In this high-impact episode, Eric Nitzberg, Founder and Principal of Sierra Leadership, shares why even successful CEOs battle imposter syndrome and identity struggles in stage 5. If you feel exposed, question your role, or wonder “who am I now?” as your company grows beyond your hands-on control, you won’t want to miss it.
You will discover:
– What it really means to be both fully authentic and fully strategic in your communication
– Why imposter syndrome actually increases at senior levels and is a normal response to bigger challenges
– How to reframe your role from “doer” to strategic leader who focuses on vision and talent
Episode Transcript
Scott Ritzheimer
Hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once again to the start, scale and succeed podcast, the only podcast that grows with you through all seven stages of your journey. As a founder, I’m your host, Scott Ritzheimer, and there are many of you founders listening today who’ve hit a point where the skills that made you great are now actively working against you. If you’re in that Chief Executive stage, you may have an idea of just what I’m talking about, because you’ve got the team, you’ve got the titles, but somehow you feel more exposed and less in control than ever, and it leaves you asking the question, Who am I? It probably, maybe even most definitely, we’ll see here in just a moment. May leave you feeling like you’re the only one in the world who struggles with imposter syndrome, if that’s you, which is all of us, you are in for a treat today, because to help us navigate this whole space of being a CEO, an authentic CEO, at that is Eric Nitzberg, who’s an executive coach and trusted advisor to CEOs And C suite leaders across fast growth sectors like technology, software and life sciences.
He has two decades of experience guiding hundreds of high performing leaders through complex business challenges, personal growth and lasting transformation in one long standing engagement at a fortune 100 global tech company. He’s worked with more than 150 leaders, including C level executives, VPS, GMs and heads of emerging business units. He previously served as a Communication Coach at Stanford Graduate School of Business, teaching executive presence and persuasive storytelling, and he’s here with us today. Eric, welcome to the show. I’m so excited to have you here. One of the challenges that I see a lot is when folks from the outside look at senior executives and and there’s kind of this impression that they’ve got it made like it’s pretty good, but I have found that the truth behind the scenes can be a little bit different in two areas. The first one is the the in the room, you know there tends to it’s not as easy to be an executive as one might think. And, and the other one is in the person inside an executive, it gets hard for a lot of reasons we’re not expecting at this time. And, and so I’m wondering if you could just break those down for us and and explain what’s going on in the room, and even more so, what’s going on in the person?
Eric Nitzberg
Yeah, thanks, Scott, and it’s a pleasure to be on the show. Let me start with what’s going on in the people, because I think that’s what’s probably surprising to many of your listeners, that the sense of imposter syndrome, self doubt. I’m not sure if I can do this, I’m not sure if I can succeed in this role. Is not something that is limited to folks who are earlier in their journey. It actually becomes even more common, I would say, as people become more senior. So I’ve worked with leaders, even who are leading really large teams, 1000s of people, where that’s the thing they want to work on. You know, I seem to have lost my confidence, or, you know, I’m not sure who I am in this role. And so, yeah, it is pretty ubiquitous and very common. And I think it’s important for folks at every stage of the journey to normalize that and recognize that they really aren’t alone as far as what’s happening in the room, I think that’s a pretty that’s a pretty broader question. And if you mean like, what’s happening with the executive teams or the leadership teams, that’s pretty case by case, I’ll say the intensity level is really high the bigger the organization. I think there’s a lot of complexity, especially in today’s world that these teams are trying to navigate.
Scott Ritzheimer
I think one of the challenges for folks who have not been executives is it’s easy to think of that as an easy job. It’s easy to think of it as, you know, not doing the real work. And I think part of the if we can tie these together, part of the imposter syndrome that I see is folks that are executives feeling like they aren’t doing real work anymore because it looks so different. So what is it about the nature of the work that makes imposter syndrome really start to poke its head in such a significant way at this level?
Eric Nitzberg
Well, I think there’s a couple of issues there on the question of of you know, they feel like they’re not doing real work anymore. I think that is unique to a particular transition from a stage where you are hands on doing more work yourself, to a stage which I think you’re calling the chief executive stage in your model, where there’s really other people who are doing a lot of the work, and even could be doing a lot of the leadership, if your organization is big enough. And then the question arises, especially when you’re new to that, well, what am I supposed to do? Like, what’s left for me to do? And in fact, all the strategic thinking, the long term planning, the managing of the team, the. Bringing on new talent, like there’s a whole different set of tasks, and that is now your real job. I remember once working with a leader who was new to management, and he said, Gosh, I feel like I’m not doing real work anymore. And so we took a whiteboard and drew a line across it, and on the bottom we wrote down all the things he used to do. And then on the top, we wrote down all the managerial tasks, you know, hiring, meetings, managing, leading, and I said to him, Look everything on the top of that line, that’s real work like that is your job now, and it just takes a while to grow into that.
As far as the question about what, what really provokes more imposter syndrome at these more senior levels, I think imposter syndrome is a normal reaction to a higher level of higher degree of challenge. So if, if any of your listeners are experiencing self doubt right now, I would, I would ask them, When is the last time that you felt confident? And if you think about it, you probably are not that different of a person now than you were then. What’s changed is your context. You’re now trying to do something that’s much harder for something that you’ve never done before. And it’s that kind of face to face experience with challenge that brings up these imposter feelings. Yeah, and by the way, I would just add imposter syndrome and self doubt has been shown. There is some MIT studies last year to actually increase performance. So it’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just uncomfortable.
Scott Ritzheimer
Wow, that’s fascinating. I didn’t know that I want to explore this, because we’ve got a lot of folks who are founder, CEOs, who started this thing from their basement, either literal or proverbial, and have grown it up. And one of the things that I find, particularly for founders, that contributes to this is in this CEO stage, because there’s so much of the business or nonprofit that’s happening away from your hands, right? Not only are you not doing it, but like you said, someone else is leading the person who’s doing it, and that disconnect can start to feel like I’m not as critical to my organization as I thought I was right. I’m not as essential as I thought I was. And there’s almost this splitting that happens where I am not my organization anymore. Have you seen that? Do you find that in the the founders that you work with? And if so, how do you help them walk, walk through it?
Eric Nitzberg
Yeah, I think that is a common experience. And I can, I can think of a conversation actually, you mentioned nonprofits with a nonprofit leader that I had not long ago that felt just like that, because the organization has grown to that stage where this person is really not needed in the day to day, or even in a lot of the leadership. And this is exactly, this is exactly some of the feeling like, maybe I’m not that important anymore. But what I would say to those people, and the way that I would help them work through it, is, you don’t realize how critical your role has become. It’s just that you’re operating in a different sphere. So somebody has to be thinking about the long term vision for the organization. Where are we actually going? Where do we want to be in three to five years, or even 10 years? What is, what is the mission? What is the culture that we need? Who are the people that we need on the leadership team that are really like the best possible people, the highest quality talent to lead each of these functions, these are all part of the remit of the CEO, and nobody else can do that. And so I think a good way to think about your role is, even if you’re relatively new to it, what are the things now that only I can do and no one else can do those things? I know that’s kind of a common framing, but I think it’s really helpful. If you think about it, the people that are under you, if you’re leading your organization, probably none of them has the perspective that you have and and you know, they could grow into your role, but they couldn’t do your role right now.
Scott Ritzheimer
That’s so good. I want to one of the things that I noticed as I was getting ready for this episode, something that I think is true of the folks that you work with and of our audience in general, is that being an authentic leader, like showing up as the whole version of themselves as something that’s really important for folks that are listening today. One of the things, and I don’t remember where I read it, and forgive me if I’m butchering it, but one of the things that caught my eye as I was getting ready for the episode is this idea of being both fully authentic and being fully strategic. And so I’m wondering, what does that look like for someone who’s not trying to become a politician but just wants to lead well.
Eric Nitzberg
Yeah, this is one of my more favorite topics, because it is kind of a nuanced one. I think being fully authentic means that you’re not putting on a mask, you’re not putting on a show your personality. Reality as it shows up with people that you’re close to and that you know, know you well, is similar to the personality that shows up at work, but when I say also fully strategic, I think that really sophisticated, high level communicators are aware that in any situation, they need to be mindful of who their audience is that they’re communicating with, and what’s the purpose of this individual communication that they’re having, and to really think through okay, given that what, what is the messaging, or what is the approach that’s going to help me achieve my goals here? So you can do that while retaining who you are. You can do that while retaining your personality, I think, at a at a lower, less sophisticated level, somebody could come off as plastic or fake because they’re just trying to get what they want, you know, and they’re faking something. Or, you know, people see will see through that, and they won’t respond well to that. But if your intentions are positive for you and for whoever you’re talking to, whether it’s one person or your whole organization, then I think you have the freedom to do both, to both be your authentic self and to think strategically about the communication at hand.
Scott Ritzheimer
Yeah, I love breaking it down that way, especially around the idea of being strategic in communication. One of the phrases I use a lot with, with the folks I’m working with, is to learn to speak the language of your audience. And at the CEO stage, this is so important, like, I don’t know a lick of Spanish. And so if I were, you know, overseas in South America, some beautiful place, trying to teach anybody anything, it wouldn’t go real well unless they knew English. But it could go a lot better if I could have that interpreted, or, even better yet, if I could speak it. So recognizing that that doesn’t change who I am, it changes the effectiveness of my communication. So I love how you differentiated that and and at this stage, maybe you can speak to this it becomes so important, because you are speaking so many languages, right? You have to be able to connect with frontline employees still as their leader. You have to be able to connect with executives. You have to be able to connect with outside stakeholders. And so if you don’t, if you can’t separate it, it feels like you are having like split personality disorders. So how do you help folks to recognize these different languages and speak to those without losing themselves.
Eric Nitzberg
Yeah, I love all of that. I love the foreign language analogy. I think that is so spot on to what we’re talking about. The way that I think of communication is it’s it’s like you have a communication toolbox, and we’re all born with a certain set of tools, our natural personality, our natural communication style. To use your analogy, like I grow speaking English, so that would be in my communication toolbox. And I think what happens as you become more senior and more sophisticated and you’re leading more people, it’s not that you ever need to remove any of your tools from your toolbox. So let’s say your communication style is you’re really direct, you’re blunt, you’re a straight shooter, you’re super candid. Maybe that’s one of the big tools you’ve got a hammer in your toolbox. But as you grow you may need to add some other tools. You may need to learn to be more indirect in some situations. You may need to learn to be a better listener in some situations, or more nuanced in what you’re saying, or adapt what you’re saying for the particular person you’re talking to. These are all additional tools. So it’s not to say that what what you have and what’s natural to you is bad. They’re all good in different situations. But you need to add more. I think we all need to keep adding more of these communication tools to our toolbox.
Scott Ritzheimer
I love it. I hear one of the things I hear like here, as you’re saying that, is there’s a difference between I am direct and I can be direct totally. Yeah. I love that. That’s really powerful. There’s a question Eric that ask all my guests, and I’m very interested to see what you’d have to say about it. But the question is this, what would you say is the biggest secret that you wish wasn’t a secret at all. What’s that one thing you wish everybody watching or listening today knew?
Eric Nitzberg
Everybody has imposter syndrome, that that would be it and and I would add, just to unpack that, imposter syndrome is a voice, not a truth. So when you’re feeling imposter syndrome, it’s uncomfortable, but don’t believe what it’s telling you, because, in fact, it may just be motivating you to perform even better.
Scott Ritzheimer
Wow, that’s such a cool take on it, one that I hadn’t considered before. I love that, Eric, there’s some folks listening that would love help with this. They’re struggling with imposter syndrome themself, or maybe even an executive on their team is dealing with it. Where can they reach out to you? Where can they find more out about the work that you do?
Eric Nitzberg
They can look me up on their favorite AI, or Google my name, or they can check my website at sierraleadership.com
Scott Ritzheimer
Fantastic, fantastic. Well, Eric, thank. You for being on the show. It was a privilege, and having you here with us today, for those of you watching and listening, you know that your time and attention mean the world to us, I hope you got as much out of this conversation as I know I did, and I cannot wait to see you next time. Take care.
Contact Guest Name
Eric Nitzberg is the founder of Sierra Leadership, an executive coaching firm that partners with mission-driven CEOs and senior executives. His coaching combines strategic insight with a grounded, human approach, helping successful leaders evolve and lead with a sustainable perspective. Since 2015, he has coached over 150 leaders at Google/Alphabet, including C-level executives and VPs. He previously served as a communication coach at Stanford Graduate School of Business, teaching executive presence and persuasive storytelling. He specializes in leadership team effectiveness and high-stakes executive communication across fast-growth sectors.
Want to learn more about Eric Nitzberg’s work at Sierra Leadership? Check out his website at https://sierraleadership.com/
Connect with Eric through his LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericnitzberg/