Dunning-Kruger vs Impostor Syndrome
Life often makes us realise lessons as we deal with people each day. The biggest lesson I have learned, living and working in the corporate world, is that incompetence is more prevalent than one realises. And this is mainly due to many having the Dunning-Kruger effect of believing themselves to be super competent when they are mediocre at best. The truly competent meanwhile, are suffering from Impostor Syndrome and doubting themselves because of the Dunning-Kruger pundits they are surrounded by.
This may sound absurd at best, but fact is indeed stranger than fiction. Dunning-Kruger is particularly prevalent in men and of course a lot of the nepo babies. My experiences with many so called hot-shot leaders have been eye-opening to say the least. Most of us were given the PR overdose of how great, visionary, amazing, pioneering these people were when in fact, their work was mediocre at best. The nepo babies were of course given a good boost up in life and their achievements while some are commendable, most are nothing spectacular. But of course, one dare not criticise the spawn of the boss because professionalism is a word in theory alone and not practice.
This is of course, not to dispute the actual visionary work of some truly remarkable people and the handful of nepo babies who are actually gifted or who buckle down and work well. But what is important to remember is that none of these people achieved anything alone. They had a team who put in the work with them and while leadership is important, a good team and true competence are equally important. And very often, those team mates are the ones who suffer from Impostor Syndrome and hence spend their lives working to realise someone else’s dream and not their own.
The lesson is to cultivate good EQ so that one is self-aware – either to recognise Dunning – Kruger in oneself or Impostor Syndrome. From there – live true to oneself. There is no greater joy than that.
