Dawn Paine, Founder and CEO of Aurora Creative Agency, kicked off the World Media Group’s Agency Future Leaders event with a story about her own imposter syndrome. She was in a global strategy meeting in Kyoto, surrounded by 40 senior leaders. There were 25 Japanese middle-aged men, 14 white European middle-aged men, and her, a working-class woman from Liverpool who wasn’t even a hardcore gamer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paine was the Marketing Director at Nintendo, the only female on the global leadership team, and in that moment, she felt like a complete fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I do remember having real moments of, \u2018Oh my god. Why am I here? How did I even get here? I am literally going to get found out at any moment,” she recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve had that feeling, the good news is you’re not alone and, more importantly, you can learn to weaponise it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reframe your thinking<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s perhaps surprising, Paine explained, is that imposter syndrome doesn\u2019t appear to fade as you get more successful. Not when you become a director at 34. Not when you run massive campaigns for global brands. Not even when you reach the C-suite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I don’t think it ever goes away, which I think is quite interesting, and it shows up at times when you don’t even expect it, which is really annoying!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The term \u2018imposter syndrome\u2019, coined in 1978 by two American female psychologists, describes both a thinking pattern and a physiological response. “It is literally your inner critic writ large. But at the same time, there\u2019s also data that suggests that it is physiological; you do get cortisol spikes in the form of fight or flight.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n This dual nature, both mental and physical, means you can’t just think your way out of it. But you can reframe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Uncomfortable excitement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Paine had a eureka moment when she was listening to the ex-Google executive Matt Brittin speak. He wasn’t talking about imposter syndrome, but Dawn recognised the parallel immediately. Rather than \u2018imposter syndrome\u2019 he described it as \u2018uncomfortable excitement.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I love that phrase,\u201d Paine says. \u201cI subsequently realised that’s basically how I live my life, and why I do what I do, and why I make some of the decisions that I make,” she explains. “I love that feeling of, you know it’s a little bit scary, but you’re on the brink of doing something really interesting, and something that you know is going to bring you growth.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The physical sensation might be identical – the racing heart, the cortisol spike, the nervous energy – but the meaning you assign it transforms it entirely. It’s not “I’m going to be exposed as a fraud.” It’s “I’m about to learn something incredible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ask the “dumb” questions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At Nintendo, Dawn led a team of hardcore gamers despite not being one herself. Rather than hide this gap, she weaponised it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I think the bit I’ve probably always been quite good at is asking the really dumb questions, and embracing the dumb questions,” she explains. “Because I think when you ask the seemingly stupid question, particularly when you work in a technology context, quite often there’ll be other people in the room thinking it, but maybe too scared to say it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s when Paine\u2019s imposter system became a superpower. Those basic questions often unlocked insights that transformed marketing campaign performance, and resonated with Nintendo’s target audience \u2013 non-gamers. “What you’re flagging is a human truth that perhaps your consumer base will be thinking as well,” Paine says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Create safe spaces as you grow<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As you progress in your career, your responsibility shifts from managing your own imposter syndrome to helping others manage theirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paine points to her mentor, Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s former global president (“the Japanese Steve Jobs”). He created conditions for her to speak, not just because she was the token woman, but because he understood the power of diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “What massively helped me was him ensuring that my voice was heard in whatever conversation was had,” Paine recalls. This gave her a sense of belonging that helped mitigate the imposter syndrome during her ten-year career with Nintendo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leaders can create safe spaces by creating a listening space. But while it\u2019s important to become an exceptional listener, Paine warns not to create \u201can overly safe space\u201d or it could end up being \u201cquite passive because people are too nice.\u201d You want an environment that\u2019s \u201cfun and dynamic and creative and sparky, where people feel comfortable being able to say, actually I disagree with that and here\u2019s why.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The greatest minds feel it too<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When imposter syndrome strikes, remember you’re in good company. Paine points out that \u201cMichelle Obama talked about never feeling that she fully fitted in at Princeton. Einstein described himself as \u2018an involuntary swindler.\u2019 Imposter syndrome isn’t a weakness to overcome \u2013 it’s a signal that you’re pushing into growth territory. The uncomfortable excitement means you’re exactly where you need to be: on the edge of something that will make you better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dawn Paine was interviewed by Hannah Diddams, SVP B2B Marketing & Studios, Business Insider. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For more insights from the Agency Future Leaders event, read our companion pieces on harnessing AI\u2019s potential<\/a><\/em> and Building Unshakeable Client-Agency Trust.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dawn Paine, Founder and CEO of Aurora Creative Agency, kicked off the World Media Group’s Agency Future Leaders event with a story about her own imposter syndrome. She was in a global strategy meeting in Kyoto, surrounded by 40 senior leaders. 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\u201cIf you think that literally the greatest minds in the world have grappled with this, you’re kind of okay to have those feelings. And once you reframe them, you can turn that into some quite positive energy,\u201d she notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n