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An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

The first thing to remember is that what you’re experiencing is a feeling. And feelings are not facts. Check in with yourself and try to hone in on what you are feeling. Is it nerves? Excitement? Fear? These are all very different than feeling like an imposter.

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 Nancy Medoff.

After close to three decades of walking the talk in corporate sales, Nancy Medoff, best-selling author, keynote speaker and executive coach has literally “written the book” on women and confidence. Unmute Yourself and Speak Up to Stand Out is a game changer and a call to action for women (and men) who are ready to get their seat at the table — then build a bigger table.

Listed in Forbes before the book was published, #1 new release during pre-sale and #1 at launch. What? How? Wow!

The “Confidence Evangelist”, Nancy is an indoor cycle enthusiast, two-time marathoner, and feet-in-the sand philosopher who won’t stop until women everywhere show up confident, compelling and walk through the doors being opened like they own them. When she’s not traveling for work, you’ll find Nancy enjoying the food and beverage scene in her home town of Boston or beachside on Outer Cape Cod, likely diving into the latest best seller.

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’?

It was a typical corporate meeting and I was sitting around a board room table in Boston, looking over the harbor. As the subject matter expert in the room, I was being asked questions that I was the only one qualified to answer. When trying to respond, I kept being interrupted by my male colleague, and after the third time this happened, I was fuming. I finally looked around the room and dramatically asked; “Am I on mute?” This halted the meeting and stopped the serial offender in his tracks. The floor was turned over to me, I shared my views and we continued on with the discussions.

Oprah talks about ah-ha moments and mine was at that boardroom table that day, being silenced. I’m an extrovert, the youngest of four kids and in my house growing up if you didn’t speak up, you weren’t heard. At that moment I thought to myself, if this was happening to me, what about other women out there who are afraid to speak up? The introverts? The women who won’t raise their hand and allow the world speak to over and silence them? That’s when I knew I had a higher purpose which is to increase the confidence of women globally so they can advocate for themselves or their position. The next step was pretty clear. I left my corporate sales job a few weeks later, founded my company and eventually published my book, Unmute Yourself and Speak Up to Stand Out.

Since then, my mission has taken me all over the world to work with women who need help advocating for themselves. From Boston to Bahrain, Sydney to Singapore, in the boardroom and the classroom I hear the same thing. Women are ready to walk through the doors being opened for them like the own them!

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

There are soooooooooooo many and what stands out if a story of when I trusted my instincts and made a massive career decision.

I worked in a global sales role for two decades and in doing so was able to travel the world. Multiple trips to Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Canada and of course all over the U.S. I thrive on calculated risk taking and love love love global travel so it was way out of character for me to say “no” when asked if I would move overseas to lead our global sales offices in Asia.

The job seemed perfect at the time. I was single, I loved to travel, I adore Asia and dreamed of living in Hong Kong — this was my career dreams coming to life right in front of my eyes. But in peeling back the layers of the role; the teams, the nuances of the culture, the personal sacrifice, the tradeoffs and the likelihood of success — it just wasn’t a good fit for me at the time.

I was terrified to tell my SVP that I was declining the offer — I mean really scared. I was asking anyone and everyone for their opinion. Random strangers on the flight back, the flight attendants, my seat mate, even the driver who picked me up at the airport to bring me home.

They all agreed. Bad idea.

So I got some rest, then gathered the courage to speak up. I called the Senior Executive who wanted me to do this, laid it out for him, shared my thoughts on what I had learned about the role, the country, the culture, in essence the realities of the job and politely and sincerely declined. He was not angry at all and in fact he truly valued the feedback and moved forward with my recommendation on another candidate for the role.

The lesson here? It’s simple and one we need to follow more often. ALWAYS GO WITH YOUR INSTINCTS. You always know what’s best.

Many times, the stories you tell yourself in your head about anticipated outcomes are rarely the way things turn out. I was terrified to turn down this job and my boss was grateful for the information, appreciated my perspective and impressed that I had the courage to say no.

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

At my company, we walk the talk — and in my opinion that’s a deal breaker. Some people in my space talk about empowerment; I provide actionable tools for women to take their careers to the next level and start getting what they want and deserve at work. I’m a straight shooter and help women to raise their game at every stage of their career. Some find their unicorn job, negotiate a higher salary, or leapfrog up the corporate ladder. Others successfully change careers, dive into their next chapter or simply level up their own leadership style. From CEO to recent college graduate, the women I work with all have one thing in common: they gain the confidence and skills needed to truly thrive at work.

All of this, all of my success as a female entrepreneur goes back to the day, I decided to own who I am, step into my strengths and truly follow my passion. Everyone deserves this.

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?

For sure. In this case It’s a particular group of people for whom I am forever grateful; my Personal Board of Directors. It’s important to note here that what I’m referring to is not my tribe, my squad or my friends. My Personal BOD aren’t the people I go to when I want to feel good about myself, celebrate or even commiserate. My BOD has been curated over the years from colleagues and acquaintances. They have a vested interest in my success, they don’t all work for the same company and most importantly, they are direct and honest with me, even if it’s something I don’t want to hear.

I’ll share an example here from my own twenty-five years in corporate sales.

I was moving up the ladder at the company and had applied for a few positions for which I was not selected. I was frustrated and I considered leaving. I did not feel comfortable sharing my frustration with my boss, so I went to my Personal Board of Directors. I’ll never forget when Alan, a member of my BOD looked at me and said point blank “Our company pre-selects for open positions which is unfortunate. I support your decision to leave.” That comment hit me between the eyes for a few reasons. First, he validated what I thought was happening and that I was not getting these roles because I was not being considered in the first place. Then, his comment gave me permission and support to consider leaving, which was unheard of in my organization. Last, he was factual and unemotional, which removed the fear and anxiety out of the situation, which in turn allowed me to consider this decision objectively. I did not end up leaving at the time, and instead I made sure before applying for a position that the hiring manager was indeed considering all qualified candidates.

Think about how much time and energy this one interaction saved me. That’s the power of your Personal Board of Directors.

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?

I’ve been researching the confidence crisis for close to a decade and the concept of Imposter Syndrome has changed in recent years. We are using this term as a catch call for anxiety, fear, lack of confidence or simple nerves. There’s a big difference and I’ll drill it down here.

I can lack confidence at a particular moment in time, but still know I deserve to be there. I earned my seat at the table and I am the expert. Again, I’m not sure that I can DO it, but I know that I did what it took to get there. I don’t feel like an imposter per se, but I am not 100% confident that I can achieve the task.

Another important clarification is the myth that Imposter Syndrome only happens with women. This is simply not true. Men feel the same way. They second guess their qualifications; they lack confidence but they do it anyway. Allowing our lack of confidence to impact our actions is what is holding women back at work.

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

Again, let’s make sure we are talking about feeling like an imposter versus lacking confidence — big difference. Feeling like an imposter and letting this feeling impact your actions is the number 1 career derailer. Feelings are not facts. Feelings are feelings. And you can experience them while at the same time taking action.

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

I believe it’s our responsibility to Amplify women. We know that Imposter Syndrome impedes women from speaking up, raising their hand and taking calculated risk. We all need to step up and Amplify what women are saying, their ideas, their input. It’s our responsibility, all of us. And it’s as simple as incorporating a few tactics like I list here.

“If we can go back to what Bonnie was saying, she had a great point and I’m not sure we all heard…”

“Hang on just a second — Jenny was talking and I’d like to hear what she has to say”

“That’s an excellent idea, Frank — I know Mary surfaced this last week so let’s get her opinion here before we get too far down this path”

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

It’s important to note here that Imposter Syndrome happens to everyone. Everyone. Men, women, experts, rookies, everyone. And every day. Any time I’m getting ready to speak before a large crowd, there’s a quick moment where I become super nervous. Every time! And I’m a confidence evangelist! The key here is to know that it happens, use your proven tactics to overcome this, and do it anyway. Just like the men do.

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

I promise you that simply knowing that you are not alone in how you feel will make a huge difference. I take this nervous feeling and translate it into nervous energy which in turn translates into excitement and then I step into THAT feeling. Turning the nervous feeling into excited energy. This is the key.

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.

  1. The first thing to remember is that what you’re experiencing is a feeling. And feelings are not facts. Check in with yourself and try to hone in on what you are feeling. Is it nerves? Excitement? Fear? These are all very different than feeling like an imposter.
  2. Remember that this happens to everyone and is totally normal. J.Lo, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Fonda, all of these women have talked about feeling less than and that they didn’t deserve their spot at the table.
  3. Turn your nerves into energy. Excited energy is contagious!
  4. Think back to a time where you felt like this and then nailed it. This works for me every time. I visualize my largest speaking gig and all of the people who lined up to speak with me afterwards. That visual image pumps me full of endorphins every time.
  5. The last step is my favorite and it’s really just one word. Grace. Rather than beat yourself up when you’re already feeling off, allow yourself some grace to honor those feelings and then take the steps needed to overcome the feeling, step into your power then crush whatever is in front of you!

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. 🙂

If more women could truly step into their strengths, truly believe that they can do what they love to do and only what they love to do all day (and get paid for doing it) think about how much better the world would be. We would have a workforce of thriving people, sharing their strengths and their passions with the world. I believe this can truly change the world. Think about it. A world where people who are working in medicine, are working in medicine because THEY LOVE IT. A world where people who are working in the athletic industry are working in the athletic industry BECAUSE THEY LVOE IT. Childcare, the service industry, accounting, you name it! The whole world would be humming and the possibilities are endless.

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 🙂

Amy Porterfield. She’s a massive success in her field, she freely shares her knowledge with her community and she also shares her struggles (including Imposter Syndrome) so that others know they are not alone. It takes a lot of courage to be vulnerable like that and I admire her greatly for putting her whole self out there. She offers plenty of free tools and programs so that others can learn from her expertise, and in doing so is elevating all of us.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancymedoff/

https://www.instagram.com/nancy_medoff/

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


Nancy Medoff: How To Thrive Despite Experiencing Impostor Syndrome was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.