Ubiquity of the “Impostor Syndrome”

Discussing complicated intellectual subjects with others often involves area’s of knowledge in which we feel uncertain or inadequate.

You and I would not be the only one to have a sense of not belonging when caught in such a situation, even when we are in fact experts in that particular field.

This feeling of being found out as an impostor who talks nonsense despite the fact that we are well schooled on the subject, is a widespread phenomenon called The Impostor Syndrome. Although a rather benign sort of mental aberration, it can severely hamper our confidence.

The Cambridge professor of physics Athene Donald has broached the subject eloquently in a blog post, discussing her experience of the phenomenon in the world of academia.

She noted that it seems mainly an issue woman seem to talk about openly, but she has now followed up with a second article showing there are also plenty of men experiencing these feelings, although they seem less inclined to identify them as genuine instances of Impostor Syndrome.

If you share the feeling of inadequacy in the presence of peers or when speaking as an authority in academic or other capacity, it may pay off to read the articles and realize that this is pretty common. It’s not unlike the notion of feeling our looks, smells or physical behaviour is inadequate compared to others.

Whilst in most cases, others share these feelings, probably at the same time.

The spiritual opposite of the Impostor Syndrome is called The Dunning-Kruger effect. This effect comes down to an obliviousness to our inabilities, causing those with minor to no skill to be unable to detect their lack of competence and hence value their ability much higher than it in practice is.

If you and your colleagues all wonder how how that supremely incompetent and dislikeable manager got that position in the fist place, it may simply be the Dunner-Kruger effect in action.

The person may lack the self-consciousness and skill to realize his or her capacities are minor and hence prances around with the confidence of kings, which can translate eventually to promotion over more skilled, but far less confident, collegues.

In short, the Impostor Syndrome shows us that even the most competent of people, academics of fair repute, experts in their field, can constantly have the nagging feeling they are inadequate compared to others.

All of which brings us to a wonderful quote from the great British philosopher Bertrand Russell:

“One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision”

Wharton Professor Jeremy Siegel: Stocks, the US Economy and the Mid-Term Elections

The political landscape in Washington and around the country shifted considerably as a result of the midterm elections, with Republicans taking control of the House, gaining ground in the Senate and claiming several high-profile state offices against incumbent Democrats.

What are the elections' implications for the economy and the stock market, health care reform, the Obama administration's leadership strategy and the future of both parties going forward?

Knowledge@Wharton spoke with Wharton finance professor Jeremy Siegel, insurance and risk management professor Kent Smetters about these and other issues.

The Plato Code - We are all ignorant

What was Plato’s positive philosophy?

Plato depicted the brilliant talk of earlier philosophers, but never stepped forward to state his own views directly. Every reader wrestles with this problem of Platonic anonymity.

Most of us form some opinion of Plato’s central agenda and philosophy but, strictly speaking, this is more or less conjecture.

The range of possible views is illustrated by the minority, in both ancient and modern times, who concluded that Plato was a destructive sceptic with no positive views at all. For them, Plato was merely a brilliant provocateur. His final allegiance was to Socrates’ claim that we are altogether ignorant.

TPM: The Philosophers’ Magazine | The Plato Code

Lessons in Entrepreneurship and Wealth Building from the Developing World - Knowledge@Wharton

Lessons in Entrepreneurship and Wealth Building from the Developing World - Knowledge@Wharton

Animal feed in Zambia. Cookies in South Africa. Medical records systems in Botswana. Peanut processing in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

In regions scarred by intractable poverty, innovative programs to build new sources of wealth through these four businesses are providing lessons for entrepreneurs hoping to create new markets and economic opportunity. In a paper titled, "Business Models: Creating New Markets and Societal Wealth", leaders of Wharton's Societal Wealth Program (WSWP) outline the critical elements of entrepreneurial wealth building based on nearly 10 years of field research supported by Wharton alumni.

The WSWP initiatives are designed to move beyond a charitable aid model for combating poverty by creating economic enterprises that lead to self-sufficiency rather than dependency and that will have a major and lasting impact. "There are plenty of charities doing things for free. What we are attempting to do is create poverty reducing businesses," says James D. Thompson, director of the WSWP, who coauthored the paper with Wharton management professor Ian C. MacMillan.

Uncertainty is a major element of any entrepreneurial undertaking and the social wealth projects -- with the goal of improving society in addition to making money -- are all the more unpredictable. "If you're going to do something that's really going to make a difference and it's bold and highly innovative, by definition it's [also] going to be highly uncertain," MacMillan notes.

Since its launch in 2001, WSWP has been involved in 10 projects and is in the early stages of evaluating two others. The four cases highlighted in the paper represent a range of outcomes from success to termination. Many of the other six projects were disengaged or significantly altered -- a rate Thompson says is comparable to findings on typical entrepreneurial startups. "You're likely, if you follow this approach, to encounter more failures than successes," he notes.

Lessons for Entrepreneurs

According to MacMillan, entrepreneurs working in social enterprises need to maintain a sense of responsibility in addition to factoring in the many business considerations that typically go into a start-up. Failure in this environment can be measured in costs to the human spirit as well as financial terms. "You don't just rush in and say you are going to help without thinking how you will actually be of help," he points out. "Secondly, if you find that your program is not working, you need to have preplanned how to exit without doing harm or leaving people in the lurch."

More.....

Scientists Claim Future Crimes Can Be Predicted Perfectly

“A team from Northwestern University claim they have achieved 100 percent accuracy in reading the minds of make-believe terrorists — simply by attaching electrodes to their scalps and examining their brain waves.

For the study, 29 students were given mock terrorist plans and 30 minutes to learn about an attack on a certain U.S. city. They were asked to work out their own details based on information they were given regarding weapons and methods.

The researchers, who also knew about the mock terrorist plans, monitored the students’ brain waves to find out whether they gave away details of where and when the attacks were to take place. They correlated a rise in brain wave activity to guilty knowledge with 100 percent accuracy across all the students that participated.

According to psychology professor J. Peter Rosenfeld, the “guilty” patterns occur in “P300″ brain waves when meaningful information is shown to a person with “guilty knowledge.”

What makes the result so impressive is that in a real-life situation, the knowledge would be much more deeper entrenched, given the months or years of planning that a participant would be subject to.”

Getting on top - Dominate your Credit Risk

Until recently, when debt became more expensive and harder to come by, companies generally had a blasé attitude toward managing their trade-credit risk. Most corporations, big and small, don't have credit risk procedures any more sophisticated than the sub prime lenders did. In which case you are flying in dangerous territory with your defenses down.

A simple tip but one that's been largely ignored until recently: Be more wary before extending credit to new customers. Make them prove their creditworthiness. Currently, companies take more a of shy unassuming approach to trade credit by quickly granting it to every new client that comes across their threshold. Once aboard they hope for the best and follow the client's payment performance over time.

Companies too often get into the habit of not asking for any financial information from their customers in favor of speeding up a much coveted deal. Suppliers have been doling out credit based on what little information may be available on their privately held clients, despite the fact that private firms have a higher rate of bad debt. Even after a credit account has been granted, the supplying company may shy away from asking for financial data because they don't want to offend a brand-new client. Clearly the banks have a part to play in all this because they too have been willing to extend credit lines far beyond reasonable doubt.

Companies should ask for customer and bank references up front. Although, that information may be biased and unreliable because of the struggling financial institutions. Will the bank and lenders be there in the long term for their customer? Are they going to provide financing or will they make a quick exit and leave the company with a liquidity shortfall, which may or may not cause the demise of the company? Are the financial institutes responsible for the ongoing viability of their clients, i.e. the corporate companies. What support and backup can they provide a struggling company when they themselves are in difficulty. These and many more, are all questions vendors need to ask themselves when looking over a customer's bank information.

Companies should request that all customers, new and old to fill out a one-page credit profile every year. The sheet should include the company's cash position and the most up-to-date contact information. A type of credit probe which may or may not provide the correct level of information in the right format, in a timely manner. This will lead to more overhead in the accountancy dept or with the business analysts, but if addressed properly, it may provide early warning of difficulties.

If there is any good news to be had during this economic downturn, it's that everyone is in the same boat. Your customers are asking their customers for more financial information. It's now become perfectly acceptable to ask about a client's financial status because everyone is being scrutinized by every supplier. Its a big global circle of accountants, checking each others assets.

If it's impractical to demand financial information up-front, then come up with a triggering number for when your company will demand it. A simple threshold or framework will suffice. If clients cross the established and agreed amount, then they must provide their trade creditors with financial statements to validate their credit. The type and level of the threshold can vary depending on client, industry, item value, uniqueness, development costs, credit exposure, etc. Its not a numerical value, its a way of thinking about and controlling your risk exposure.

Another way to improve your credit /risk management is to conduct a detailed assessment and calculate each customer's probability of default. With such precise knowledge you can price your services accordingly, and by showing your client the calculations, you can easily justify a premium rate. Cash has always been king and currently it is even more critical to companies health and financial welfare, but many companies have no idea who they're selling to, never mind who owns the company or their cash position. Its never been more critical to know your customer.

Moreover, suppliers can no longer rely on traditionally held views that big-name companies are safe from sudden and dire financial problems even if they don't have strong cash flow. Many of these companies have lived on extended credit lines for years and are not asset rich. Other companies can have negative cash flow and positive net worth. They're sitting on land or occupy buildings that no one's willing to buy. If their credit is pulled and they end up going bankrupt, the asset value won't cover the debts.

Experts also suggest sales and credit departments improve their communications between salespeople and the collections side. Your salespeople are trying to maintain the vendor /customer relationship at the same time as maximising their commission payments. This is a tightrope, and is a very dangerous situation for the company to ignore. It must be very, very tightly controlled. Don't allow salespeople to grant extended payment terms, without justification and authorisation, before checking in with their credit counterparts. Companies should use these negotiations to get more financial information out of their privately held clients and reprice future services if possible.

Moreover, salespeople may be able to offer the credit department more insight into a customer's financial situation. Therefore it is imperative that they have the influence, motivation and the time to actually get involved in credit and collections questions. Its a team effort and everyone better be on the team or the game is over.

The People Power Triangle

I have composed a simple diagram that illustrates the 3 most important things you need in life or business, to truly succeed. At the risk of patronising you, let me point out the message.

To gain Authority, People need Knowledge and Experience.
To gain Knowledge, we need Money to pay for our studies.
To gain Experience, we need to spend Time applying our Knowledge.