Am I good enough? Experiencing Imposter Syndrome in Politics
“Impostor syndrome is real.” said Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, upon receiving the 2020 Gleitsman International Activist Award. Ardern has rightfully earned plaudits for the way in which she has won consecutive elections, as well as continuing to lead her country's response to the pandemic with great success. Yet, even she sometimes feels she is not worthy of her achievements. “I have on many occasions thought, ‘I cannot do that because it’s me’”.
In her book Women on the Ballot, Dr Betsy McGregor agrees, writing that “the political space seems reserved for others. Stepping into that space seems like intruding”. Be it due to their youth, gender, ethnicity, or background, many politicians feel that politics is the domain of the few. They feel that they do not belong, and they do so in silence.
The term ‘Imposter syndrome’ was coined by psychologists Pauline Clance & Suzanne Imes in the late 1970’s. They first recognized this phenomenon among high achieving women “who persist in believing that they are really not bright and that they have fooled anyone who thinks otherwise.” This pattern has been carried over to the present day, as seventy-five percent of female executives’ report having personally experienced imposter syndrome at certain points in their career. Recent evidence suggests, however, that imposter syndrome is also common among under-represented minorities, and can indeed be experienced by men. The essence of the impostor phenomenon is now considered to be related to the experience of “a new endeavor”, claims Suzanne Imes.
Political office is a dynamic world in which most days demand new endeavors, tasks and cognitive challenges, making the political experience ripe for triggering imposter syndrome. ‘I constantly feel thrown in at the deep end’ is a line the Silent MP often hears. The critical problem with this is the fact that given the nature of political life, these doubts are almost always experienced in silence. Treading this repeated thought-pattern under the surface, and independently managing a spiral of hidden doubts and anxiety, undoubtably takes its toll on a politician’s wellbeing. We know that this type of hidden sinking feeling quietly stripes away at a person’s inner light, and over time this often contributes to depression.
The pathway to overcoming imposter syndrome is multi-layered.
Imposter syndrome can be tackled at the individual level. We know, for example, that therapy, mindfulness, and the consistent ‘doing’ of a role have proven effective in supporting individuals to break through their inner critic. Crucially, at the center of individual coping strategies is a politician finding ways to embrace their success. While to the layperson this may not seem such a challenge, politicians necessarily spend most of their public-facing time relaying their successes to others in order to secure the maintenance of public trust, and their future status in that role. Almost every Instagram post you see from a politician confirms this.
Yet, the reality is that politics is a long game, or, more accurately put, it is a long-drawn-out battle. A politician’s ability to succeed in achieving the goals she set for herself; her ability to institutionalize citizen needs and create policy that she knows will help people, does not come around often. It is mostly not within their control, and almost never within one term. Hence, if they are to win the inner battle against imposter syndrome by using individual strategies, a politician needs to cognitively reconfigure what constitutes a success. This requires self-reflection, self-awareness and practice.
Rita Clifton, business leader and author of the book Love your Impostor: Be your best self, flaws and all, acknowledges that impostor syndrome for many people is something that is "suffered" and affects mental health, but also that it can (and should) be addressed as part of the human experience and a sign of authenticity. Clifton says: “The book is about how we need, now more than ever, every type of organisation to be run by people who bear a passing resemblance to the human race, with a lot of the quirks, insecurities and normal human emotions that might bring”. This is an immensely powerful message for politicians who have impostor feelings. It is not about pretending that these feelings do not exist but talking about them, and using them as a tool to connect with themselves and the citizens they represent.
What would help in this process is a supportive context. Imposter syndrome is “created” and sustained by our stereotype-driven society. The nature of political society fundamentally impacts the conceptions politicians have about what it takes to do the job. For instance, the association between political leadership and typically masculine traits has, for centuries, led women to feel like intruders in the political environment. The report conducted by KPMG found out that 32% of the 750 executive women they interviewed identified with imposter syndrome because they did not know others in a similar place to them either personally or professionally.
Tackling Imposter Syndrome must also happen at the community level, which proves much harder to grapple with. The study Contextualizing Imposter Syndrome published in 2020 in the academic journal Frontier in Psychology outlined the “importance of addressing the contextual roots of this phenomenon—by tackling persistent stereotypes in society, increasing diversity across occupations and hierarchical levels”.
We have the duty to transform a political culture that praises the self-confident politician, the one who never seems to hesitate, into one in which doubts are embraced and diversity is highly valued. It is time to stop demanding politicians to be superheroes, or to fit in the mould of the "perfect politician”. It is time to create multiple success stories related to both the personal leadership performance of an individual politician, and their longer-term societal contributions. After all, you cannot have one without the other.
