is there a story behind that relationship?

I was able to spend a week in person with Seth Godin in the very early days of my career. His teaching and mentorship (even from afar) is something I am incredibly grateful for. How did this happen? He had an opening for his alternative MBA program and I applied. Even though I was living out of my car at the time. Even though I knew I’d be surrounded by entrepreneurs much smarter and further along than I was. Even though I was so nervous to meet him I could barely speak. It’s taught me to never let fear and insecurity win.

In a quick sentence, how would you define Impostor Syndrome based on your own experiences?

Imposter Syndrome is the feeling of being a fake and a fraud — the suspicion that you ‘just got lucky’ and that eventually you will be exposed for being incompetent.

As someone who experienced imposter syndrome, what did it feel like?

Really pluckin’ awful.

What are the downsides of Impostor Syndrome? How can it limit people?

When we live in fear of being seen as imcopmentent imposters, we stop taking risks. We only start saying yes to things we feel confident we can prove our mastery and expertise. But evolving, iterating, progressing and innovation all require us to take risks and being willing to step into the second stage of learning which is “Conscious Incompetence.” If you are unwilling to go back to being a beginner, exposing yourself to the risk of making mistakes, you will inherently limit your innovation and growth.

How can suffering from Impostor Syndrome impact how we treat each other?

When we exist in a state of fear of “being found out” we naturally start to act out of a scarcity and threat model. You will become less generous and trusting of others. You will spend more time comparing yourself to others which, in addition to wasting your time, is also a form of objectification. Instead of seeing others for the unique and worthy person they are, you start to see them only in relation to how the “measure up” to you. Others will become either an object of your jealousy or apathy. Not sure about you, but that’s not the kind of person I want to become!

What was your experience with Imposter Syndrome like?

Although I’ve been quite familiar with the feeling from early on in my life, Imposter Syndrome really started to rear its ugly head when I was about 5–6 years into my career of building my ethical fashion brand called Sseko Designs. We had build a traditional wholesale/retail company and were considering pivoting to a direct sales model. I truly believe both the business and impact opportunity was immense but so was the risk. At this point, I had a multi-million dollar company with employees and partners across multiple countries. I started feeling like if I tried to lead us through this pivot and fail, that would be the moment when I got “found out” for being an imposter. Everyone would say, “See. She is not a real leader or business person. It was all just ‘beginner’s luck.’” I had an incredible amount of insecurity and anxiety.

Did you ever shake the feeling off? If so, what did you do to help get rid of it?

I may not have gotten rid of it completely, but enough that I was able to move forward — and I am glad that I did! In our first full year of selling through individual women in their communities, we did more in revenue and impact than we had ever done through our wholesale channel! In order to overcome it, I revisited the earliest days of my career and started studying the mentalities and mindsets I had they helped me resist Imposter Syndrome without even knowing it. My study of those mentalities and mindsets was such an “AHA!!” to me that I ended up writing an entire book about it so that others can access their “Inner Beginner” as a way of overcoming Imposter Syndrome so that you can build a life of purpose, passion and impact.

What are 5 steps that someone who is experiencing Impostor Syndrome can take to move forward? If you have a story or example that ties to each step, please include!

1.) First off, “Own Your Average!” Despite all the common self-helpy talk that wants you to focus on how special you are, I propose you start warding off Imposter Syndrome by owning the fact that you are likely indeed quite average. When you Own Your Average. You will stop only saying yes to the things you think you’ll immediately excel in. When you Own Your Average, you start to realize that no one is thinking about you quite as much as you think they are. You are not Beyoncé. (Or maybe you are, in which case, OMG. HI, BEY!) When you decide to Own Your Average, you will start to believe that success will require lots and lots of work and isn’t just an inevitable result of being born awesome. You also realize that your insecurities and failures aren’t the tell-tale sign that you’re below average. You know that mistakes and wrong turns are simply a requisite on the road to building an above average life of purpose and passion, which means you’ll be less afraid to fail and flail a bit. And more importantly, you’ll become less afraid and more likely to succeed, perhaps wildly, because you truly believe you’re just as worthy and likely to build an extraordinary life of purpose and passion as anyone else.

2.) Choose Curiosity Over Criticism: There is scientific evidence that suggests curiosity is just as important as IQ in achieving long term success and it is the ultimate defense against Imposter Syndrome. The more curious you are the more able you are to tolerate ambiguity, navigate complexity and acquire knowledge over time. Studies have shown that increased curiosity is associated with less defensive reactions to stress and less aggressive reactions to provocation. It’s incredibly difficult to increase your IQ but you can increase your CQ which stands for Curiosity Quotient.

3.) Pretend to be a journalist! Here is the thing about great journalists: They don’t go into the story assuming they have it all figured out. In fact, they know that the less you think you have it all figured out, the more you can learn. The less you have riding on what you think you need to “discover,” the freer you will be to get closer to the actual truth, whatever it may be. The more open you are to be surprised by what you uncover, the more likely you will be to find something really interesting. By pretending to be a journalist on assignment in your own life, you’re going to be more likely to find the truest story which will enable you to be more successful. It’s also going to de-shame not knowing everything and will reframe it as an asset which will kick Imposter Syndrome to the curb.

4.) Focus on the problem instead of the solution: Feeling like we have to come up with the best solution off the bat will keep us living under the sea of Imposter Syndrome. But focusing being people who can find and understand really interesting problems helps us detach our egos from the solution. It gives us more freedom to try and fail, all the while keeping the problem we set out to solve in the starring role it deserves.

5.) Don’t be afraid to ask for help along the way. If you’re the first to admit you’re in learning mode and might need some help, it takes the power of the fear that someone else might say it first away. And here is the really cool thing: Contrary to popular belief, studies show that when we’re able to help someone out, we (the helper!) end up having increased affection and perceived closeness towards the person we helped.

If you could inspire a big movement that would bring the most good to the most people, what would that be?

I’d inspire a movement of pluckiness where people believe the can be a part of co-creating a brighter future and they get over their own shortcomings and failures and go out and create magic that makes us all a little better.

Is there a person in the world that you would love to have a meal with? Why them?

I’ll be working with Pope Francis in a few months and I’ve got to say that dinner with him is topping my bucket list right now. I’m always fascinated with people who have immense influence and power who have the courage to challenge the status quo.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Instagram! Follow along @lizbohannon and @ssekodesigns

Thank you for all of these great insights!

Liz Forkin Bohannon of Sseko Designs: “How I Was Able To Thrive Despite First Experiencing Impostor was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.