El ciclo invisible del alto rendimiento femenino | Jennifer Schell | TEDxSanta Rosa Women
Jennifer Schell discusses the 'invisible cycle of high female performance' where accomplished women struggle to recognize and celebrate their achievements, constantly moving to the next goal without acknowledging their current success. She introduces the concept of impostor syndrome and provides practical tools for women to break this cycle and learn to inhabit their accomplishments.
Summary
Jennifer Schell begins by sharing her personal experience of winning an important professional recognition as a political scientist and mentor, but instead of celebrating, immediately thinking 'and now what?' and moving to the next project. She describes this pattern as something she initially called ambition but later recognized as a problematic cycle. Through examples like her friend Carolina who worried about her nails during her engagement and two exceptional students Celeste and Sofia who couldn't see their extraordinary performance at a UN model competition, Schell illustrates how women are trained to conquer the world but struggle to inhabit what they've built. She identifies this as the 'invisible cycle of high female performance' consisting of three stages: conquest (achieving goals), cancellation (dismissing achievements as unimportant or lucky), and escape (moving to the next goal with an empty emotional tank). Schell then introduces impostor syndrome, a psychological phenomenon affecting 70% of humanity and 3 out of 4 high-capacity women according to a 2020 KeePMG study. She argues that women are experts in 'foreign diplomacy' (caring for others) but cruel dictators to themselves. Her psychologist's advice to 'stop doing to start being' became a turning point. Schell concludes by presenting the 'mirror of achievement' exercise with three questions about how one reacts to achievements, recognition, and goals, emphasizing the importance of living on the achievements we've reached rather than moving from a place of lack.
Key Insights
- Schell argues that women are trained to conquer the world but when they achieve their goals, they are unable to inhabit what they have already built, instead immediately moving to the next objective.
- She identifies a three-stage 'invisible cycle of high female performance' where women conquer goals, then cancel or dismiss their achievements as unimportant or lucky, leading to an empty emotional tank and escape to the next goal.
- Schell claims that 70% of humanity has experienced impostor syndrome, with a 2020 KeePMG study showing that 3 out of every 4 high-capacity women don't recognize their own achievements, even among business presidents.
- The speaker argues that women are experts in 'foreign diplomacy' (focusing on others' lives and needs) but become 'the most cruel dictators' when it comes to evaluating their own lives and accomplishments.
- Schell contends that women confuse tiredness with progress and believe that the more they do, the more valuable they are, when the real solution is to 'stop doing to start being' and learn to live on the achievements they've already reached.
Topics
Transcript
Sebastian Betti Reviewer and Subtitle by Ana María Gómez The day I won the most important recognition at a professional level as a political scientist and mentor in leadership, I didn't celebrate it. On the contrary, I vaguely remember some hugs, some photos, a... You did it right. But my mind wasn't in that ceremony. When the ceremony ended, the first thing I did was go to a store to buy the products for the next project. Strong, right? But in my mind, as I walked to that store, there was only one unceasing thought in my head that touched me, like this. And it was this. And now what? I had already climbed, the most important recognition, and I…
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