Five Famous Women Who Suffered from "Impostor" Moments

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In her new book, author and highly successful businesswoman Joyce Roche addresses how many successful leaders -- especially women -- suffer from the Impostor Syndrome where they feel undeserving of their accolades and achievements and actually question their competence.

This has been a factor for all great leaders throughout history. Here is a list of just five world-famous women leaders who each dealt with their own version of the syndrome and questioned their competence despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary:

1. Mother Teresa (1910 --1997): An icon of God's work on Earth, Nobel Prize winner, and global symbol of compassion, she was also, as was recognized after her death, unsteady in her faith. In letters she wrote to friends and others, Mother Teresa questioned her ability to perform or minister to the needy because she had no faith and confessed to feeling "Repulsed, empty, no love, no zeal." She felt she was a hypocrite and possibly an atheist who was doing the work of a God who did not exist.

Despite her reservations, she never stopped working and caring for the poor and diseased until the end. Her work is even more inspiring and heroic given how she questioned herself so sharply but remained committed to her work.


2. Golda Meir (1898 -- 1978): She was the fourth Prime Minister of Israel and remains a legend to her people as well as admirers globally for her leadership of a troubled nation. She enjoyed an illustrious political career in service as Israel's Labor Minister and Foreign Minister prior to taking on the role of Prime Minister in 1969. Israel won its six-day war against Egypt, Jordan, and Syria and grew  prosperous under her government, but the Yom Kippur War just a few years later impacted Meir greatly. Though Israel went on to win the war, with the U.S.'s assistance, the government was severely criticized for its alleged unpreparedness. Much of the blame was directed towards Meir.

Insiders reported that Meir questioned her capability to govern following the end of the Yom Kippur War despite her previous successes. Seeing the people's sudden turn as a reflection of poor leadership, she resigned from government. Many scholars have argued that Meir's decision to resign was too radical and self-critical given the sum of her achievements prior to the war. She remains to this day the original "Iron Lady" of world politics (well before Margaret Thatcher earned the moniker).


3. Madeleine Albright (1937 -- ) Though she was the first ever female Secretary of State and had numerous achievements to her credit, she was dismissed as politically correct window dressing for the Clinton administration upon appointment. Albright's battle with naysayers in government took its toll on her marriage as she felt unworthy of also being a wife and mother. At one particularly low point (as she relates in her memoir, Madame Secretary), she tolerated a husband who had openly taken up with a younger woman but called every day to complain how he could not choose between her and his new lover. So low was her image of self that she even conceded to her husband's plan as to how he would choose between the two: "If he got the Pulitzer, he would stay with me. If not, he would leave and we would get a divorce."

Albright recognized later (after they divorced) just how much she lacked confidence in herself as a spouse to even have allowed such a scenario. She uses this story often to illustrate how ascending to power can often cause women to question their competence and ability in other arenas as well. 

 
4. Corazon Aquino (1933--2009): Became the first female President of the Phillipines when she defeated Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. She made incredible strides to rebuild the nation after the corruption and mismanagement of the Marcos administration had almost doomed the nation. There were numerous coup attempts and corruption charges but she weathered them all and remained a favorite of the people. She was, however, unable to bring about a lot of the social reform she had hoped for and her dissatisfaction with her own efforts is well documented. She finally stepped down in 1992.

Aquino was the people's choice even at the time she stepped down, and remains a national figure of reverence. Many argue that Aquino saw her inability to bring about reform in the face of such opposition from the established powers as a personal failing but failed to recognize all that she had achieved for the people despite the limitations placed upon her.


5. Indira Gandhi (1917--1984): When she was elected Prime Minister of India in 1966, a TIME magazine cover line read "Troubled India in a Woman's Hands." Brought up under the close watch of her father Jawaharlal Nehru and just decades after British rule ended, Gandhi was able to battle through recession, famine, scandals, a civil war in Pakistan, and the controversial creation of the new nation of Bangladesh. Being the leader of a nation steeped in patriarchal culture and values (even her own father and his fellow patriots who rallied against the British were known for not including women in their groups) always proved to be a challenge and she voiced her insecurities and fears about being "a woman in my father's job" to her advisors quite often.

At the time of her assassination in 1984, Gandhi was the world's longest-serving Prime Minister -- a distinction she holds to this day having served four terms in office. Three million people -- including the heads of state of the most powerful nations in the world from all continents -- attended her funeral.

Five Huge Software Blunders

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In his latest book, Mike Song teaches you how to use software and technology in the most effective ways possible to minimize your labor and time while maximizing quality and results. All of his tips and instructions have been tested multiple times to make sure they work.

Of course, not everyone has been that lucky with software and tech, and here are just five of the biggest software blunders in recent history:

1. The Most Expensive Hyphen In Software History
One of the earliest software fails occurred in 1962 with NASA’s Mariner 1 spacecraft on route to Venus. Before it even left the Earth’s atmosphere, ground control, while trying to correct a steering problem, activated the self-destruct button. Rumour has it that there was an errant hyphen in the software program that caused the problem. Whatever caused it, Mariner 1 self-destructed and ended up throwing $134 million in today’s money into the fire (literally).

2. The Monumental Windows 98 Fail
This goes down as probably one of the most embarrassing on record because Microsoft founder Bill Gates was the person being shown the demonstration (along with hundreds of others in the audience) at Comdex '98, a national computer conference. As Microsoft marketing guru Chris Capossela was showing to the audience how to connect drivers for a scanner utilising Windows 98, the dreaded  Blue Screen Of Death appeared. (The Blue Screen of Death is non-recoverable and thus the system crashed.) To his credit, Gates rolled along with it all and even cracked a joke.

3. The Y2K Bug that Wasn't
This will go down as the biggest software malfunction that never was because it was fueled entirely by human hysteria. A perceived inability by computers to recognize the year 2000 as a new century had people worrying how payrolls wouldn’t be met, files would get lost in the ether of date confusion and planes falling out of the sky as the clock struck midnight on January 31, 1999. Millions were spent trying to fix the problem, and eventually it was solved. The fix that cost so many millions? Expanding two digit years to four digit years in programs, files and databases. Five minutes, in most cases, to update.

4. Windows...Again.
Introduced in 2006, Windows Genuine Advantage was never a popular initiative with Microsoft's customers. All it did was help Microsoft root out software piracy. In that task, it was as vigilant as, well, an overenthusiastic vigilante. In  late-August 2007, it found piracy everywhere it looked -- even among thousands of legitimate Windows customers. But it got worse: on Friday, Aug. 24, someone on the WGA team accidentally installed bug-filled update on the main servers. So for 19 hours, the server flagged thousands of WGA clients across the globe as illegal, told tens of thousands of Windows XP customers  they were running pirated software and remotely turned off features on tens of thousands more Windows Vista users.

5. Black Monday: Software Blamed for Human Error
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Black Monday (1987), Wall Street's greatest ever loss in a single day, was all the fault of bugs in the computer models.

Except that it wasn't.

Program trading was relatively new and harder to understand back then, and people with diminished pension funds were anxious to find a scapegoat they could really lay the blame on. It was easier to point to a faulty program than to understand overvaluation, lack of liquidity, international disputes about exchange rates, and the market's notoriously bipolar psychology. Of course, program trading did contribute to the precipitous fall of American markets, but the trading programs just did as they were instructed. The fact that they sold as the financial markets collapsed around them wasn't a bug, it was a feature -- just not a well-thought-out one.

Five "Ideal" Manager Traits That Are Myths

Henry Mintzberg is considered to be one of the top living business and management thinkers.

Henry lists below the five traits that popular business literature posits as the ideal qualities to get from it, and then explains why they are unrealistic:

Ideal Trait Myth #1: You Can Become a Leader. Not always so. If you have leadership capabilities, they are already in your soul. No book or course will make you into a leader.

Ideal Trait Myth #2: You Can Become a Planner. As a manager, mostly you have to react to what happens in front of you. Let the planners plan -- but they can plan operations, not strategies.

Ideal Trait Myth #3. You Can Adapt the Right Leadership Style to Suit Your Situation. Not really. You are not a chameleon. It would be better to just be in a job suited to your own style.

Ideal Trait Myth #4: You Can Use the Latest Tools to Manage Your Organization. Be careful. A tool isn't something you can use in place of a brain. Pick and understand your tools carefully -- not just what's the flavor of the month.

Ideal Trait Myth #5: You Can Read Books Like Managing to Become a Better Manager. That's true! But do you have the time? As a manager, you’re a busy person. That’s why you can read just the boldface sentences in this book and get the gist of it.

Any other ideal traits that need debunking, or do you want to challenge any of the ones listed above? Chime in below.

Five Ways You Can Tell When Someone Is Lying to You at Work

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Carol Kinsey Goman's latest book addresses the subject of lying in the workplace and how we can detect it and what to do about it.

Spotting deception begins with observing a person’s baseline behavior under relaxed or generally stress-free conditions so that you can detect meaningful deviations. One of the strategies that experienced interviewers use is to ask a series of simple questions while observing how the person behaves when there is no reason to lie. Then, when the more difficult issues get addressed, the interviewer can stay alert for sudden changes in behavior that may indicate deception around key points.

We're never quite sure when we are being lied to at work, but here are five ways that it does happen so that you know to look for them.*

1. Watch for stress signals
For the vast majority of the individuals you work with, the act of lying triggers a heightened stress response. Blood pressure, heart rate and breathing rates all increase.

To relieve stress and anxiety, liars may use pacifying gestures (rubbing their hands together, bouncing their heels, fidgeting with jewelry, etc.) But our first response to stress (before we ready ourselves to fight or flee) is to freeze. So also pay attention if your usually animated colleague suddenly stops gesturing, has a forced or frozen smile, and locks her ankles.


2. Look at their eyes

The biggest myth around deception is that liars can’t look you in the eyes. In fact, some don’t (especially small children), but polished liars may actually give too much eye contact.

There are two eye signals that are more accurate signs of dishonesty: 1) Pupils dilate when someone is lying, and 2) Blink rates change – slowing down while someone constructs and tells the lie, and then speeding up (sometimes as much as eight times) afterward.


3. Count to four

Nonverbal cues to all kinds of unconscious giveaways tend to occur in clusters – a group of movements, postures and actions that collectively point to a particular state of mind.

This is crucially true of dishonesty, where one specific cluster of nonverbal signals has been proven statistically to accompany dishonesty. These are: hand touching, face touching, crossed arms, and leaning away. According to research conducted at Northeastern University, if you see these “Telltale Four” being displayed together, watch out!


4. Listen – really listen -- to what people tell you

Because of the mental effort it takes to tell a bald-faced lie (and because it is so stressful), many people prefer to avoid the truth with selective wording. Notice how the responses below never really answer the questions.

Question: Did you take the computer from the supply room?
Answer: Do I look like the kind of person who would take a computer?

Question: Did you leave your last place of employment on good terms?
Answer: I left to pursue other opportunities.


5. Stay alert for "undercover" emotions

Smiles are often used as a polite response and to cover up other emotions, but these faked smiles involve the mouth only. Unless someone is expressing genuine pleasure or happiness, it’s hard to produce a real smile – the kind that crinkles the corners of the eyes and lights up the entire face.

There is another way that real emotions emerge, regardless of the effort to suppress them. When someone conceals any strong emotion, chances are his face will expose that information in a split-second burst called a “micro expression.” Difficult to spot because of it happens so quickly, but that instantaneous flash of fear, anger, dismay, joy, etc. is a valid indicator of someone’s genuine emotional state.


* Please remember that none of these verbal or nonverbal cues are absolute proof of lying. (Truthful people can show signs of stress, have a naturally high blink rate, or give round-about answers. And both the liar and truth-teller may exhibit fear -- one of being discovered, the other of not being believed.) Nevertheless, these signals are strong indicators of heightened anxiety, possible deception, or “hot spots” -- areas that you should investigate further.

Five Ways We Lie to Ourselves and Get Ourselves "Stuck."

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Terry Hawkins' new book talks about how difficult it is for us to make changes in our life and how we often resolve to remain in a "pit of despair" than make our lives better and climb out of the pit.

Sometimes we're not even aware of the lies we tell ourselves so that we can have an excuse to not change. Terry reveals just five of these lies below:

Lie #1: A pre-set and repetitive pattern of supposedly hopeful thinking can inspire or bring about change.

Why it’s a lie: We keep ourselves stuck because we become addicted to telling the "this too shall pass" story - the one that makes us feel sad, frustrated, pitiful but hopes, in vain, for improvement. We do this because it is easier to hope passively than take action, and self-pity is an ugly form of comfort. We keep thinking things must get better but don’t admit that they won’t until we think differently.

Lie #2: When others are always the problem, be vocal and let them know by complaining.

Why it’s a lie:  Have you ever noticed that there are some people who continually complain about the same things even with different people and places, always thinking that the problem is not them but everything else. They change their job, their partner, where they live, what they do - but end up complaining about the same things again. We lie and tell ourselves that others are the problem when in fact, we are.

Lie #3: Things that cause shame and guilt are best kept to oneself.

Why it’s a lie: There was a woman who held a secret about her past for almost her entire life because she thought it shameful. This experience happened to her, yet (as many of us do), she blamed herself. When she “came out” about her experiences to those she loved and shared the tragic secrets of her past, she created meaning for her behaviors and attitudes. Everyone understood why she was the way she was. You owe your loved ones the truth because the truth sets everyone free.

Lie #4: Pain should be avoided.

Why it’s a lie: Pain is a necessary part of life. When we try to numb our emotional pain, we don't give ourselves the opportunity to face the core issues at the heart of our pain. Learn to “do pain well" instead of avoiding it because it will not magically disappear. Know that you have all the resources you need to walk through your pain to come out the other side. We like to numb our pain through blame, accusation, medication, anger, pity, or drama – all forms of lying to ourselves. Pain is one of our greatest guides - pay attention to the wisdom that it offers along with the discomfort.

Lie #5: Don’t compare situations and emotions.

Why it's a lie: The only reason we know what feels right is because we know what doesn’t: someone who has never felt happy wouldn’t know what unhappiness feels like. Life would not be what it is without the opportunity for comparisons, and it is these comparisons that give us the spirit and urge for a new vantage point. It is not the total absence of pain that brings a joyous life, but the knowledge to know pain and so appreciate its dissipation from life. Comparison is a necessary gauge or measure of where we are going and how we are doing.

Five Things You Probably Did Not Know About Latinos in the US

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The Latino population in the United States is growing rapidly and currently accounts for 50.5 million individuals. Yet it remains one of the few cultures that others know very little about or make the most erroneous assumptions of. Also, as Juana Bordas points out in her latest book, Latinio leadership culture is often overlooked in much the same way.

Here are five facts about Latinos in the US that you probably didn't know:

1. Latinos Are Highly Educated. Almost one-third of all Hispanics between the ages of 18 and 24 are enrolled in college in undergraduate, professional certification, or graduate programs -- the largest minority group in such programs in the nation.

2. The Majority of Latinos Are Not Immigrants. Over 64% of Hispanics in the United States were born here (and no, the remaining 36% are not here illegally; the majority of them immigrated to the US through legal channels). It should be noted that 1 of 3 non-Latino Americans believes the majority of Latinos are undocumented.

3. Latinos Have the Fastest Growing Purchasing Power of All Ethnic Groups in the Country. The Hispanic community's purchasing power was estimated at $1.2 trillion in 2012 and is predicted to rise to $1.5 trillion in 2015, making it faster than growth of buying power within the African-American, White, and Asian populations.

4. Latinos Grow the Economy in Leaps and Bounds. US Latinos accounted for $2.2 billion worth of e-commerce purchases in the first quarter of 2012 alone, accounting for 34.8% of the growth in technology and telecommunications industries in the same time period.

5. The Majority of Latinos Vote. Latinos make up 16% of the US's population. In 2012, 10% of all voters were Latinos. Keep in mind that the remaining 6% also consist of those who are either too young to vote or have residency but not citizenship and you can get an idea of the tremendous voting base here.



All information is based on data from the Selig Center for Economic Growth, AHAA Adspend Research, and the Pew Hispanic Center.

Four Ways That Diseases Over "There" Impact Us Over "Here"

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A lot of people make the mistake of assuming that poverty and disease in other nations is not our problem, after all, how can what is happening over there impact us over here? It seems that the only reason for aid and assistance in diseased and blighted areas globally is a humanitarian or ethical one.

However, there are some very pragmatic reasons (and not just ethical ones) why we should work to eradicate disease and improve healthcare globally -- because not doing so directly impacts us in the West. Here are just four such reasons:

1. Disease Knows No Borders. Diseases do not keep to geographical borders nor limit themselves to particular locales. This has always been the case -- remember that the Bubonic Plague started with a flood in China, and SARS (which is back in the news) has also traveled across continents to arrive on our shores. Treating diseases at their points of origin protects all of us in the long run.

2. Disease Impacts Economies. Consider that a lot of the factory and production work as well as crops and food products come from different parts of the globe. A simple outbreak of just the flu could be deadly in communities with no access to basic antibiotics, resulting in a hefty chunk of the workforce becoming ill and bringing production and harvesting to a standstill. This directly impacts our supply of goods and the prices escalate accordingly. Everyone (including us) loses.

3. Diseases Mutate. Diseases often mutate into hardier strains that are more resistant to medications. It is important to counter potential diseases in their infancy before they have a chance to mutate. A disease that may not pose a threat to anyone in the West is often ignored, but that disease can, if left untreated, mutate into different strains that are resistant even to modern medicine. A lack of attention to early incidents of AIDS led to a mutation and strain that to this day eludes successful treatment.

4. Disease Causes Political Chaos. The rampant spread of a disease promotes instability in many regions. Blame is thrown about and inevitably sides start blaming one another while claiming they each have access to treatment or a cure (often a false promise). The resulting political unrest can be deadly and violent in many cases. In this day and age, instability in one nation promotes to instability in many given how we are all economically connected.