41. A High-Achiever’s Guide to Overcoming Imposter Syndrome with Sarah Boone
What if the voice in your head saying you're not good enough when making high-stakes decisions isn't the truth, but rather a symptom of something nearly every high-achieving woman faces
Sarah Boone, National Director of Project Management at Devereux, discovered this firsthand when she transitioned from a state-based center to corporate headquarters, suddenly finding herself in meetings with C-suite executives and making decisions that affected the entire organization. Despite 15 years of experience and clear competence, she found herself questioning every choice, over-preparing for meetings, and deflecting compliments faster than they could land.
Tune in this week as I sit down with Sarah to unpack what imposter syndrome really sounds like in the moment and how it shows up differently than most people expect. Sara shares how imposter syndrome actually intensified as she climbed higher in her career, and we explore the specific tools she's used to stop the spiral of self-doubt. If you've ever doubted your success while achieving it, this conversation offers practical strategies for turning down the volume on self-doubt and turning up the volume on your own voice.
Interested in working with me? Book a free 1:1 consultation here!
What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
Why imposter syndrome often gets worse with more success.
How high visibility, responsibility, and uncertainty create the perfect storm for self-doubt.
The power of vulnerability with leadership and how sharing confidence struggles can open doors to unexpected opportunities.
How to reframe thoughts from "I'm a fraud" to "I'm learning" and why this shift matters more than positive thinking.
Why deflecting compliments reinforces imposter syndrome and how to actually receive recognition.
The connection between guilt, people-pleasing, and imposter syndrome - and specific strategies to break the cycle.
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Sarah Boone: LinkedIn
Full Episode Transcript:
What if the voice in your head saying you're not good enough isn't the truth, but a symptom of something nearly every high-achieving woman faces? In this episode, I sit down with my incredible client, Sarah Boone, a bold, thoughtful leader who's turning the volume down on imposter syndrome and turning the volume up on her own voice.
Together, we unpack what imposter syndrome really sounds like, how it shows up in our lives and leadership, and the tools Sarah has used to stop over-preparing and start owning her brilliance and lead with more authenticity and self-trust. If you've ever doubted your success, even while achieving it, this one's for you.
Welcome to The Balanced Leader, hosted by Yann Dang, a Leadership and Life Coach with over 20 years of corporate experience. Drawing from her journey as a former global finance leader and second-generation immigrant, Yann understands the unique challenges women face in male-dominated workplaces.
Each episode offers insights on balancing masculine and feminine energies, mastering soft skills, and building emotional intelligence. Join us to transform frustration into empowerment and unlock your authentic leadership potential.
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Yann Dang: Alright, well, let's get started. Welcome to the show, Sarah.
Sarah Boone: Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to it.
Yann Dang: So tell the audience a little bit more about yourself. We'd love to know what you do, where you work. Go ahead.
Sarah Boone: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm the National Director of Project Management with an organization called Devereux. And Devereux is one of the nation's largest nonprofit organizations and providing services, insight, and leadership in the evolving field of behavioral healthcare. So I oversee our project management office and we are a lean, but mean project management office. And we support strategic initiatives across the organization, for our individuals that we serve.
Yann Dang: Great. Thank you so much for that. So let's just dive in. Tell me about imposter syndrome for you. What comes up for it, what happens with it, and how did you come to realize you have it? Let's just dive into that and then we'll talk more about the overcoming piece, but I think sometimes it shows up differently for different people. So I'd love to just hear your specific experiences with it.
Sarah Boone: Yeah, of course. When you first mentioned imposter syndrome as this topic for this podcast episode, I was very excited because this was something that was, I believe at the top of my list for when we started our sessions together for coaching. And it resonates with me because I think people are often placed in roles where visibility, responsibility, and uncertainty collide, and it creates that perfect environment and that perfect storm for self-doubt to really thrive.
And I've always felt that the more success I have achieved, the more fragile it can feel and it feels like it can be taken away. And I've experienced it personally and how it sounds in my head, like you said, is different for everybody. I think there's also a lot of common misconceptions with imposter syndrome and how people perceive it where it only affects people who are underqualified. And so people feel like, "Oh, I'm underqualified for this role and it only affects me and I have imposter syndrome." And I really feel that it just simply means that you care deeply about doing a good job, and it's often in spaces where there is no roadmap with your job.
And I just feel that imposter syndrome, it never truly goes away. You can get better at managing it. I feel like some folks have it more so than others. Guilty, I'm raising my hand right now. But it's certainly something that as I've developed and increased in my positions at my organization and I've been in my role for about almost two years now, but I've been with my organization for almost 15, it's certainly something that the higher up I've been in a company, the more prevalent it is.
Yann Dang: That's so interesting because sometimes people equate imposter syndrome to a lack of experience or a lack of knowledge. But what I'm hearing you say is that there are just going to be unknowns, right? When you extend into that leadership role, there is going to be less things that you're having to learn, but just more in the moment activated to answer questions that maybe you have never been presented before, right? Like that is the true sense of leadership, leading with uncertainty, but also the high stakes of it, the high visibility, right? And I actually remember recently, you were in that situation where your boss and your boss's boss were both out and you just had to make a lot of decisions that you weren't used to making.
Sarah Boone: Yes, that was a great example. And I was in that moment, and it was an unexpected situation as you brought that up and made me think about it. My boss's boss didn't know she was going to be out and having to make that quick decision to pull the plug on a project to have another meeting about something and bring it to another executive to talk about it. It was a difficult decision to do that. And there might have been some folks that might not have been pleased with that decision of putting the brakes on it, but it was the best decision. It was the right decision and the right call to make.
And ultimately, after speaking to my supervisor when he returned, he was like, "No, that was the right call to make," because not everybody was on the same page. And, of course, it felt a little bit like, "Oh, am I making the right call? Am is this the right path to take?" And but in that moment, I was like, "Nope, this is what I'm doing. I'm going to stand by it. And I'll have to, if there's any repercussions that come after as a result, I'll have to deal with them later." But, of course, there's a little bit of uncertainty and a little bit of fear when you're making that decision at the moment, but you have to make the decision.
Yann Dang: Yeah, I mean, that's really what leadership is, right? Bringing certainty to uncertain situations, whether it's a mistake, right, and you learn from it or whether it's the right decision, but like something needs to be made. And I love what you're saying about imposter syndrome also that it's about deeply caring because that's also a way to reframe it from something that, again, if people think about imposter syndrome like, "This is going to stop me, this is something really bad," or almost like a disease, versus it could be a superpower if you look at it in a very different frame, right? And you manage it to what you can get out of it versus it's something that happens to you. What are your thoughts about that?
Sarah Boone: No, I think that's a good way of putting it because you're right. I think for and that's why I brought that up because for me, I care deeply about my job. I truly want to do a good job, and I don't want to - it's always something you and I talked about not wanting to truly disappoint my supervisor and he has been a great mentor to me and a great support to me and making the wrong decision and being fearful of making the wrong decision and having that reflect on his outlook on me as a person or as me as a professional.
I want to do a good job. I want to make sure I'm putting my best foot forward for the organization that I'm supporting and for the people that I'm providing that service to. And I feel that if I'm not doing that, then I'm doing a disservice. And how do I make sure that I can deliver my best self and make sure I feel confident about the choices that I'm making is something that I always feel like I'm keeping at the forefront of my mind.
Yann Dang: Yeah. So it's like that imposter syndrome could show up, but it could show up as a question, right? It could show up as a, maybe I should get another opinion on this. Not to give up my leadership or choice, but to get more data versus I'm not meant to make this decision.
Sarah Boone: No, and I think a good example came, I think actually this week is a really good example. There was something that came up that was a little bit out of my expertise. And normally, I would think I'm a leader, I make this decision. I have to be able to make a decision, when to bring to that next level versus when do I need to make that decision on my own? And in this case, this was something that was a little outside of my scope and my oversight. So I felt like when in doubt, something could potentially happen.
And my first inner Sarah thought, "You should handle this. This isn't something you should bring to that person. You should be able to handle this. They're going to think that you don't know how to handle certain things." But then I kind of shushed that voice and was like, "No, this is something that I truly need to get a little bit of support and get a little bit of answers on because I don't know all the answers and that's okay." And I went to that person, asked that question and I even framed it in a way where, "Hey, this isn't something I've experienced before. I wanted to get your thoughts on this."
And I framed it in a way where I said, "This is what I think I should do, but I just want to confirm because I've never been exposed to this situation before." Turns out it was the right call, but they appreciated that I checked in with them first. So I think that was a good way of saying trying to get their input in at the same time, but just making sure I was validating that I was trying to make the decision, but it wasn't a situation that I've ever experienced. And again, it's back to that there's no road map. I didn't have that path kind of laid out for me. There was it was really something I've never been exposed to. But at the same time, wanting to learn and didn't want to put it where, put it on me in a sense where I was doing something wrong and I should take it upon myself to feel bad about it.
Yann Dang: Yeah, like that it's wrong to ask for more data. I think often times, it's like people can be quite hard on themselves and that it actually creates more isolation and that imposter syndrome can potentially fester more and grow bigger. So but I'm curious for you, when was it the first time where you were like, identified it for yourself or noticed it?
Sarah Boone: Oh, first time I've noticed it. I think for me was, I'm sure there was multiple times throughout my career that I've noticed it that I can't recall off the top of my head. But I think the most impactful for me, the most impactful time that I really felt that it had sunk its claws into me was really when I made that transition from coming from being at this organization, I worked at the same company for almost 15 years now. I came from our local operating center, which was state-based and coming to more of our corporate headquarters.
And that's a big jump. I mean, if folks know, they know. You're coming from more of going from a little pond to a big ocean. And it's first of all, taking the chance and taking the jump is, it cannot be overstated. I was scared when I made the move to come from my little center in the state of New Jersey to Big Bad Corporate Headquarters to it was just a different environment, different culture. It was just going from one small ecosystem to a larger system and having to know the company on a broader scale.
And I was scared. I took the jump. I was like, "I'm going to do this." I've always been someone who prided myself that I'm not afraid to take risk and try new things, not afraid to fail or at least take the jump to and see what's out there for me. But I think that was when the first time I really kind of recognized imposter syndrome was working in the corporate environment and then being exposed to new learning and being exposed to this role where I went from knowing just what was at the New Jersey Center to now I have to experience a whole new world of other centers and other states and other regulations and other standards and other and other service lines that we operated in.
My knowledge had to be broadened and I felt that was a lot to learn and there was this expectation, this is my mind obviously, not the company's, but my I felt like I had to have this knowledge and expectation to learn this overnight. And I put this amount of pressure on myself to be able to say, "Oh, you need to know this. You got to know all of this stuff. You got to know all of this. You got to be able to answer everything and you need to know it right now and you have to be able to get everything right and you have to answer an email in 15 minutes."
And also coming from the centers, when somebody from the center went to the corporate headquarters, it was like, it was very rare at that time. So when that happened, there was like this expectation where like, "You got to go the corporate center and you got to advocate for the centers because you are the golden child." There was just that mentality. So it was like a lot of pressure.
Yann Dang: Yeah. What I'm hearing is there's this internal pressure where you're like, "I got to know all the stuff." Then there's this external pressure from the people who are like, "You better speak up for us, you better talk for the people, you better show them what you're made of." And then you probably have the senior leaders who you're like, "Okay, now I'm actually getting emails from the CEO, from the C-suite people. It's not just newsletters. It's like real, you're working with them," right? And that's just another high-stakes, high-visibility.
Sarah Boone: Yes, that high visibility and having projects with executives and getting that face time with folks I've never would have ever dreamt of meeting in person. Like I would see emails from them. I'd be like, "Oh, that's the person who sends those newsletters or those marketing materials." So it was such a wonderful experience, but it was also very intimidating. I feel like that was just the really - I know it's a very broad example of when I started kind of experiencing imposter syndrome like, "Do I belong here? Am I polished enough for this corporate environment? Do I have what it takes to earn my place here?" And I'm not going to lie. There's times where that still pops up once in a while. I see people at corporate who just are just so diplomatic and just so, have this poise and just have this refinement that I feel like I will never achieve that.
But then the other part of me says, "That's okay because I'm me and I'm here for a reason. I bring something to the table too." And I'm okay with that. I've accepted that I have a different skill set and they have their skill set that makes them in that role that brings value to the organization, but I also know that I bring value to what I do as well. And I learned that through coaching. And I think that is what has been really helpful for me. But for me, that experience coming to corporate was really when imposter syndrome was at its like highest for me.
Yann Dang: Okay. Well, and it's good that you were aware of it and you had the emotional maturity to notice that. And I mean, if you're open to this, the whole reason why we're coaching together is you told a senior level executive about how you were feeling and that's super vulnerable. Are you can you share a bit about that process? Because that's really what opened the door for our coaching together of you saying, "I'm dealing with confidence issues."
Sarah Boone: Oh, right. So yeah, that's how we met. I can't believe I forgot that for a second. Yeah, so the COO, who is wonderful, she's part of an organization and I was at the office that day when I part of an organization, like a committee that she's on. And before she had a meeting with that committee, I was at the office that day and I had got to see her and we had said hello and we were speaking. And we were talking about, I think we were having just like a brief conversation just about women in leadership was a great conversation and I was telling her that one of the areas that I struggle with was confidence.
And she seemed at first a little surprised and she's like, "You always come off very confident." And I said, "Well, a duck on water. On the surface, I'm very calm, but underneath, I'm paddling my legs and there's like turning underneath." We talked for a few minutes more, then she went into her meeting and I believe an hour later, she had asked me to come into her office and she said, "Hey, I was on this call," and she had told me about you. And she said, "Yann was sharing a webinar on confidence." I think it was like your webinar on confidence or showing up confidently. I think that was the name of the webinar.
And she said, "I'll send you the slides and the materials, but she also does coaching and her first coaching session is free. If you want to kind of see if you if you both connect, if you want to meet, if it works, and then if you want to proceed with the services, we can talk about that." So I did. We met and, here's this is where we are, what, almost two years later, our relationship and our coaching relationship and partnership. It was great because I was able to get that connection through her to meet with you and it has been invaluable.
And now confidence is something that's on the bottom of the list for me to work on because I feel it's we started with confidence and then we were able to dive into so many different things that I felt that I wanted to kind of look into that I was like, "Oh wait, this is something else I want to work on. Oh wait, one more thing I want to work on." So it might have started with confidence, but then it ended with let's work on these other things and kind of dive into them and it just proved to be so valuable.
Yann Dang: Well, and I think it's a testament to you, right, to be vulnerable with leadership, which I think is something important for the listeners to listen to have here because you never know where that help is going to come from. But if you hadn't been vulnerable to share what you're dealing with, right, and sharing that with a senior leader that's actually your boss's boss, right? Like that was a bold move for you. It opened the doorway for more things.
And I think oftentimes people feel scared to be vulnerable, but actually vulnerability open could open the door to so many different opportunities because if you didn't do that, right, she wouldn't have felt, like she'd probably be like, "Oh, she doesn't have any confidence issues. Why should I share these slides with her?" But because you had shared that, it almost seemed like the universe opened it up, right? It was perfect timing because she had come to my webinar and thought, "Oh, there's somebody that has a need and a want and a desire and then there's support for that." So I think it's just important to underline because so many women out there are not so open with their leadership team. They feel, it's almost like imposter syndrome really thrives in isolation or this lack of confidence or almost shame about it. But when you are more willing, open to talk about it, then it becomes something that can actually be worked on and not something that's wrong or broken inside you, right? It's like this is something to work on.
Sarah Boone: No, and I agree with that. I also think it's great to have a safe space in the supervisors that you have. And for me, that wasn't always the case. I feel that way with my direct supervisor is a male and then she is my once removed supervisor. So I have a great safe space with both of them. And I think that's extremely important and I think that's not always the case for some people. And I feel for them because I didn't always have that in previous roles or in and also in a previous organization. I've worked for two behavioral health organizations and Devereux was one of two. But in my previous organization, I didn't have that. I wouldn't have felt comfortable to go to my previous supervisor to say, "Hey, I don't I feel like I have confidence issues. This is what I need to work on."
I wouldn't be able to express that level of vulnerability whereas with the supervisors that I have now, I have that level of comfortability where I can feel safe to be able to express that. And I think that speaks to their leadership and it also and also speaks to their leadership that they're willing to say, "Here's this. There's this resource here's and make that connection." And I'm grateful for that because it allowed me to be able to expand my leadership and move forward with my development and that's just provides more value for me for the organization as well.
Yann Dang: Let's dive now more into that those tools that you've learned to deal with imposter syndrome so that the listeners can understand, how might have you reframed your thoughts? What was the process like for you? How was it to just normalize what was inside your head and working on it with me in our coaching sessions?
Sarah Boone: Yeah, absolutely. So I just learned a lot to reframe my thoughts, which is easier said than done. I realize that. Some might say, "Oh, I can just easily reframe my thoughts. Sure, that'll work, Sarah."
Yann Dang: Like if it's so easy, everybody would be doing it, right?
Sarah Boone: Right. Yeah. Yeah, I have a friend that was trying to say that because there’s a colleague of mine that works in a similar field, but a different organization and she has imposter syndrome and she's always reaching out to me and saying, "How are you managing it? What are you doing?" And I'm like, "You just have to reframe your thoughts." And she was like, "What does that even mean?" She said, "Context, more context."
So it's really just kind of changing my thought process. And this is like in learning and working with you is like saying, "I'm learning versus, oh, I'm a fraud. I can't do this." It's like, I'm learning. Justifying, giving myself affirmations in my head, what makes sense for me and trying to stay away from the negative thoughts and discerning what that means. And I think that's really important too because sometimes we can get - I know I can get caught up in the negative too much and then I let it sit with me and then I just perseverate and it just festers and then I carry it with me all day and into the next day. I will think about how the meeting went. If I feel like it, if I interpret my performance as bad, I will carry it with me the next day and the next day and the day after that. But at the end of the day, nobody else is thinking about that but me.
And so if I feel that I did something that was not up to my standard, I'm just like, "Oh well, that happened. I'm learning. This is what I can take away from that and now I'm going to move on and to the next thing." So I try to keep that in mind. Something else that I've learned is also keeping a Wins File. I call it a Wins File, but I believe that you and I referred to it as scanning our day for the positives, whereas prior to meeting with you, I used to just scan for the negative and I would just fall on, "Oh, this bad thing happened and then this bad thing happened."
Now I just don't even think about the bad things. I just focus on what went well in my day. What can I what were the key takeaways that went really well that I can celebrate those wins and whether it would be a very different difficult stakeholder that I can never seem to get an answer out of or they never respond to me. And maybe that one day or that one meeting, they responded to me and they really gave me a really great feedback. I'm going to carry that with me. That was a really good win.
Talking about it, normalizing the experience, and just reframing my thoughts. I think those are the key takeaways to move forward with just really understanding and realizing that's imposter syndrome talking. It's not a reflection on you as a professional and an employee.
Yann Dang: Yeah, it's what when you're talking about it's almost like, "Okay, it's there, but it's not driving the car." It's just in the maybe it's in the back seat when you're feeling pretty. Maybe sometimes it crawls in the front seat, but you could put.
Sarah Boone: Or it wants to sit on your lap.
Yann Dang: Yeah, but you're like, "I'm in control. These are just thoughts and feelings I'm having in the moment." And one of the feelings that I think we worked on a lot with you is this feeling of guilt. Like historically, when we started working together, you would feel this immense guilt that would have you people please or do things that were you're really kind of questioning yourself. Can you talk a bit about that and how what shifted between when we first started working together to now around the feeling of guilt?
Sarah Boone: Yeah. So the feelings of guilt would just be, a good example would be being afraid to ask for something for myself because I felt guilty that I was asking for too much or feeling guilty that I was bothering somebody. There was a lot of guilt that stemmed from that I was being a nuisance, or even if I was advocating for, I think it was like advocating for additional sessions with you, I would be like, "Oh, that's too burdensome on the organization," or if I'm asking for too much on the budget. I was always feeling that I was like being, I didn't want to be a burden. And I always saw myself as I'm always thinking, "Oh, I'm afraid to ask for something. I don't want to be causing too much trouble or I'm thinking of there was just these feelings of guilt for that."
And so I would try to stay away from that because, you know, I think feeling guilty always put me in that state of, "Oh God, I'm a bad employee," and then the imposter syndrome and it all tied into one. It was a perfect cocktail. And I think what helped with that with the tools was it's okay to advocate for yourself and it's okay to celebrate your wins. And that's also something that I learned too because I was, we you and I talked about that. I wasn't historically great at kind of celebrating the wins and celebrating when somebody acknowledged a job well done. I was really great at deflecting. If anything, I got an award in deflecting that.
If somebody was like, "Great job, Sarah, on a project well done," I was quick to say, "Well, thank the team. They did all the work." I was so quick to not accepting the gratitude and the congratulations and I was so quick to just shove it onto somebody else, which is I know that's strange to hear, but I felt like it put me in the spotlight, which I didn't like. And I think that added more to also added to the imposter syndrome because it put me in the spotlight and it felt like the more I'm in the spotlight, if I'm going to fall and I'm going to fail, people will see that even more. And if I'm not in the spotlight and if I failed, then people won't notice as much. I think that's how I interpreted it.
But now I think I've let go of those feelings, especially with the guilt where I don't feel bad if I ask for something for myself. And again, I think it comes back to knowing my value, knowing what I bring to the organization, knowing that they brought me in for a reason. They selected me into my position for a reason. They selected me within this department for a reason. They know my worth. They've developed me. They see something in me even when I don't see it in myself. And even if I have to be reminded of that. And my supervisor, even when I'm like, "I'm not somebody who needs constant validation," but he tries to give it to me. And even though I'm always like, "No, I don't want it," I have allowed myself to receive. And you've taught me that. You always say that mantra, "I receive." And I say that to myself. So if somebody's giving me compliments or they're giving me validation of a job well done, I in my head mentally, I'm trying to receive it. I'm receiving it. I'm receiving it. So that way, it eliminates the guilt. It eliminates any need to deflect the attention and being able to accept that. So then when I ask for things, I'm I can go back and say, "I did a job well done. I have value and now I don't feel guilty because they also say it." And I think that's helped a lot with alleviating those that level of guilt.
Yann Dang: Yeah, so it's like you're allowing yourself to see the value, right? Because in the guilt game, it's like I'm taking something that maybe belongs to someone else or I'm somehow a burden to versus thinking about it as I'm valuable and this is going to be even more valuable for the organization and what's good for me is good for the organization versus I think often times, I've even had women leaders say, "I don't want to ask for more money because I want my team to have that money."
And I'm like, "Well, you know there's some people that are asking for money and for themselves and their team. Like it's not it's not like a zero sum, right? They somehow think that - and I think it might be a woman thing too of this self-sacrifice, right? Like I want to sacrifice. I'd rather fight for other people on my team than myself." But I'm like, "You probably have a male colleague who's fighting for himself and his team. Like it can be an and if you're advocating for yourself and your team and modeling it, it's a win-win." It doesn't need to be a zero-sum game.
Sarah Boone: Exactly. Exactly.
Yann Dang: That's so great. Well, that was a huge thing. I remember you were just fraught with guilt and having like lots of spinning out. And then as you said, right, you started building these skills and we started working on even more of your expansiveness in terms of leadership and your storytelling and your strategic ability. And you had a great win.
I want you to share this with people because of course you came in wanting to work on confidence and with that confidence, right, with these tools, you also were able to, you know, create this next level business line in your organization and really supercharge the goals that you had. I remember you had these goals, they were kind of far out and I said, "What if we move them forward?" So can you share about that and I want you to go bragging on yourself because this is, you know, a shiny example of your transformation, right? But tell us about how that came about, that strategic plan and what you did.
Sarah Boone: Yeah. So it actually timed out perfect with you, with working with you and our annual performance plan and setting our goals for the year. So I had put those together and obviously, I think it was great when you're working with a coach such as yourself and then you have your annual performance goals. Obviously, when I was designing my goals and my development goals and my plan, connecting with you to say, "Hey, I have to come up with these goals. What do you this is what I had in mind. How can you help me reframe them?"
And I thought it was great. This is what, you know, obviously we talked about the storytelling because sometimes I get my words jumbled and I want to be able to communicate and articulate what I'm trying to convey so I can clearly demonstrate what my vision is for what I'm trying to communicate for the strategic plan, etc., and especially as we move forward with project management and what I what we want to see the direction of our department going and so forth.
And one of those strategic visions was external consulting services that we wanted to provide. And very excited about that. Obviously, we thought that was going to be two years from now because with any kind of new line of business, it's not something that happens overnight, right? You need to really work at it and put a lot of plan into it. And our goal was to really kind of launch those efforts and hopefully, by generating enough revenue was to grow our department and get some additional project managers on board and really kind of see where that would takes us.
And we thought, gave it a like a good two-year plan because maybe 18 months to two years and it actually happened within six months. Actually, I think it was a little under six months if I'm not mistaken. And we were able to work with another provider and provide some consultation services with project management and support, some outsourced project management services and be able to develop our current team member and also bring on an additional role, an FTE, which was fantastic and we're very excited about it.
And that really stemmed from presenting. I went to a conference in Pennsylvania and presented on project management and what we do, how we support, how this works in the nonprofit behavioral health sector. And the person who we are now working with, their CEO was in the audience. And I would say maybe a month later, the CFO reached out to me on LinkedIn and said, "Hey, our CEO was at your conference presentation and we want to know more about what you guys do." And that's how that relationship started and it has been great ever since.
And they are a phenomenal organization. They're phenomenal to work with. They have a great team and we've just been loving working with them. We're really going to start diving into them over the summer and working providing additional project management support as we move forward, but it's been great to see that move forward. It's also been great getting to be able to develop my current direct report and to see her get promoted and to see us grow.
And my supervisor is extremely happy too because he started this department, project management and it was just him and then he brought me on and now it's getting so large and it's growing and it's and people are really seeing the value of what we do across the organization, which is it's good to see how that is paying off and how that's supporting the organization and outside of our organization.
Yann Dang: Yeah, and I just see like for you, right, the value of a more confident version of you showing up, presenting, closing these deals, attracting more deals, right, that this investment in you actually is an investment in the company and the expansion and in other things that you touch and in other people that you talk to, right? I oftentimes talk about when we work on ourselves, when we actually invest in how we show up in the world, it has the ability to amplify all of the other things that we're doing in our world, right? It has the ability to show up even more strongly in all of the things we do and then it accelerates results. And you're a product of that.
Sarah Boone: No, I absolutely agree. It made me feel good on several levels. It also gave me confidence in taking it back to that presentation. I felt so good after that presentation. Like I felt that presentation went so well. I really felt connected to the audience. I felt, and it comes back to having the purpose when you're presenting, utilizing the three words that you talk about in the webinar, going in there and being able to connect with the audience and making them laugh, having that connection.
And I really kind of honed in on that goal of storytelling and I didn't even have slides up. I just kind of stood in the middle of the room. I walked away from the podium and I just kind of made the eye contact. I didn't do what they call the machine gun where you and that's what they call the machine gun. There was a class I went to and they teach you that. But it was so empowering and then I just rode that high. And so that's been helping me a lot as I continue to do even more speaking and it's really seeing that how I want to continue that development and that value has also gotten me into teaching and really expanding that. And I've done so many new things since starting coaching and taking advantage of new situations.
Even when I'm a little nervous and you've talked to me a couple of times, had to talk me off the ledge of the cliff a couple times when I was like, "I don't know if I can do this." And you were like, "Yes, you can. This is how we can get through this and talk about it." And trying these new things and then saying, "Oh, I can do hard things." And I think that was a really good realization for me.
Yann Dang: That's so great. Because I think one of like the things that I see in you is like as you are presenting, as you are taking on that ownership, it's like you own the room and you have that satisfaction at the end of the day. And when you know that and when you feel that deeply in your bones, there's not a lot of imposter syndrome that can creep up, right? Because you're giving yourself that validation. You actually feel it. You're not waiting for other people to say it.
Sarah Boone: Exactly. And I think that is huge for me. I don't need the validation. I feel good that I'm given, I need the validation for myself and I'm giving that to myself and I think that's huge, which I didn't have before. So thank you for that.
Yann Dang: Wow, you're welcome and you have done a lot of hard work to get there. So, okay, well, thank you so much again. I think imposter syndrome is different for different people, but I think you are a testament to somebody who's doing the work, who is able to manage it and use it for you and not against you and be able to show up confidently with or without it because of your conviction and who you are. So, thanks so much for being on the show.
Thank you for being a part of The Balanced Leader community. We hope you found today's episode inspiring and actionable. For more resources and to connect with Yann, visit us at aspire-coaching.co. Until next time, keep leading with confidence and purpose.
Together, we unpack what imposter syndrome really sounds like, how it shows up in our lives and leadership, and the tools Sarah has used to stop over-preparing and start owning her brilliance and lead with more authenticity and self-trust. If you've ever doubted your success, even while achieving it, this one's for you.
Welcome to The Balanced Leader, hosted by Yann Dang, a Leadership and Life Coach with over 20 years of corporate experience. Drawing from her journey as a former global finance leader and second-generation immigrant, Yann understands the unique challenges women face in male-dominated workplaces.
Each episode offers insights on balancing masculine and feminine energies, mastering soft skills, and building emotional intelligence. Join us to transform frustration into empowerment and unlock your authentic leadership potential.
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Yann Dang: Alright, well, let's get started. Welcome to the show, Sarah.
Sarah Boone: Thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to it.
Yann Dang: So tell the audience a little bit more about yourself. We'd love to know what you do, where you work. Go ahead.
Sarah Boone: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm the National Director of Project Management with an organization called Devereux. And Devereux is one of the nation's largest nonprofit organizations and providing services, insight, and leadership in the evolving field of behavioral healthcare. So I oversee our project management office and we are a lean, but mean project management office. And we support strategic initiatives across the organization, for our individuals that we serve.
Yann Dang: Great. Thank you so much for that. So let's just dive in. Tell me about imposter syndrome for you. What comes up for it, what happens with it, and how did you come to realize you have it? Let's just dive into that and then we'll talk more about the overcoming piece, but I think sometimes it shows up differently for different people. So I'd love to just hear your specific experiences with it.
Sarah Boone: Yeah, of course. When you first mentioned imposter syndrome as this topic for this podcast episode, I was very excited because this was something that was, I believe at the top of my list for when we started our sessions together for coaching. And it resonates with me because I think people are often placed in roles where visibility, responsibility, and uncertainty collide, and it creates that perfect environment and that perfect storm for self-doubt to really thrive.
And I've always felt that the more success I have achieved, the more fragile it can feel and it feels like it can be taken away. And I've experienced it personally and how it sounds in my head, like you said, is different for everybody. I think there's also a lot of common misconceptions with imposter syndrome and how people perceive it where it only affects people who are underqualified. And so people feel like, "Oh, I'm underqualified for this role and it only affects me and I have imposter syndrome." And I really feel that it just simply means that you care deeply about doing a good job, and it's often in spaces where there is no roadmap with your job.
And I just feel that imposter syndrome, it never truly goes away. You can get better at managing it. I feel like some folks have it more so than others. Guilty, I'm raising my hand right now. But it's certainly something that as I've developed and increased in my positions at my organization and I've been in my role for about almost two years now, but I've been with my organization for almost 15, it's certainly something that the higher up I've been in a company, the more prevalent it is.
Yann Dang: That's so interesting because sometimes people equate imposter syndrome to a lack of experience or a lack of knowledge. But what I'm hearing you say is that there are just going to be unknowns, right? When you extend into that leadership role, there is going to be less things that you're having to learn, but just more in the moment activated to answer questions that maybe you have never been presented before, right? Like that is the true sense of leadership, leading with uncertainty, but also the high stakes of it, the high visibility, right? And I actually remember recently, you were in that situation where your boss and your boss's boss were both out and you just had to make a lot of decisions that you weren't used to making.
Sarah Boone: Yes, that was a great example. And I was in that moment, and it was an unexpected situation as you brought that up and made me think about it. My boss's boss didn't know she was going to be out and having to make that quick decision to pull the plug on a project to have another meeting about something and bring it to another executive to talk about it. It was a difficult decision to do that. And there might have been some folks that might not have been pleased with that decision of putting the brakes on it, but it was the best decision. It was the right decision and the right call to make.
And ultimately, after speaking to my supervisor when he returned, he was like, "No, that was the right call to make," because not everybody was on the same page. And, of course, it felt a little bit like, "Oh, am I making the right call? Am is this the right path to take?" And but in that moment, I was like, "Nope, this is what I'm doing. I'm going to stand by it. And I'll have to, if there's any repercussions that come after as a result, I'll have to deal with them later." But, of course, there's a little bit of uncertainty and a little bit of fear when you're making that decision at the moment, but you have to make the decision.
Yann Dang: Yeah, I mean, that's really what leadership is, right? Bringing certainty to uncertain situations, whether it's a mistake, right, and you learn from it or whether it's the right decision, but like something needs to be made. And I love what you're saying about imposter syndrome also that it's about deeply caring because that's also a way to reframe it from something that, again, if people think about imposter syndrome like, "This is going to stop me, this is something really bad," or almost like a disease, versus it could be a superpower if you look at it in a very different frame, right? And you manage it to what you can get out of it versus it's something that happens to you. What are your thoughts about that?
Sarah Boone: No, I think that's a good way of putting it because you're right. I think for and that's why I brought that up because for me, I care deeply about my job. I truly want to do a good job, and I don't want to - it's always something you and I talked about not wanting to truly disappoint my supervisor and he has been a great mentor to me and a great support to me and making the wrong decision and being fearful of making the wrong decision and having that reflect on his outlook on me as a person or as me as a professional.
I want to do a good job. I want to make sure I'm putting my best foot forward for the organization that I'm supporting and for the people that I'm providing that service to. And I feel that if I'm not doing that, then I'm doing a disservice. And how do I make sure that I can deliver my best self and make sure I feel confident about the choices that I'm making is something that I always feel like I'm keeping at the forefront of my mind.
Yann Dang: Yeah. So it's like that imposter syndrome could show up, but it could show up as a question, right? It could show up as a, maybe I should get another opinion on this. Not to give up my leadership or choice, but to get more data versus I'm not meant to make this decision.
Sarah Boone: No, and I think a good example came, I think actually this week is a really good example. There was something that came up that was a little bit out of my expertise. And normally, I would think I'm a leader, I make this decision. I have to be able to make a decision, when to bring to that next level versus when do I need to make that decision on my own? And in this case, this was something that was a little outside of my scope and my oversight. So I felt like when in doubt, something could potentially happen.
And my first inner Sarah thought, "You should handle this. This isn't something you should bring to that person. You should be able to handle this. They're going to think that you don't know how to handle certain things." But then I kind of shushed that voice and was like, "No, this is something that I truly need to get a little bit of support and get a little bit of answers on because I don't know all the answers and that's okay." And I went to that person, asked that question and I even framed it in a way where, "Hey, this isn't something I've experienced before. I wanted to get your thoughts on this."
And I framed it in a way where I said, "This is what I think I should do, but I just want to confirm because I've never been exposed to this situation before." Turns out it was the right call, but they appreciated that I checked in with them first. So I think that was a good way of saying trying to get their input in at the same time, but just making sure I was validating that I was trying to make the decision, but it wasn't a situation that I've ever experienced. And again, it's back to that there's no road map. I didn't have that path kind of laid out for me. There was it was really something I've never been exposed to. But at the same time, wanting to learn and didn't want to put it where, put it on me in a sense where I was doing something wrong and I should take it upon myself to feel bad about it.
Yann Dang: Yeah, like that it's wrong to ask for more data. I think often times, it's like people can be quite hard on themselves and that it actually creates more isolation and that imposter syndrome can potentially fester more and grow bigger. So but I'm curious for you, when was it the first time where you were like, identified it for yourself or noticed it?
Sarah Boone: Oh, first time I've noticed it. I think for me was, I'm sure there was multiple times throughout my career that I've noticed it that I can't recall off the top of my head. But I think the most impactful for me, the most impactful time that I really felt that it had sunk its claws into me was really when I made that transition from coming from being at this organization, I worked at the same company for almost 15 years now. I came from our local operating center, which was state-based and coming to more of our corporate headquarters.
And that's a big jump. I mean, if folks know, they know. You're coming from more of going from a little pond to a big ocean. And it's first of all, taking the chance and taking the jump is, it cannot be overstated. I was scared when I made the move to come from my little center in the state of New Jersey to Big Bad Corporate Headquarters to it was just a different environment, different culture. It was just going from one small ecosystem to a larger system and having to know the company on a broader scale.
And I was scared. I took the jump. I was like, "I'm going to do this." I've always been someone who prided myself that I'm not afraid to take risk and try new things, not afraid to fail or at least take the jump to and see what's out there for me. But I think that was when the first time I really kind of recognized imposter syndrome was working in the corporate environment and then being exposed to new learning and being exposed to this role where I went from knowing just what was at the New Jersey Center to now I have to experience a whole new world of other centers and other states and other regulations and other standards and other and other service lines that we operated in.
My knowledge had to be broadened and I felt that was a lot to learn and there was this expectation, this is my mind obviously, not the company's, but my I felt like I had to have this knowledge and expectation to learn this overnight. And I put this amount of pressure on myself to be able to say, "Oh, you need to know this. You got to know all of this stuff. You got to know all of this. You got to be able to answer everything and you need to know it right now and you have to be able to get everything right and you have to answer an email in 15 minutes."
And also coming from the centers, when somebody from the center went to the corporate headquarters, it was like, it was very rare at that time. So when that happened, there was like this expectation where like, "You got to go the corporate center and you got to advocate for the centers because you are the golden child." There was just that mentality. So it was like a lot of pressure.
Yann Dang: Yeah. What I'm hearing is there's this internal pressure where you're like, "I got to know all the stuff." Then there's this external pressure from the people who are like, "You better speak up for us, you better talk for the people, you better show them what you're made of." And then you probably have the senior leaders who you're like, "Okay, now I'm actually getting emails from the CEO, from the C-suite people. It's not just newsletters. It's like real, you're working with them," right? And that's just another high-stakes, high-visibility.
Sarah Boone: Yes, that high visibility and having projects with executives and getting that face time with folks I've never would have ever dreamt of meeting in person. Like I would see emails from them. I'd be like, "Oh, that's the person who sends those newsletters or those marketing materials." So it was such a wonderful experience, but it was also very intimidating. I feel like that was just the really - I know it's a very broad example of when I started kind of experiencing imposter syndrome like, "Do I belong here? Am I polished enough for this corporate environment? Do I have what it takes to earn my place here?" And I'm not going to lie. There's times where that still pops up once in a while. I see people at corporate who just are just so diplomatic and just so, have this poise and just have this refinement that I feel like I will never achieve that.
But then the other part of me says, "That's okay because I'm me and I'm here for a reason. I bring something to the table too." And I'm okay with that. I've accepted that I have a different skill set and they have their skill set that makes them in that role that brings value to the organization, but I also know that I bring value to what I do as well. And I learned that through coaching. And I think that is what has been really helpful for me. But for me, that experience coming to corporate was really when imposter syndrome was at its like highest for me.
Yann Dang: Okay. Well, and it's good that you were aware of it and you had the emotional maturity to notice that. And I mean, if you're open to this, the whole reason why we're coaching together is you told a senior level executive about how you were feeling and that's super vulnerable. Are you can you share a bit about that process? Because that's really what opened the door for our coaching together of you saying, "I'm dealing with confidence issues."
Sarah Boone: Oh, right. So yeah, that's how we met. I can't believe I forgot that for a second. Yeah, so the COO, who is wonderful, she's part of an organization and I was at the office that day when I part of an organization, like a committee that she's on. And before she had a meeting with that committee, I was at the office that day and I had got to see her and we had said hello and we were speaking. And we were talking about, I think we were having just like a brief conversation just about women in leadership was a great conversation and I was telling her that one of the areas that I struggle with was confidence.
And she seemed at first a little surprised and she's like, "You always come off very confident." And I said, "Well, a duck on water. On the surface, I'm very calm, but underneath, I'm paddling my legs and there's like turning underneath." We talked for a few minutes more, then she went into her meeting and I believe an hour later, she had asked me to come into her office and she said, "Hey, I was on this call," and she had told me about you. And she said, "Yann was sharing a webinar on confidence." I think it was like your webinar on confidence or showing up confidently. I think that was the name of the webinar.
And she said, "I'll send you the slides and the materials, but she also does coaching and her first coaching session is free. If you want to kind of see if you if you both connect, if you want to meet, if it works, and then if you want to proceed with the services, we can talk about that." So I did. We met and, here's this is where we are, what, almost two years later, our relationship and our coaching relationship and partnership. It was great because I was able to get that connection through her to meet with you and it has been invaluable.
And now confidence is something that's on the bottom of the list for me to work on because I feel it's we started with confidence and then we were able to dive into so many different things that I felt that I wanted to kind of look into that I was like, "Oh wait, this is something else I want to work on. Oh wait, one more thing I want to work on." So it might have started with confidence, but then it ended with let's work on these other things and kind of dive into them and it just proved to be so valuable.
Yann Dang: Well, and I think it's a testament to you, right, to be vulnerable with leadership, which I think is something important for the listeners to listen to have here because you never know where that help is going to come from. But if you hadn't been vulnerable to share what you're dealing with, right, and sharing that with a senior leader that's actually your boss's boss, right? Like that was a bold move for you. It opened the doorway for more things.
And I think oftentimes people feel scared to be vulnerable, but actually vulnerability open could open the door to so many different opportunities because if you didn't do that, right, she wouldn't have felt, like she'd probably be like, "Oh, she doesn't have any confidence issues. Why should I share these slides with her?" But because you had shared that, it almost seemed like the universe opened it up, right? It was perfect timing because she had come to my webinar and thought, "Oh, there's somebody that has a need and a want and a desire and then there's support for that." So I think it's just important to underline because so many women out there are not so open with their leadership team. They feel, it's almost like imposter syndrome really thrives in isolation or this lack of confidence or almost shame about it. But when you are more willing, open to talk about it, then it becomes something that can actually be worked on and not something that's wrong or broken inside you, right? It's like this is something to work on.
Sarah Boone: No, and I agree with that. I also think it's great to have a safe space in the supervisors that you have. And for me, that wasn't always the case. I feel that way with my direct supervisor is a male and then she is my once removed supervisor. So I have a great safe space with both of them. And I think that's extremely important and I think that's not always the case for some people. And I feel for them because I didn't always have that in previous roles or in and also in a previous organization. I've worked for two behavioral health organizations and Devereux was one of two. But in my previous organization, I didn't have that. I wouldn't have felt comfortable to go to my previous supervisor to say, "Hey, I don't I feel like I have confidence issues. This is what I need to work on."
I wouldn't be able to express that level of vulnerability whereas with the supervisors that I have now, I have that level of comfortability where I can feel safe to be able to express that. And I think that speaks to their leadership and it also and also speaks to their leadership that they're willing to say, "Here's this. There's this resource here's and make that connection." And I'm grateful for that because it allowed me to be able to expand my leadership and move forward with my development and that's just provides more value for me for the organization as well.
Yann Dang: Let's dive now more into that those tools that you've learned to deal with imposter syndrome so that the listeners can understand, how might have you reframed your thoughts? What was the process like for you? How was it to just normalize what was inside your head and working on it with me in our coaching sessions?
Sarah Boone: Yeah, absolutely. So I just learned a lot to reframe my thoughts, which is easier said than done. I realize that. Some might say, "Oh, I can just easily reframe my thoughts. Sure, that'll work, Sarah."
Yann Dang: Like if it's so easy, everybody would be doing it, right?
Sarah Boone: Right. Yeah. Yeah, I have a friend that was trying to say that because there’s a colleague of mine that works in a similar field, but a different organization and she has imposter syndrome and she's always reaching out to me and saying, "How are you managing it? What are you doing?" And I'm like, "You just have to reframe your thoughts." And she was like, "What does that even mean?" She said, "Context, more context."
So it's really just kind of changing my thought process. And this is like in learning and working with you is like saying, "I'm learning versus, oh, I'm a fraud. I can't do this." It's like, I'm learning. Justifying, giving myself affirmations in my head, what makes sense for me and trying to stay away from the negative thoughts and discerning what that means. And I think that's really important too because sometimes we can get - I know I can get caught up in the negative too much and then I let it sit with me and then I just perseverate and it just festers and then I carry it with me all day and into the next day. I will think about how the meeting went. If I feel like it, if I interpret my performance as bad, I will carry it with me the next day and the next day and the day after that. But at the end of the day, nobody else is thinking about that but me.
And so if I feel that I did something that was not up to my standard, I'm just like, "Oh well, that happened. I'm learning. This is what I can take away from that and now I'm going to move on and to the next thing." So I try to keep that in mind. Something else that I've learned is also keeping a Wins File. I call it a Wins File, but I believe that you and I referred to it as scanning our day for the positives, whereas prior to meeting with you, I used to just scan for the negative and I would just fall on, "Oh, this bad thing happened and then this bad thing happened."
Now I just don't even think about the bad things. I just focus on what went well in my day. What can I what were the key takeaways that went really well that I can celebrate those wins and whether it would be a very different difficult stakeholder that I can never seem to get an answer out of or they never respond to me. And maybe that one day or that one meeting, they responded to me and they really gave me a really great feedback. I'm going to carry that with me. That was a really good win.
Talking about it, normalizing the experience, and just reframing my thoughts. I think those are the key takeaways to move forward with just really understanding and realizing that's imposter syndrome talking. It's not a reflection on you as a professional and an employee.
Yann Dang: Yeah, it's what when you're talking about it's almost like, "Okay, it's there, but it's not driving the car." It's just in the maybe it's in the back seat when you're feeling pretty. Maybe sometimes it crawls in the front seat, but you could put.
Sarah Boone: Or it wants to sit on your lap.
Yann Dang: Yeah, but you're like, "I'm in control. These are just thoughts and feelings I'm having in the moment." And one of the feelings that I think we worked on a lot with you is this feeling of guilt. Like historically, when we started working together, you would feel this immense guilt that would have you people please or do things that were you're really kind of questioning yourself. Can you talk a bit about that and how what shifted between when we first started working together to now around the feeling of guilt?
Sarah Boone: Yeah. So the feelings of guilt would just be, a good example would be being afraid to ask for something for myself because I felt guilty that I was asking for too much or feeling guilty that I was bothering somebody. There was a lot of guilt that stemmed from that I was being a nuisance, or even if I was advocating for, I think it was like advocating for additional sessions with you, I would be like, "Oh, that's too burdensome on the organization," or if I'm asking for too much on the budget. I was always feeling that I was like being, I didn't want to be a burden. And I always saw myself as I'm always thinking, "Oh, I'm afraid to ask for something. I don't want to be causing too much trouble or I'm thinking of there was just these feelings of guilt for that."
And so I would try to stay away from that because, you know, I think feeling guilty always put me in that state of, "Oh God, I'm a bad employee," and then the imposter syndrome and it all tied into one. It was a perfect cocktail. And I think what helped with that with the tools was it's okay to advocate for yourself and it's okay to celebrate your wins. And that's also something that I learned too because I was, we you and I talked about that. I wasn't historically great at kind of celebrating the wins and celebrating when somebody acknowledged a job well done. I was really great at deflecting. If anything, I got an award in deflecting that.
If somebody was like, "Great job, Sarah, on a project well done," I was quick to say, "Well, thank the team. They did all the work." I was so quick to not accepting the gratitude and the congratulations and I was so quick to just shove it onto somebody else, which is I know that's strange to hear, but I felt like it put me in the spotlight, which I didn't like. And I think that added more to also added to the imposter syndrome because it put me in the spotlight and it felt like the more I'm in the spotlight, if I'm going to fall and I'm going to fail, people will see that even more. And if I'm not in the spotlight and if I failed, then people won't notice as much. I think that's how I interpreted it.
But now I think I've let go of those feelings, especially with the guilt where I don't feel bad if I ask for something for myself. And again, I think it comes back to knowing my value, knowing what I bring to the organization, knowing that they brought me in for a reason. They selected me into my position for a reason. They selected me within this department for a reason. They know my worth. They've developed me. They see something in me even when I don't see it in myself. And even if I have to be reminded of that. And my supervisor, even when I'm like, "I'm not somebody who needs constant validation," but he tries to give it to me. And even though I'm always like, "No, I don't want it," I have allowed myself to receive. And you've taught me that. You always say that mantra, "I receive." And I say that to myself. So if somebody's giving me compliments or they're giving me validation of a job well done, I in my head mentally, I'm trying to receive it. I'm receiving it. I'm receiving it. So that way, it eliminates the guilt. It eliminates any need to deflect the attention and being able to accept that. So then when I ask for things, I'm I can go back and say, "I did a job well done. I have value and now I don't feel guilty because they also say it." And I think that's helped a lot with alleviating those that level of guilt.
Yann Dang: Yeah, so it's like you're allowing yourself to see the value, right? Because in the guilt game, it's like I'm taking something that maybe belongs to someone else or I'm somehow a burden to versus thinking about it as I'm valuable and this is going to be even more valuable for the organization and what's good for me is good for the organization versus I think often times, I've even had women leaders say, "I don't want to ask for more money because I want my team to have that money."
And I'm like, "Well, you know there's some people that are asking for money and for themselves and their team. Like it's not it's not like a zero sum, right? They somehow think that - and I think it might be a woman thing too of this self-sacrifice, right? Like I want to sacrifice. I'd rather fight for other people on my team than myself." But I'm like, "You probably have a male colleague who's fighting for himself and his team. Like it can be an and if you're advocating for yourself and your team and modeling it, it's a win-win." It doesn't need to be a zero-sum game.
Sarah Boone: Exactly. Exactly.
Yann Dang: That's so great. Well, that was a huge thing. I remember you were just fraught with guilt and having like lots of spinning out. And then as you said, right, you started building these skills and we started working on even more of your expansiveness in terms of leadership and your storytelling and your strategic ability. And you had a great win.
I want you to share this with people because of course you came in wanting to work on confidence and with that confidence, right, with these tools, you also were able to, you know, create this next level business line in your organization and really supercharge the goals that you had. I remember you had these goals, they were kind of far out and I said, "What if we move them forward?" So can you share about that and I want you to go bragging on yourself because this is, you know, a shiny example of your transformation, right? But tell us about how that came about, that strategic plan and what you did.
Sarah Boone: Yeah. So it actually timed out perfect with you, with working with you and our annual performance plan and setting our goals for the year. So I had put those together and obviously, I think it was great when you're working with a coach such as yourself and then you have your annual performance goals. Obviously, when I was designing my goals and my development goals and my plan, connecting with you to say, "Hey, I have to come up with these goals. What do you this is what I had in mind. How can you help me reframe them?"
And I thought it was great. This is what, you know, obviously we talked about the storytelling because sometimes I get my words jumbled and I want to be able to communicate and articulate what I'm trying to convey so I can clearly demonstrate what my vision is for what I'm trying to communicate for the strategic plan, etc., and especially as we move forward with project management and what I what we want to see the direction of our department going and so forth.
And one of those strategic visions was external consulting services that we wanted to provide. And very excited about that. Obviously, we thought that was going to be two years from now because with any kind of new line of business, it's not something that happens overnight, right? You need to really work at it and put a lot of plan into it. And our goal was to really kind of launch those efforts and hopefully, by generating enough revenue was to grow our department and get some additional project managers on board and really kind of see where that would takes us.
And we thought, gave it a like a good two-year plan because maybe 18 months to two years and it actually happened within six months. Actually, I think it was a little under six months if I'm not mistaken. And we were able to work with another provider and provide some consultation services with project management and support, some outsourced project management services and be able to develop our current team member and also bring on an additional role, an FTE, which was fantastic and we're very excited about it.
And that really stemmed from presenting. I went to a conference in Pennsylvania and presented on project management and what we do, how we support, how this works in the nonprofit behavioral health sector. And the person who we are now working with, their CEO was in the audience. And I would say maybe a month later, the CFO reached out to me on LinkedIn and said, "Hey, our CEO was at your conference presentation and we want to know more about what you guys do." And that's how that relationship started and it has been great ever since.
And they are a phenomenal organization. They're phenomenal to work with. They have a great team and we've just been loving working with them. We're really going to start diving into them over the summer and working providing additional project management support as we move forward, but it's been great to see that move forward. It's also been great getting to be able to develop my current direct report and to see her get promoted and to see us grow.
And my supervisor is extremely happy too because he started this department, project management and it was just him and then he brought me on and now it's getting so large and it's growing and it's and people are really seeing the value of what we do across the organization, which is it's good to see how that is paying off and how that's supporting the organization and outside of our organization.
Yann Dang: Yeah, and I just see like for you, right, the value of a more confident version of you showing up, presenting, closing these deals, attracting more deals, right, that this investment in you actually is an investment in the company and the expansion and in other things that you touch and in other people that you talk to, right? I oftentimes talk about when we work on ourselves, when we actually invest in how we show up in the world, it has the ability to amplify all of the other things that we're doing in our world, right? It has the ability to show up even more strongly in all of the things we do and then it accelerates results. And you're a product of that.
Sarah Boone: No, I absolutely agree. It made me feel good on several levels. It also gave me confidence in taking it back to that presentation. I felt so good after that presentation. Like I felt that presentation went so well. I really felt connected to the audience. I felt, and it comes back to having the purpose when you're presenting, utilizing the three words that you talk about in the webinar, going in there and being able to connect with the audience and making them laugh, having that connection.
And I really kind of honed in on that goal of storytelling and I didn't even have slides up. I just kind of stood in the middle of the room. I walked away from the podium and I just kind of made the eye contact. I didn't do what they call the machine gun where you and that's what they call the machine gun. There was a class I went to and they teach you that. But it was so empowering and then I just rode that high. And so that's been helping me a lot as I continue to do even more speaking and it's really seeing that how I want to continue that development and that value has also gotten me into teaching and really expanding that. And I've done so many new things since starting coaching and taking advantage of new situations.
Even when I'm a little nervous and you've talked to me a couple of times, had to talk me off the ledge of the cliff a couple times when I was like, "I don't know if I can do this." And you were like, "Yes, you can. This is how we can get through this and talk about it." And trying these new things and then saying, "Oh, I can do hard things." And I think that was a really good realization for me.
Yann Dang: That's so great. Because I think one of like the things that I see in you is like as you are presenting, as you are taking on that ownership, it's like you own the room and you have that satisfaction at the end of the day. And when you know that and when you feel that deeply in your bones, there's not a lot of imposter syndrome that can creep up, right? Because you're giving yourself that validation. You actually feel it. You're not waiting for other people to say it.
Sarah Boone: Exactly. And I think that is huge for me. I don't need the validation. I feel good that I'm given, I need the validation for myself and I'm giving that to myself and I think that's huge, which I didn't have before. So thank you for that.
Yann Dang: Wow, you're welcome and you have done a lot of hard work to get there. So, okay, well, thank you so much again. I think imposter syndrome is different for different people, but I think you are a testament to somebody who's doing the work, who is able to manage it and use it for you and not against you and be able to show up confidently with or without it because of your conviction and who you are. So, thanks so much for being on the show.
Thank you for being a part of The Balanced Leader community. We hope you found today's episode inspiring and actionable. For more resources and to connect with Yann, visit us at aspire-coaching.co. Until next time, keep leading with confidence and purpose.
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