Hey, it’s Collin. Welcome to Engineering Echelons, a newsletter full of ideas and insights to help engineers excel at management.

Here’s what I’ve got for you this week.

• New and noteworthy news

• A management perspective to consider

• Leadership insights to delve into

• And more…

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Alright, let’s get into it.

Noteworthy Headlines

Construction Unemployment Low in June (ENR)

Highlights:

US Hotel Room Construction Hits 20-quarter Low (Construction Dive)

Highlights:

• Rooms under construction decreased year over year in June for the sixth consecutive month amid economic uncertainty.

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Management Perspective

The more responsibility you take on in your career, the more likely you are to experience Imposter Syndrome. While it’s uncomfortable, many successful people have dealt with it at some point. Such people include Maya Angelou, Michelle Obama, Sheryl Sandberg, Agatha Christie, and John Steinbeck. In fact, Imposter Syndrome impacts about 70% of people at some point in their lives, according to a review article in the International Journal of Behavioral Science.

Imposter Syndrome isn’t necessarily a purely bad thing. Adam Grant covers some benefits of feeling like an imposter in his book Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know. Namely, these include motivation to work harder, try new things, and learn more.

Imposter Syndrome motivates us to work harder

When you feel like you don’t deserve to be in a certain spot, it can motivate you to work harder to make up for your perceived deficiencies. It can feel like you have something to prove, maybe as much to yourself as to others.

As a result, you aren’t likely to fall into complacency.

Imposter Syndrome allows you to try new things

When feeling like an imposter, you aren’t pressured as much to achieve greatness. Expectations are lower. As a result, you aren’t constrained to follow the status quo. Instead, you can be creative and try new things. Imposter Syndrome puts you into a beginner’s mindset where you can question assumptions that others might take for granted.

Imposter Syndrome encourages you to learn more

The less you think you have to learn, the less inclined you are to keep learning new things. Imposter Syndrome is the antidote for this malady. It makes you very aware of all the things you need to learn. And since you realize you don’t know everything, you may feel encouraged to seek insights from others around you.

Final Thought

Ultimately, Imposter Syndrome is an uncomfortable feeling that you’ll likely experience at some point in your life. However, it can be a catalyst that propels your growth forward. So remember the next time you feel doubtful of your abilities: work hard, try new things, and never stop learning.

Management Insights

James Hollis on your responsibility:

“After a lifetime of blaming others, it is exceedingly difficult for us to finally acknowledge that the only person who has consistently been in all the scenes of that long-running soap opera we call our life is us, and, as a necessary corollary, that we bear some large responsibility for how the drama is turning out.”

—

David Allen on thoughts vs. action:

“There is usually an inverse relationship between how much something is on your mind and how much it’s getting done.”

—

Eric Hoffer on being a learner:

“In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

Management Resource

The Quest to Imagine a Workplace that Actually Values Work-Life Balance (Behavioral Scientist)

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• Let me know if you’ve found something worth sharing.

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Send me an email at [email protected]

Looking forward to hearing from you. See you next time.

Collin

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