The Empress Has No Clothes Conquering Self-Doubt to Embrace Success

by Roché, Joyce M.; Kopelman, Alexander

• ISBN13: 9781609946364
• ISBN10: 1609946367
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-06-03
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Summary

Joyce Roché earned an Ivy League MBA and rose quickly to become the first African-American vice president of Avon, where she led global marketing. She later became president of a leading cosmetics company and CEO of Girls Inc. and now serves on several Fortune 500 boards. Yet through it all she felt like an impostor-the phrase "the empress has no clothes" kept running through her head. As a result she worked 20-hour days, kept quiet in meetings to avoid revealing her supposed shortcomings, and worst of all, never really enjoyed her success. Using her own life story-from her beginnings in rural Louisiana through her rise up the corporate ranks and her transition to the nonprofit sector-Roché exposes the roots of the Impostor Syndrome, its toll on young and emerging professionals, and provides invaluable advice for overcoming feelings of inadequacy. She explores panic points, coping strategies, and just plain common career sense. Each chapter features an interview with a leading executive like Chairman and CEO of BET Holdings Debra Lee, WNBA Founding President Val Ackerman, Starbucks Senior Vice President Mary Wagner, Eileen Fisher, and many more, who share their own imposter syndrome stories. Reading this book is like having the career mentor we all want but can never find. Roché even provides the path to finding joy and meaning at work, which is the proper goal of any true career.

Author Biography

Joyce M. Roché currently sits on the boards of four Fortune 500 companies as well as several nonprofits. She received the Legacy Award at the 2006 Women of Power Summit of Black Enterprise Magazine.
Alexander Kopelman has written or cowritten ten books.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Edward E. Whitacre, Jr.
Preface
Are You an Impostor? (Take the Test)
Chapter 1: Breaking the Silence
Chapter 2: It’s Not What You Wear
Chapter 3: What If You Have No Silver Spoon
Chapter 4: Gender Matters
Chapter 5: What Color Is Your Parachute?
Chapter 6: But You Are So Young
Chapter 7: Climbing the Ladder
Chapter 8: What If the Naysayers Are Right?
Chapter 9: The Weight of the World
Chapter 10: What Did You Do to Get Here?
Chapter 11: Listen to Your Heart
Chapter 12: Joy, Zest, and Power
Afterword: Strategies for Confronting the Impostor Syndrome and Embracing Success
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Authors