[ad_1]
I’ve never met a CMO or any high-level executive who doesn’t wrestle with a nagging fear of being “found out” or wonder if they are truly up to the task. A fear that is probably not helped by the fact that CMOs have the shortest average tenure in all C-suite at 3.5 years. The truth is that imposter syndrome is a daily reality for CMOs who must shoulder the responsibility of leading, performing, and delivering results.
The world spins fast and what worked yesterday might fail tomorrow. This unpredictability often prompts a panic of ‘now what?’ Technology is constantly evolving, so it’s important to stay curious and always be willing to learn, even if it means facing doubts and insecurities. There’s also the relentless pressure to do more with fewer resources while wearing more hats than ever before.
Even when you perform perfectly, things can still go wrong. Years ago, I was the CMO of a public company that filed for bankruptcy. For months afterward, I would wake up in the middle of the night, go downstairs, and pore over old media plans and creative and strategy decks, searching for where I had gone wrong. It turned out I hadn’t; the company was just a victim of an industry that had collapsed.
Perhaps that’s why I was surprised when a journalist recently told me she’d been inundated with stories from women about their imposter syndrome but hardly any from men while writing a feature on the topic. Both genders face challenges, yet for some reason, women often seem more comfortable admitting it.
Maybe it’s because men in particular have a penchant for projecting confidence and authority at all times, viewing vulnerability as a sign of weakness and indecisiveness. However, women who step into leadership roles often face the added pressure of not just succeeding for themselves, but for all women—something no man has been forced to consider due to the abundance of opportunities. While imposter syndrome may manifest differently across genders, as well as across race, age, and background, we owe it to future marketers to talk about our experiences and how we’ve learned to cope.
During my time as a marketer working in both B2B and B2C companies like Mastercard, I’ve discovered a few strategies and resources that can help silence the inner critic—or at least make it more bearable.
