When I played “I Want to Dance with Somebody”  on my CD player back in the late 80’s, I just let myself go and danced around the room singing along with Whitney as voice soared above the rhythm  and beat of the music to convey her message of love.

As I watched the news reports of Whitney’s untimely death, I couldn’t help but think that it was all about the love and appreciation that she seemed to never feel that she earned or gained in her professional work.

I heard the Kevin Costner commented at her funeral that one of Whitney’s enduring life concerns was the sense that she was never good enough or pretty enough and likable enough.

Even though it is hard to believe that a talent as amazing as Whitney Houston would feel that way, perhaps it is even more surprising that many successful people often feel like they are just not good enough.

Known as the Imposter Syndrome it is a feeling that is tightly held by the individual that they are not really talented and that one day someone will discover that they are just a big phony.

Lots of explanations are used to describe why these great people often feel this way–they don’t attribute their success to their talent–They don’t celebrate successes but just focus on what they have to do next–they have tunnel vision and just focus on what did not work.

Conventional wisdom about overcoming the Imposter syndrome include:

• Getting the great feedback from others who believe in you
• Staying away from negative people who only find ways to criticize you
• Stop using the word “but” that tends to discount what you say and instead use the word “and” which is much more inclusive.
• Be honest in your assessment of yourself and make sure that for any negative about yourself you have 2 positives.

While we’ll never have the enormous talent of someone like Whitney, it is fair to say that some of us may have the same kind of self doubt that she had harbored for many years. Don’t let your uncertainty of your talents get in the way of how you feel about yourself and what you can achieve in your work and life

Several months ago I was talking to a really smart Vice-President of a company. She wanted to put a career development program in place at her company. She and I discussed what that could look like, how to bring it on board in a phased manner and created the business case to demonstrate its value to the organization’s CEO. The feedback she received after her presentation was that the company did not see this as a priority and that as long as the economy was struggling, the company was not going to worry about retaining employees at this time. I told her that her boss was right…that “from 2003 to 2008, it was an employee marketplace and from 2008 to today its been an employer’s market. However that will change and the companies that are not ready for the change will pay a price by losing valuable staff.”

I just finished reading a  Deloitte Consulting survey that showed that over a third of employees plan to stay with their current employer which amazingly means that over 2/3 of employees are actively or passively looking for new employment. This is a staggering report and indicates that people are ready to jump as soon as they get the chance

There are  four primary factors  cited in the Deloitte report as to why people plan to leave their current employer:

• Lack of career progress
• Lack of compensation increase
• Lack of job security
• Lack of trust in leadership

While the second and third items may be difficult for companies to address in today’s economic climate, there is room for action on items 1 & 4. In fact by addressing career options with employees and anticipating what may happen to opportunities as the economy strengthens companies may be able to take care of 2 birds with 1 stone in that employees will feel better about their leaders if they communicate honestly about career options and provide development experiences to help them achieve their work goals.

There is a lot of things that leaders must do in their organization to keep things running smoothly but nothing is more important than insuring that you have the best people working for you who are engaged in what they are doing. Paying attention to small things like communicating frequently, telling the truth and helping people achieve their career goals can go a long way to helping employees feel good about their career and work

A client recently told me that he felt that he was an imposter on his job. Even though he is highly regarded, delivers consistent results and receives feedback that his work is always “amazing” he still feels like he is sometimes a complete and utter fraud and that one day soon, someone is going to catch him in this incredible lie.

He was somewhat relieved when I told him that there is a name for this feeling which is usually referred to as “The Imposter Syndrome”. While there is no real medical or psychological condition known as this, it is characterized by feelings of self doubt and the concern that others will find out that you are vastly limited in what you know or can do.

According to the renowned psychologist Judith Beck, there may be a several reasons for this including:

• People don’t see their strengths as their own.
• May attribute their success to luck rather than hard work.
• They never celebrate their accomplishments but are always onto “What’s next?”
• They discount their accomplishments assuming that anyone can do what they do and perhaps even better.
• They compare themselves to others and may pick out the most successful people in their field.

Overcoming the imposter feelings can be challenging at times and it may take a little practice to acknowledge your good work. Here are a couple of tips to try out…

1. Before you set out on a project, set the expectation of what you will achieve and what reward you will experience after you complete the project. “When I __________(complete or achieve) this project__________, I’ll celebrate by  ( relaxing with my family, letting my boss know, buying a new outfit).
2. Keep notes of what people tell you you’ve done well. I collect testimonials from clients and companies I work with and reference back to these to make sure they got what they need and that I did a good job for them.
3. Recognize that we all live in the real world of “I don’t know what is going to happen next!” Embrace the life as learning theater and be prepared for the ups and downs and in fairness, if you are going to beat yourself up about a negative, then you have to acknowledge yourself for a positive.
4. Know what you do best and continue to grow in that area. Becoming an expert at work, in your volunteer activities or with a hobby will help you become recognized for your “thought leadership” and as more people seek you out, you will find more recognition from others and yourself.
5. When you are called on to present at work, take charge of a new project or lead a team in creating a lean work process, make sure you know what you are doing so that you don’t have to fake it!

Over and over this past weekend, we’ve heard how the Japanese are the most prepared people on the planet in terms of understanding and responding to emergencies such as this weeks earthquake and tsunami.  Of course, no amount of preparation could have prepared them for the kind of devastation they saw from their rooftops and hilltops where those who were lucky enough escaped to during the first few minutes when sirens were going off.

While the loss of human life will no doubt be staggering, the reality appears to be that many lives were saved because of the preparation and rehearsals that businesses, schools and other institutions engaged in during readiness drills.

In the week’s following 9/11, I had the opportunity to consult with American Airlines and to meet with pilots, flight attendants and call center personnel about the tragedy of that day, the loss of friends and their corporate community. Airline professionals are trained in expecting disasters so that their actions and behaviors not only create as much safety as possible but that they do it in as calm and controlled a manner as they can. Afterwards, they will respond with the agonizing emotions of loss, fear and anger, but that is a normal and expected.

While it took the employees from AA a while to recover from the trauma of that day and the subsequent decimation of the airline industry, their resilience was bolstered by their preparation for dealing with even unbelievable stressful events.

Like all of us, the people of  Japan are resilient . We are still in the early stages of this tragedy and do not even know if more danger is afoot but we do know that we will have weeks and even months of tortuous news of lost lives and shattered families. It will take years for them to recover, but their preparation will help them bounce back even sooner.