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I'm 8 years into this job and almost 30 years into a career in marketing and comms strategy, and I still get imposter's syndrome. This is my first agency job and when I started I was thrown into projects where I had no idea what I was supposed to do, and no clue how a project was going to be run. But since they all begin with strategy it's ultimately our job to figure it out. It was three years of full on anxiety from kickoff through the first 3-4 weeks of projects until I finally realized why I was in a process fog while everyone else seemed so self-assured. It's actually the combination of two things.
First, it’s the job of strategy to figure out the work that has to be done once a project starts, and to create the specific process to be followed. We’re not formulaic or paint by numbers - almost everything is bespoke. Of course I wasn’t clear on the process - it’s the job of strategy to not know what you have to do until you figure out what you have to do. When I realized that, I became more at peace with the early (and sometimes ongoing, even still) lack of clarity.
Second, the reason everyone else seemed so self-assured while my mind was racing towards the cliff is because it wasn’t their job to figure out how to do it, and they assumed I already had. And because I didn’t want them to figure out that I had no idea, I’m sure I didn’t disabuse them of their confidence as much as I should have. It created a vicious cycle.
I tell you this because almost everyone I talk to in strategy roles feels or has felt the same, and we shouldn’t feel alone in it. It’s absolutely part of the job of strategy to feel uncertain and sometimes absolutely clueless about the work you are on the hook for. When you feel that way you’re doing it right - you’re finding the unique path that will serve the client and the project best, and not falling back on a templated approach or framework because it’s easier or already defined. When I realized this, finally finding the way through stopped feeling like I dodged a bullet, and felt more like what it really is - progress, success, growth.
So if anyone else ever feels like I did, that I was unqualified for this job and hoped I’d learn how to do it before someone found me out, I’d be happy to talk to you about it. I bet a lot of us would actually.
Coach
First you gotta gaslight.
Then you gatekeep.
Then you girlboss.
It may be that when we no longer know what to do
we have come to our real work,
and that when we no longer know which way to go
we have come to our real journey.
The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings
-Wendell berry
As I’m currently interviewing, I needed to hear this today. This really resonates with me. Thank you.
Really appreciate this post. I am forever trying to convey the ambiguity (and requisite COMFORT with ambiguity) the strategy role requires.