Article: Navigating Impostor Syndrome with Nektarios Liolios
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Article: Navigating Impostor Syndrome with Nektarios Liolios
In this series we explore impostor syndrome and the multitude of ways it affects entrepreneurs and their mental well being.
Impostor syndrome knows no age, gender, geography or industry, something our cofounder Nektarios Liolios now knows only too well. Here is his growth in his own words.
Impostor syndrome is defined as having doubts about belonging, whether you deserve to be there, feel worried about being found out, or convinced you’re not worthy of your accolades.
Growing up as a Greek immigrant child in Germany or joining the banking world as an out gay man in London in the mid-90s, added layers to my own impostor experience.
I was better at school than most of my German peers, but I still felt I didn’t deserve to be there. I was great at my job in finance but there was something about the blokey testosterone-laden atmosphere that caused me to feel I wasn’t good enough.
There doesn’t seem to be a period in my career where I did not feel like an impostor. Fast forward 20 years from my banking life and I, the cofounder of a successful startup accelerator, was sitting on a VC panel for the first time, talking about investments next to a bunch of seasoned, well-known VCs and it might as well have been 11-year-old me in secondary school. And guess what, 30-odd years after my school days I found myself surrounded by my team - none older than 25 years old – and still felt out of place.
I’ve always admired people who ooze confidence, whose career seems so straightforward, frictionless and doubt free. How do they do it? And why do I not feel the same? Why do I sometimes enter the room feeling ill-equipped, out of place, judged and inadequate?
More than 70% of people experience impostor syndrome at some point in their career.
So, why do I put these expectations on myself, and what of the assumptions I am making about others and their expectations? Why am I ignoring my competence or my accomplishments? Why do I worry that I will be ‘found out’?
I have realised over time that all of these questions do not get me very far. I have learned to accept it and embrace it. To make myself aware of my presumed weakness, focus on what I can learn from my environment, and get on with it.
The good thing about impostor syndrome is that others don’t see you as an impostor. They see the qualified, accomplished person that you are, and they know why you deserve to be there.
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