Imposter Syndrome

Sherry Cooper is the Executive Vice-President and Chief Economist of BMO Financial Group.

Look at that title. That is a big job. You don't get it by simply being in the right place at the right time.

BMO doesn't recruit its Chief Economists from the street. You need to be incredibly intelligent and educated. You need to be ambitious. You need to put in time to climb the corporate ladder.

Still, Cooper suffers from "imposter syndrome" - a phenomenon where she feels like an imposter in her job, like any moment someone will come along and reveal her as a fake, that she somehow just stumbled into her high powered job though a combination of sheer luck and good timing.

She feels like an imposter despite the fact that she's a published author, has a PhD, a bagillion (yes, that many) awards to her name and a crazy powerful job.

I confess, sometimes I feel like that as a photographer. I think that's a good thing though because it means that I recognize that I've barely scratched the surface of this gig and that I know that I'll always have a lot to learn, no matter what crazy job title I have.

Any others suffering from imposter syndrome out there?