Mind The Gap - The Authority Mindset [Imposter Syndrome Edition]

“How do I know when I have enough expertise to start building my personal brand around it or commercialise my expertise?”

This is a question I get asked a lot. 

No matter if you’re a corporate professional, entrepreneur, career pivoter, educator … doesn't matter - this topic applies to everyone as I know that impostor syndrome is real.

I’ve experienced that in every single transition I made. From changing careers and industries completely to doing the same but on a bigger level like speaking in front of a bigger stage, working with bigger clients or leveling up my price.

The saying ‘new levels, new devils’ is real and imposter syndrome doesn’t go away. So if you’re someone who resonates with this message because you’re on a cross road in one or another way and you want to learn how to not stand in your own way but feeling confident in your abilities, then this blog post is for you!

“I’m not an expert, let alone an authority’

~ if this hits home for you then let me tell you - you’re not alone.

I want to kickstart this blog post with sharing my mindset around being an expert and an authority.

I’m sure you’ve heard the 10,000h rule or the 10 years experience requirement in order to call yourself an expert. Now whilst I absolutely agree that experience is essential, simply putting a number to it doesn’t cut it. What if I have 20 years of experience, doing the same thing over and over and potentially even the wrong thing. Or not having evolved with times and still doing the same thing that worked 10 years, 5 years or even 1 year ago and has now been replaced with a different approach because #theonlyconstantischange.

Truth is that in many cases, your best thinking 5 years ago has now become your biggest luggage. I was chatting to a friend on the weekend on our walk and we were talking about the ‘just in time’ approach that I learned when I studied economics. Now whilst that was best practise in the early 2000, with today’s and tomorrow’s supply chain issues - guess what? It’s a trap and potentially the end of a saga for a company.

So what am I saying?

You don’t need to have a certain amount of years of experience or number of degrees to start talking about, teaching or even monetising your expertise.

No one wakes up being an expert or an authority in their field, it’s a process and one that never stops. The best advice I’d give you to future-proof your career is to focus on interest rather than proficiency because in order to stay on top of the game you need to consistently upskill and reskill, learn how to unlearn and then relearn again. This is what keeps you not only competitive but ahead of the curve.

Even though I’ve been in branding - in one or another way - for 18 years, I would still consider myself as a rookie and I never want to leave this beginner mindset as it ‘forces’ me to stay curious, ask question and also question everything I know about the topic because again #theonlyconstantischange

What we probably all agree on is that an expert is someone who knows more about a topic than someone else. This is the foundation but again - this is even subjective. I have little to no understanding about let’s say nano technology so someone who’s read 1 book about it, would know more than me and it would be someone who I’d ask questions about the topic.

Lately, I’ve immersed myself in the web3.0 world to understand the future of the metaverse, crypto and NFTs better. I know a little bit more about this topic than I know about nanotechnology so I’d like to talk to someone who is a couple of steps ahead of me, like trading NFTs or implementing the metaverse into their campaigns. I still don’t need to (nor would I think it’d be very beneficial for me to) talk to someone who’s at the top of this game because that’s way too far ahead for where I’m at. I hope you get the gist - being an expert is subjective and no one gives you the ‘remission’ to talk or claim a topic. No one but you.

It starts with you making the decision that you want to be known for this topic and then stay consistent with it. That might be sharing content on linkedin about the topic, joining interest groups, even putting your hat in the ring to be a guest speaker or panel speaker at an event. 

There will always be someone who nows a whole lot more about a topic than you but at the same time, there will always be someone who also has little to no idea about your topic and area of expertise.

Don’t fall into the trap of needing to get another certification or think that a MBA will solve all the problems. It literally starts with you committing to the topic and then claim it in your own way.

Whilst many refer to me as the Branding specialist and i do have some experience, there are so many others who are way ahead of me and that I learn from. And that’s the exciting part. I don’t want to know it all or ever get trapped in this mindset because firstly - no one knows it all and secondly, keeping a fresh perspective on the topic also allows you to approach it from a different way that makes it interesting.

So if you keep going down this path of feeling like you need to have certain credentials, degrees or years of experience to claim a topic, then you're going to be waiting forever. 

On top of that, what I also want you to realise is that the expert was once a beginner, everyone

starts at stage zero.

However, it's the people who actually took that step forward to gain that experience, to start sharing content about it with their own interpretation mixed with their personal experience, to jump before they're ready - they're the ones who get the recognition for it and are referred to as the Go-To.

I’ve worked with my head down for way too many years and had the mindset that my good work will speak for itse;f.

Again - wake up call: no one is that interested and invested in your success, your progression and your contribution than you are so you need to be in charge of your own destiny and not rely on a random event that highly likely never happens/

So that's why you cannot use not ‘having enough experience or degrees or expertise’ or whatever else you may be thinking as an excuse to not start at all building your personal brand around the topic.

That's why I believe that having the right mindset is the first and most important step in building and monetising your personal brand because you can have the best strategies and tactics but if you don’t believe that you’re worthy of the recognition or that you have what it takes to be the Go-To in your field, then none of that will actually matter and move the needle for you.

You don't need another certification.

You don't need another few years of experience.

You don't need another book.

You don't need another course.

You need to master your mindset around feeling like someone who has something to say and is able to contribute to a conversation about a topic. 

That's why the first tip that I have for you is to acknowledge your results you’ve had so far. It may be results you’ve gained from previous roles but it could also be personal achievements. 

Do you think there’s a certification for being a parent, or running your first marathon or launching a podcast?

Nope. You simply figure things out as you go.

So to get you started - make a list of all of your accomplishments and I know that it can be really hard to actually list down everything you’ve achieved because often we feel like it's insignificant, but trust me when I say that there are tons of people out there who either want what you have or want to learn from you.

For example, if you know how to build global change management teams - guess what?

There's someone out there that doesn't even know how to approach change management full stop. Let alone doing it on a global scale.

If you are someone who wrote a book even though you’re a management consultant in your day job and have officially no ‘qualifications’ to write a book. Well guess what?

There's someone out there who is fascinated by your approach and your learnings you can even bring into your day job.

That's why you need to be able to step outside of your own ego, step outside of yourself, and really honestly list down all the things that you've ever accomplished. Then you can narrow down what you want to be known for and can connect the dots for others how your previous experience is the ‘secret sauce’ to looking at a topic from a different angle.

I started talking and teaching personal branding way before I was certified or ‘officially qualified’. And to be honest - that was much better than any certification or qualification could have ever given me because it was hands-on experience. Having said that, I'm a big believer of lifelong learning which is why you need to focus on interest over proficiency first. 

I work with so many professionals who are in transition, may it be that they want to leave their senior roles and start a consultancy or they want to get into a different profession or industry or they want to build a portfolio career with speaking engagements and board roles. Most of them have never done that particular thing before so of course, it’s daunting and all the nagging voices of ‘do i have what it takes’ and ‘am I good enough’ etc come in,

No matter how junior or senior you are, how much or little experience you have or degrees you’ve gained - everyone faces imposter syndrome in the second they level up - whatever that means for them,

At the time of the recording, I just got back from the tropical innovations festival in Cairns in NQLD and had the pleasure of hearing incredible stories from entrepreneurs, innovators and thought leaders about their journey.

Natalie Cook was one of the keynotes and do you think she’s run a business before she became an entrepreneur?

No, she was a professional athlete but she treated her career like a business. She was trying to get sponsors on board, similar to getting investors as entrepreneurs. She was trying to figure out how many people could sleep in a room at the early stages of her career when there was little funding and found out when they took out the mattresses from the frame, they could sleep 4 people rather than just 2.

See what she did?

She could connect the dots and leverage her approach to innovation and creative thinking from her professional athlete career to her entrepreneur journey. When you’re driven to grow, you’ll experience situations that are out of your depth and that’s the kicker! Because that means you’re growing. Others however, wouldn’t see this as an opportunity and stay where they are forever and two days but are upset that they didn’t get the recognition they deserve.

A quote that Natalie Cook mentioned and that stuck with me was:

Show up to every invite and occasion. If you don’t get invited, show up anyway and find a way to get invited.

This is exactly what leadership is all about.

Going before others tell you to and/or show you the way. Finding solutions to challenges rather than staying in complaining land.

Same goes for your authority brand and positioning. Don’t wait for others to give you the permission (or worse case: the ultimate) to make it work. Make it work anyway and do it on your terms.

Embrace the learnings and challenges that come your way and share them with others. This is part of be(com)ing a Trusted Authority - being transparent and taking people on the journey, before you’ve got it all figured out.

This is what I call the ‘on the go’ credibility building method, one of 3 methods in the credibility framework which I’ll talk about in more detail in a couple of episodes. In essence, it’s a method you are using when you are literally at the beginning of your journey and document as you go. It may be starting a new career and you show some behind the scenes. It may be you’re creating your first online course and sharing the ‘making of’ the videos for example.

This is what true authenticity is all about. Rather than trying to pretend you know it all, you actually embrace your beginner’s mindset and be transparent about where you’re right now.

It goes a long way.

So maybe you’re on the crossroad too and are about to or just recently embarked a new direction.

Rather than fearing you’re not enough yet to build your brand and presence around it, celebrate your early stages and share your learnings and experiences along the way. It also helps you to ‘prove of concept’ when you get early buy-in to your message or if it falls flat.

Now moving onto my final piece of advice on how you can become an authority or accelerate

your expertise on something and also get rid of your imposter syndrome is you got to focus

on working on yourself

Now, if there's anything that you take away from this podcast, I want you to remember this.

You are your most precious asset that you'll ever have so treating yourself as your best client, employer, decision-maker goes a long way.

.

This means that you have to constantly work on yourself because and invest in your own growth as you are going to be the best social proof that you can leverage to prove to people you are qualified to do what you do.

Now, this absolutely does not mean you need to have steps one to 10 pack down before you even start.

Let me give you an actual personal example.

As you may know, I wrote and published a book last year. Now whilst I’ve been creating content in one shape or another for over 8 years now, I was daunted by promoting the book for so long.

I definitely had and to be honest, still have those nagging voices too if the book is good enough, if the message is clear enough, if the visuals look good enough.

And yet - this very book has already opened doors, started conversations, closed deals and enabled contracts, coaching and consulting projects that I may not have been able to get without.

But since this is exactly what I’m constantly preaching, I need to live it myself to be credible and trustworthy,

The most important case study that you'll ever have because it's you that is portraying

the results that you can give to other people. With or without degrees or official qualifications.

So I hope this little pep talk is enough motivation and inspiration for you to get out there and give it a good shot, whatever you’re embarking on and wherever you’re in your journey. Be assured that imposter syndrome is a thing across generations and levels of seniority so you’re not alone.

How you handle it, how you approach your personal circumstances and how you share it with others is what makes or breaks your success.

So to sum up - being an authority doesn’t mean perfect. It doesn’t knowing it all. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re better than others,

It does mean that you have a particular expertise in a specific area that you can back up with logic (aka tangible results, data, stats etc) as well as emotions (stories, case studies).

Now over to you!

Have you recently made or are about to make a major pivot or shift?

Or maybe you’ve been pondering how you can turn your expertise into an authority brand but not quite sure where to start or how to package it? 

Send me a DM on LinkedIn and let’s chat!