The Impostor Syndrome Files – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about side hustles. Side hustles are a popular experiment these days but, for those of us who struggle with impostor syndrome and other fears, the process can be daunting. My guest this week, Jen Lewi, is an executive coach with a specialty in career strategy. Here she shares how she started her coaching business as a side hustle before officially making it her full-time role. Jen and I chat about how to come up with an idea for a side hustle, how to manage your mindset and how to take baby steps to achieve your goals.

About My Guest
Jen Lewi, MBA, CAE, ACC, is the Founder and CEO of Design Your Next Step, a boutique Executive Coaching and Career Strategy firm, helping professionals maximize their strengths and design fulfilling career paths. Jen’s clients have:

• Transitioned smoothly into a new role or industry.
• Overcome workplace challenges.
• Advanced their leadership skills.
• Grown their professional brands.
• Job-crafted to design more fulfilling jobs.
• Explored and pursued new career paths.
• Navigated parenthood with a rewarding career.

Throughout her career, Jen mastered the art of job-crafting to build fulfilling roles. She applies that learning when clients want to build a new career path, navigate a new position, or make the most of their current jobs. At the School Nutrition Association, she held a variety of senior roles in marketing, membership, professional development, and conferences. She started her career in the corporate world with leadership roles in marketing at BBC America and in advertising at Saatchi & Saatchi. These experiences allow her to link corporate and non-profit best practices and provide an international perspective to coaching engagements, as needed.

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Connect with Jen:
Website: www.designyournextstep.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenlewi/
Articles:

• How to turn your side hustle into your career
• How to balance a side hustle with a full-time job
• To advance your career, you may want to think like a designer
• 5 ways to build your career strategy on LinkedIn

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://kimmeninger.com

In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about focusing on what’s within our control. If you’re like me, you’re worrying about the upcoming election, climate change, social issues, and much more. But, while it’s important to be aware of our macro-environments, it’s even more important to focus on what’s within our control. This week, I’m talking with Lissy Alden, the founder of MYNDY, a mental fitness company that helps people build better behavioral and thought patterns. Here Lissy shares her story of overcoming stress and burnout, then returning to school to study the brain. Lissy and I talk about the importance of focusing on your micro-environment and identifying small, repeatable steps you can take to stay in control of your life, better manage stress and more effectively achieve your goals.

About My Guest
Lissy Alden is the founder of MYNDY, a mental fitness company. Before MYNDY, Lissy built a proprietary, research-backed and quantitative framework to help change company culture and was a change agent fighting burnout for herself and others at large organizations. She specialized in working with companies (like Amex, NYTimes, etc) to measure and operationalize culture, improve service operations, and enhance workforce development. She is a graduate of Cornell University and received her MBA from MIT.

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Connect with Lissy:
myndy.co: https://form.typeform.com/to/mR4lSCYX?typeform-source=www.myndy.co

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://kimmeninger.com

In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about middle management. Many of us don’t like to think of ourselves this way but if you’re responsible for managing up and down, you’re likely a middle manager. My guest this week is Jeff Sigel, author of the book The Middle Matters, a Toolkit for Middle Managers. Jeff argues that middle managers are actually doing three roles at once – doing, leading and influencing. But they’re not often given proper guidance on how to effectively perform and balance these roles. Here we talk about the challenges facing middle managers and what you can do to become a more confident, effective leader.

About My Guest
Jeff Sigel is a Strategy, Business Intelligence and Marketing leader with over 20 years of experience across the Food Manufacturing, Grocery Retail, and Restaurant industries. His focus is on helping companies go beyond PowerPoint strategies, ensuring that there is alignment between strategic planning, brand building, analytics, and leadership behaviors at every level. Jeff is particularly passionate about helping middle leaders learn the skills they need to deliver results, build engaged teams, and realize bold visions for the future.

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Connect with Jeff:
Website: www.proprioceptive.io/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@TwinningStrategy

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://kimmeninger.com

In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about bringing more humanity to the workplace. My guest, Mike Thompson, founder of Spark Recruiting, shares his journey with impostor syndrome and how he views his investment in his mental health as just as important as his investment in his physical health. We also talk about how to re-imagine the hiring process to increase diversity and ensure that the right people are promoted to leadership. And, finally, we talk about the role of micro-disruptor that we can all play to transform our workplaces. 

About My Guest

Mike Thomson has been in the recruitment agency industry for thirteen years. He launched Spark at the end of 2021 with the goal to change how everyone attracts top talent. Hiring is uninspiring, generic, faceless, and lacks personality but not anymore. He is an entrepreneur, matchmaker, sales professional, storyteller, father, athlete and optimistically curious about people.

For more information on Mike, go to his website https://www.sparkrecruiting.ca/ and connect with him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikethomsonrecruiter/

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/impostor-syndrome-challenge/ 

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/leading-humans-discussion-group/

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6 

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session 

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/ 

Websites:
https://yourcareersuccess.com
https://impostorsyndromefiles.com

In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about the power of bringing professionals of all genders together so that we can better understand and support each other. My guest, Jake Fishbein, and I share our journey of leading conversations about the gender experience in the workplace and discuss how surprised we were to learn that our experiences are far more similar than different. We also talk about the importance of psychological safety to these discussions and how we can all take ownership of creating a better workplace.

About My Guest

Jacob “Coach Jake” Fishbein is an Executive & Personal Coach who specializes in helping people and teams make and navigate their most pressing choices. He’s passionate about helping men and women make proactive decisions and pushing their endeavors forward in purposeful and powerful ways. For him, coaching is all about learning - learning about yourself, your choices, your results, and how you can choose differently to create something new for you and the people and communities you impact.

Coach Jake received his professional coaching certification from the Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching (iPEC), is a PCC accredited coach through the International Coaching Federation (ICF), and is an ACE Certified Coach (Accelerating Coach Excellence) after training with David Peterson (Former Director of Executive Coaching & Leadership at Google) and David Goldsmith (pioneer of the coaching industry).

Before becoming a full-time coach, Coach Jake was a publicist for Jonathan Marder + Company, the general manager for Footnote Records, and the co-founder and COO of Experience Vinyl. He graduated magna cum laude from Kenyon College with a B.A. in History, and two track & field school records.

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Connect with Jake:

www.jakefishbein.com

www.arenaseries.com

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/impostor-syndrome-challenge/ 

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/leading-humans-discussion-group/

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6 

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session 

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/ 

Websites:
https://yourcareersuccess.com
https://impostorsyndromefiles.com

In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about how to show up as allies to the LGBTQ community in the workplace, including why it’s important to use pronouns correctly, how to manage microaggressions and how to help people feel safe at work. My guest, Sarah Scala, a consultant with a specialty in LGBTQ coaching, shares her experience as a member of the community and what we can do to better support members of underrepresented groups in the workplace.  

About My Guest

Sarah A. Scala M. Ed & OD, PCC (She/Her/Hers) Serving as consultant, coach, and educator, Sarah Scala’s experiential and high-energy approach increases client revenue, reduces turnover, creates business value, and transforms performance of executives, leaders, and teams, helping them reach their highest potential. She provides organization and leadership development, executive coaching, change management, public speaking facilitation, and team development solutions. She supports US-based and global clients across cultures, generations, geographies, and diverse industries. She has extensive experience working with organizations that strive to balance excellent performance, in addition to supporting LGBTQ+ leaders. Learn more at: https://www.sarahscala.com/about

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Connect with Sarah:

LINKEDIN:https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahscala/

WEBSITE: https://www.sarahscala.com/

NEWSLETTER: https://www.sarahscala.com/join

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChB6B0DjdUY3JDVovwd8JXQ 

Coming out as an LGBTQ+ Business blog: https://www.sarahscala.com/blog/coming-out-as-an-lgbtq-business

How I got here blog: https://www.sarahscala.com/blog/how-i-got-here

LGBTQ+ Solutions: https://www.sarahscala.com/lgbtq-solutions

LGBTQ+ Coaching: https://www.sarahscala.com/lgbtq-coaching

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/impostor-syndrome-challenge/ 

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/leading-humans-discussion-group/

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6 

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session 

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/ 

Websites:
https://yourcareersuccess.com
https://impostorsyndromefiles.com

In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about why it’s so important to show curiosity and be vulnerable in our connections with others. Many of us struggle with building new relationships, particularly in light of changes in the workplace resulting from the pandemic. My guest this week, Rob Maloney, host of the Heart & Hard Work podcast, shares that his default assumption is that humans want to connect, so he’s always willing to take the risk. We also talk about the power of the growth mindset and why it’s important to show compassion toward ourselves if we want to support others.

About My Guest

Rob Maloney’s life experiences forged a trilingual "learn-it-all" world traveler w/ 2 master’s degrees working at Microsoft and host of the "Heart & Hard Work" podcast. He empowers rethinking by sharing perspectives of purpose as a multiplier leader building communities where people can thrive together. He’s driven to reshape broken notions of fixed limitations and mental health while reteaching a growth mindset, emotional intelligence, and meta-cognition to actualize our full potential.

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Connect with Rob:

Heart & Hard Work podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/heart-and-hard-work/id1584116053

Heart & Hard Work podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/78hIcCt8WybpRA5vdwQlGf

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/impostor-syndrome-challenge/ 

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/leading-humans-discussion-group/

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6 

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session 

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/ 

Websites:
https://yourcareersuccess.com
https://impostorsyndromefiles.com

In this week’s episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we look at how important it is to feel special and unique in our workplaces. We also talk about how challenging that can be when we feel pressured to conform and fit in. My guest, Taylor Short, shares how she helps professionals return to their true selves by understanding what makes them unique and how to best engage with others in their workplaces. She also advises that, while there may be times when it’s best to leave your job, our power comes from looking at what we can control and re-defining our relationships with our work. 

 About My Guest

 Taylor Short is a Job Reset Coach & Consultant, as well as author of Reset Your Relationship to Your Job. 

She’s fired up about disrupting the narrative that work is meant to be stressful and knows what’s possible for employees and companies when they shift their relationship to their job. 

Taylor helps people move from feeling stuck and overwhelmed to energized and fulfilled, without leaving their job. Having spent 15+ years climbing the corporate ladder herself, Taylor discovered a missing piece in Corporate America. The entire focus was on external success, but most employees were experiencing a significant internal struggle. Through her own work, she learned what it takes to balance these two and eventually left to start her own business – Harmonious Return - to help people reset the way they relate to their jobs. She knows when people are fulfilled internally, they tap into a goldmine of energy, passion and worth that positively impacts everything they do.

 Her credentials include: MBA, ICF Certified Coach, Nature Connected Coach, Yoga Instructor, Human Design Reader

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Connect with Taylor:

Website: https://harmoniousreturn.com/

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/impostor-syndrome-challenge/ 

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/leading-humans-discussion-group/

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6 

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session 

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/ 

Websites:
https://yourcareersuccess.com
https://impostorsyndromefiles.com

In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about how easy it is to experience self-doubt and impostor syndrome when you feel different from those around you. My guest, Amber Barber, a senior director of program management in the high-tech industry, talks about her experience as the only woman studying physics when she went to college. She also talks about how often being the only woman in her workplace has led her to feel pressured to constantly prove herself. Amber shares how her experience with mentors has helped her to navigate challenges and stay focused on growing her career. She also shares tips for how you can find a mentor and maximize that experience. 

 About My Guest

 Amber Barber is an experienced problem solver, with nearly 22 years of fixing other people’s mistakes in the high-tech world.  After earning both her bachelor's and masters degrees in physics, Amber started at National Semiconductor in Texas.  She has since held roles at several other companies, including Microsoft and Lam Research, and is currently the senior director of Jade Global’s program management office, working remotely from a small town in Oregon.  Her passion for learning and guiding others drove her training and certifications in both PMI Project Management as well as Lean Six Sigma, where she earned Master Black Belt.  Amber is a proud mom of four adult children, and lives in her empty nest with two spoiled cats and her incredibly patient husband Brad.  Amber loves all things geek, reading for hours, and traveling the world.

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Connect with Amber:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberbarber/

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/impostor-syndrome-challenge/ 

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/leading-humans-discussion-group/

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6 

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session 

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/ 

Websites:
https://yourcareersuccess.com
https://impostorsyndromefiles.com

In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about our universal struggle with inadequacy and self-doubt and how to find peace with who we are. My guest, Karyn Seitz, the Happiness Mentor, shares her personal journey of turning to spiritual healing to try to address her impostor syndrome, only to find that true healing comes from within. She emphasizes the importance of putting ourselves first to find true happiness. And she shares a simple, yet powerful strategy for how to do so that can change our relationship with ourselves and ensure that others get the best of us.

About My Guest

As a former spiritual healer, Karyn realized her clients were not getting better. She was frustrated that she could not deliver the results her clients wanted even though she was trying lots of different healing modalities and coaching techniques.

Karyn knew she also wasn’t getting the changes she wanted in her life. She secretly lacked any confidence in her ability to change. Her adult life had stalled.

In a fresh new search for answers, Karyn found the missing piece that would ultimately transform her life and her clients. There is something very profound in owning that she is the problem in her life. This awareness pushed her to confront herself and get serious about herself and her life.

Karyn is now fulfilled in her life and teaches others the same journey she has taken to find herself and be happy.

Karyn calls herself The Happiness Mentor and teaches an online happiness course for women called Awakened Grace.

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Connect with Karyn:

www.karynseitz.com
https://www.facebook.com/karynaseitz

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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/impostor-syndrome-challenge/ 

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://yourcareersuccess.com/leading-humans-discussion-group/

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6 

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session 

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/ 

Websites:
https://yourcareersuccess.com
https://impostorsyndromefiles.com