Are you an imposter CTO?
As a CTO, and especially if this is a new appointment for you, you need to be the agent of change for your company. You are the one who predicts the future and makes the company future proof.
It is your responsibility to ‘sell’ your ideas to the board, to you boss, to your team, and to the wider community of users. You have to get the buy in, or the necessary changes will be just wishful thinking.
If you are like many CTO’s you are totally on it from the point of view of the tech. You get it. You see what’s coming and you know what the best path to take is.
However, others – particularly the purse string holders, often don’t see what you see.
And what happens then if you are not so comfortable with the soft skills needed to convince others your path is the right one.
In this context you need to be comfortable with speaking up, change management, influencing people at different levels within the organisation – both decision makers, influencers and implementors.
You need to be able to inspire with you vision of the future, you need to be able to build trust and become The Trusted Advisor in order to bring people along with you.
Here come the voices in your head
And that’s where it all starts to fall down. That is when the little voice in your head might say something like:-
“They will never buy that” or “Who do you think you are – they will never listen to you” or worse “What if you are wrong and the whole project flops and costs the company money without bringing the results”.
Even though logically, you KNOW that you know what you are talking about – you are still worried, and suffering from Imposter CTO syndrome – and especially if this is your first CTO role and you feel you don’t have the evidence of past decisions to illustrate your brilliance!
Amazingly many seemingly self-confident celebrities suffer from Imposter Syndrome – Taylor Swift recently admitted to the same when taking on a Director role. So, if it can happen to super successful celebrities – it can happen to anyone.
So, you ever find yourself saying (in your head or out loud) – comments that downplay your achievements?
Do you express self-criticism?
Are you bad at deadlines (yes this can be due to imposter syndrome)?
Do you overwork frequently? (Another sign that you might be suffering from Imposter Syndrome.
And here’s a very common one – are you reluctant to ask for or receive help?
How Do You Get Over Yourself?
So how do you get over yourself and get out of your own way? There are strategies that can help including questioning that little voice.
Asking yourself – is that REALLY true, rather than just accepting your beliefs is a start. If you hear yourself thinking ‘They will never listen to me’, then asking the question – ‘Is that really true’, starts to challenge those false beliefs.
Speaking about it to trusted individuals is also helpful – but here there lurk dangers. Who can you trust in a competitive situation. An objective view on this can help.
Letting go of perfectionism and celebrating your successes is VERY important. When you aim for perfection then you will mostly be disappointed.
If you can begin to accept that good enough is….well….good enough, then you have more reasons to celebrate and pat yourself on the back for a job well done.
The more successes you allow yourself, the quieter the imposter voice becomes. The more self-compassion you allow the better also. Everyone makes mistakes from time to time.
That includes you.
But if you beat yourself up about it you are compounding your Imposter Syndrome.
If there is no-one you can trust within your organisation to be a sounding board – then let me volunteer! Book a free no obligation chat with me here where we will construct your simple 3 point plan to begin to eliminate your imposter syndrome for once and for all.
I help CTO’s who are BRILLIANT at tech, to get brilliant at all the soft skills that their companies expect them to bring to the table, and go from Imposter CTO to Incredible CTO in no time at all 😊 I look forward to speaking to you soon!
Julie.
Julie "Chief Impact Engineer" Hutchison
Email: [email protected]
P.S. Whenever you are ready...here are 4 ways I can help you increase your impact as a leader:
1. Join The "Quiet Leaders Lab™ Facebook Group and connect with other leaders who want to grow
It's our Facebook community where those that are The Quiet Leaders can learn and share how to increase their impact, influence and outcomes – Click here
2. Grab a free copy of my leadership impact report: The Team Performance Engine™
It’s the Road Map to your journey to increasing your impact as a leader - Click here
3. Join our Leaders Launchpad™ Mastermind Group Programme
This Mastermind is a selected group of like-minded leaders, in an online community, focused on growing your results.
With training, group coaching calls, guest speakers and more, supporting and challenging you to design and implement real team performance in your business.
Send me a message or email [email protected] with "IMPLEMENT" in the subject line and we can discuss how you can join us
4. Work with me and my team privately
If you or your team just need a little more one to one attention to make change happen in your business... just message and put "PRIVATE" in the subject line... tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details!