You're Not an Imposter. You Might Just Be in the Wrong System.
Lissa Appiah was promoted five times in eight years inside the Canadian federal government. She didn’t do it by becoming louder. She did it by listening more carefully than anyone else in the room — and then making a deliberate choice about what to do with what she heard. When a colleague was tapped to represent her work at an international negotiation simply because he was more visible, she didn’t shrink. She got strategic. She identified the work nobody wanted to own, became the undisputed expert in it, and waited for the room to come to her. It did.
What makes this conversation particularly useful is how Lissa reframes the experiences that quietly erode so many introverted leaders’ confidence over time. On imposter syndrome, she offers a question worth sitting with: Is it really me, or is it the system? Because a system that was never designed with you in mind will make you feel like the problem — and internalizing that as self-doubt is a trap. She applies the same clear-eyed thinking to personal branding, stripping away the performative noise and making the case that visibility, done right, is really just a strategy for attracting opportunity instead of endlessly chasing it. For introverts especially, that reframe matters.
If you’ve ever felt overlooked despite doing the work, or wondered whether putting yourself out there is really worth it, this episode is worth your time. Lissa is thoughtful, direct, and refreshingly practical — the kind of conversation that leaves you with something concrete to try, not just something to feel good about. You can find it wherever you listen to podcasts, or watch the full conversation on YouTube.
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