We all deal with imposter syndrome to some extent. Here’s how I leverage it
A Twitch streamer I watch, cuppcaake, recently tweeted about constantly feeling like her success was due to people pitying her. Over the past four years, I have watched her play video games, break up with her long-term boyfriend, be betrayed by her closest friend, fall in love, and build a community of people who genuinely like each other and her. I have seen her rage, cry out of sadness, laugh until she cried, and show a wide spectrum of true and genuine emotions that, to me, screams authenticity. …
I was recently streaming programming on Twitch and a viewer asked the question “How do I pass the culture fit questions in an interview?”
It stumped me. It was a question I had never thought about before. I believe I have been blessed with social talent, and a seemingly never-ending fount of social lubrication. I was chubby growing up and learned at a really young age how to diffuse tense situations with humor, and made sure that people thought of me as “funny, and cool” before “fat, and awkward.” People generally like me, and I think I’m really damned likable…
Early this year, my mentor referred a newer female product manager to me for mentorship. As a self-professed “mid-career PM” I did not feel capable of the task, and forwarded her onto a more senior female leader at my company. I didn’t mull it over, or toss and turn at night to ask myself “did I do the right thing?”. It was instinctual, immediate. I could not offer the guidance needed and truly believed I was not ready to be a mentor.
Around the same time my hairstylist of several years ghosted me and everyone she knew when she moved…
Mel de Leon
Product at Twitch.
