The Credential Crutch: Why women’s continuous learning mindset may hold them back

“I just want to keep learning.”

This is what I hear a lot from women when we talk about their career aspirations. Don’t get me wrong – learning is a great thing. In fact, it’s critical to growth at work and in life.

But I have had countless conversations with women who want to get another master’s degree or a PhD or take yet another course or certification. I suspect the long list of credentials makes us feel competent and confident.

But can too much learning be a bad thing? Can it become a crutch?

It absolutely can when learning for learning’s sake holds us back from going for it. When hiding behind more certificates and acronyms prevent us from gaining the real experience we need to ascent to higher levels and earn more.

 

More formal learning is not paying off

Let’s first look at how education in general has paid off for women. And when I say, paid off, I’m talking about money. It is well documented that the return on investment from education is lower for women than it is for men. Here’s a few examples.

• For the 11th year in a row, women earned a majority of doctoral degrees awarded at US universities in 2019 according to The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).  

Yet the gender pay gap persists and women are underrepresented in senior roles.

• In Canada, 73% of 25-34 year-old women had a tertiary qualification in 2020 compared to 56% of their male peers according to the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.)

Yet the gender pay gap persists and women are underrepresented in senior roles.

• In fact, among the 25-34 age group, women are more likely to have a tertiary degree than men in all 38 countries that are members of the OECD.

Yet the gender pay gap persists and women are underrepresented in senior roles.

We cannot educate ourselves out of the gender pay gap. We cannot educate ourselves into senior leadership roles.

Last year the Women’s National Law Center published a disheartening report. Women at all education levels experienced a wage gap. Women earn less whether they have no high school diploma, a high school diploma, or a Bachelor’s degree or higher. Moreover, when women earn a Bachelor’s degree, they still only make about what men with an Associate’s degree make ($61,341 and $61,100 respectively)—and men with only a high school degree but no college education typically make more than women with an Associate’s degree ($49,661 and $45,813 respectively).

Of course, education is valuable and necessary, and we won’t stop pursuing it. But more education is not leading to more pay or more senior leadership opportunities. So why do we continuously seek more and more formal learning as we work? And does it pay off in the long run?

The Hay Group highlighted learning for learning’s sake in its study focusing on performance and career paths and found that both high-performing men and women had a strong orientation toward achievement. However, for women it manifested more as a lifelong focus on continuous learning which did not necessarily lead to proactive career management: women were less deliberate in their career progressions than men and still had a way to go in driving specific efforts toward a goal. The study described the thought patterns of women as a generic desire to learn, grow and build capabilities. What’s needed instead, it argued, is a purposeful thought pattern: intentionally create opportunities to learn a specific skill and gain exact experience to earn a particular position. I wholeheartedly agree.

 

Do you rely on the credential crutch?

Do you think that if you just get a few more letters behind your name, you’ll get that big job? Do you believe that if you just take more courses, get another degree and do really good work you’ll be tapped on the shoulder? Are you certain that knowledge outweighs experience? If so, you may be plagued with the credential crutch.

Ask yourself these questions when considering your learning goals.

• Do you need to learn a technical skill to do your job, keep your job or advance in your job?  

• Are there formal requirements or credentials that are keeping you from transferring into a new career?

• Will your carefully considered personal vision be achieved with more formal learning?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then pass go, collect two hundred and register away.

How about these questions?

• Is the course or certification a means to shore up confidence before taking on more responsibility?

• Are the credentials required only to live up to your own high expectations?

• Is the learning endeavor a way to put off really going after your goals?

 If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask yourself: are the money, time and effort involved really worth it? Have you showcased the amazing talent and skills you already possess? Are you using learning as a crutch when you already have exactly what you need in that big brain of yours?

It’s time to toss the crutch and stand on our own merits. It’s time to go for the experiences that will truly make a difference to your career and advancement.

 

Ditch development and seek experiences instead

You can fill your head with knowledge, but until you apply it, it really means nothing. Gaining specific experience is what’s required to advance.

To this end I say, ditch the development plan! It’s time to make an experience plan.

Most people take stock at the end of the year and say, “What do I need to develop to get better at the job I’m doing?” Maybe it’s taking a course, reading some resources, or meeting with a mentor. Contrary to what you might think, these kinds of development plans do little for your future, little to become your future ideal self, little to challenge your sense of self and build your confidence. The readiness to take on new daunting tasks, projects or roles is built over time from continual small stretches. That builds confidence for what feels like bigger bolder stretches.

Think instead about an experience plan. What experiences do you need to have to truly grow and develop? What seasoned stakeholders do you need to interact with, what presentations do you need to make, what meetings do you have to get into, what projects do you need to be after? How can you get real-time learning that not only helps in your current role but builds capability for future roles? How can you gain experiences that fuel a love of stretching, instead of hiding behind a book or course in a comfortable zone of incremental learning?

Before you go on the lookout for your next course, certification or credential, first squeeze out all the development, insights and knowledge you already have.

Next remember that there are less credentialed, less experienced and less intelligent people than you out there doing it already.

Put down the crutch and make a run for it.

These men say you have to earn the ally title

I recently attended a webinar by Lean In Canada called Elevating Gender Equality: A Conversation on How to be a Male Ally. The session was a bit slow to start, but by the end, I felt, dare I say, hopeful.

The panel was made up of four men that differed in age, racial background, leadership level, organization and sector. Yet they all shared a common goal – to take an active role in ensuring gender equality.

I was moved with how these men thought about their roles, how they shared a common mindset and how they offered practical tips that can be implemented immediately by anyone. I know that many of you are working on allyship in your organization too. Here is a summary of the conversation.

The Mindset of an Ally

Each man opened the conversation by introducing their background and explaining what led them to becoming a public ally for women. I say public because there are many men who are great allies, quietly doing the work to sponsor women. The men I listened to have gone one step further. They are part of Lean In male allyship circles. They engage with others and have regular conversations to learn, to share and to make impact beyond individual relationships.

Why did they decide to take their allyship public?

Now I know what some of you might be thinking. They must have daughters, wives or sisters that drove their decisions. Many men get derided for pulling the ‘daughter card’. But you know what, we have to cut that out. I dedicated my book to my daughter. My mission is to make the world better for all our daughters. Women are not the only people who have this wish, who are driven to make change. Men get to care about this too. We need them to.

In fact, two of the men don’t have daughters at all. One was moved when he read a specific piece of research on the hardships that Asian women face with access to opportunities, hiring and pay equity. It shook him to the core. Another was interested in better understanding his blind spots while getting his MBA. He joined both a women in management group and an ally circle.

 While they didn’t use these words explicitly, I got the distinct sense that these men understand that gender equality is the important work of leadership, period.

Here’s what I learned about their mindsets.

•  Don’t call yourself an ally. Ally is not a label you can give yourself - you earn it. It was clear these men weren’t out for recognition for themselves. They were putting in the work to take a stand. They were seeking to better themselves, evolve cultures and increase opportunities for women.

• Make allyship active. It’s easy to have good intentions or think supportive thoughts. But until you act, it means nothing.

• Shift to a systems perspective. Helping individuals is important and rewarding. But change requires an ongoing challenge of processes and systems too.

• Recognize your voice matters. When you are silent, you reinforce the bad behaviors that limit opportunities for women.

• Make equal, not identical. Being a sponsor and an ally is not about imposing your approach, your way, your style. It is about expanding definitions of leadership.

• Eradicate the bro code. The biggest fear for men is facing backlash from breaking the bro code. As one of the men so poignantly said,

“There is more strength in standing up for humanity

than there is for men.”

 Tips from Male Allies

 These are the practical tips that the men offered:

• Start at home. Model behaviors at home by dividing up physical and more importantly emotional labor. Take the lead on planning, appointments, childcare. Be prepared to take a step back and prioritize the needs and goals of your partner too.

• Get rid of “fit”. Challenge yourself to make your teams and organization better by adding to it, not making it the same.

• Make yourself approachable. Let it be known that you are open and available for sponsorship opportunities. Get known for someone who makes time for developing current and future talent.

• Listen and learn. One of the most valuable experiences for one of the allies was when he was approached by a young woman of color for a reverse mentoring relationship. The woman created space for the ally to ask questions he had never asked before, or knew to ask. This experience reinforced that working on equality was not about taking away identity.

• Engage supporters. Talk to other males who are open or neutral and want to help, but don’t know how. Increasing awareness and engaging support over time will make change.

• Get educated. Read, attend events, listen. Dive into the gender equality and equity stats, the biases and common stereotypes. Soak up the situations and implications that are real and happening all around you.

• Just ask.  Ask your female colleagues and direct reports proactively how you can support them and how you can show up for them. The men also urged women to not hold back from asking men to be their ally. Ask us to be on your side and to actively look out and stand up for you.

• Give public credit. A simple thing we can all do immediately is give credit to women’s ideas and accomplishments in open meetings and closed-door conversations. Give women profile in forums where they are unknown.

• #interruptheinterrupter. Don’t interrupt women during conversations and apologize when you do. And last, for goodness sake, interrupt others when they interrupt your female colleagues. Ensure they are heard. 

Thank you, Astor, John, Jason and Brandon, for going public, for taking a stand and for being great leaders.

The role of male allyship has never been more important. Let me know what other mindsets and behaviors you’ve witnessed, experienced or inhabited.

Why Women are Saddled with Imposter Syndrome

“Do I belong here?”

I sat in the cold dark ballroom as the panelists took their seats on stage. The panel consisted of two female experts and two male executives; each was given a couple of minutes to introduce themselves. The two women and one man gave a modest introduction of their roles. Dave was last.

In his southern drawl, he said, “Hi, I’m Dave. I don’t know what you heard when my fellow panelists just introduced themselves, but here’s what I heard. ‘I’m Dawn, the brilliant, world-famous doctor at the renowned Mayo Clinic saving people’s lives every single day.’ ‘I’m John, the suave, good-looking and highly educated CEO of a bank.’ ‘I’m Leslie, the genius scientist working at a multibillion- dollar company you all know and love and I’m saving the world with my discoveries.’ And I’m Dave, a hick from Texas who didn’t graduate high school, and I help transport stuff.” 

The audience laughed with shock and disbelief. They didn’t expect a man to voice those concerns. After all, Dave belonged up on that stage—right alongside the doctor, CEO and scientist. He had risen to become a company president; he had received awards during his time in the Navy and he’s a great leader.

In that moment Dave felt inadequate as he compared himself to the other executives and experts on stage. He had imposter syndrome.

Have you ever chalked up your success to luck, chance or good timing? Do you discredit your accomplishments or feel that you don’t deserve them? Do you ever feel like a fraud? If you said yes to any of those statements, you may be sabotaging yourself. And before you start putting yourself down for that, guess what: we all do it.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines imposter syndrome as the “persistent inability to believe that one’s success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one’s own efforts or skills.” Despite evidence of success and competence, there is a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud. Imposter syndrome erodes your confidence and can prevent you from taking risks or striving for things that you are completely capable of already or are capable of learning.

But here’s the thing.

Research shows that men and women equally experience imposter syndrome. In fact, 25 to 30 percent of high achievers may suffer from imposter syndrome and a 2019 review of 62 studies on imposter syndrome suggested anywhere from 9 to 82 percent of people report having thoughts along these lines at some point.

Why then do women overwhelmingly get saddled with the term?

Ruchika Tulshyan  and Jodi-Ann Burey provide one piece of the puzzle in their landmark HBR article, Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome.

The term, originally named imposter phenomenon, was coined in a study that looked at high-achieving women back in 1978. It stands to reason that because the concept originated in a study group of women, the term ‘stuck’ to women. But subsequent studies have shown that anyone, in fact, everyone may experience feelings of being unsure, uncertain or undermined.  

I think there’s more to the story.

Dave, the president panelist, does not represent the norm in the sense that he was a man who admitted to having these defeatist feelings to a ballroom full of people. He did represent the norm by not letting his doubts stop him. Dave went for it, and he succeeded, right to the top.

Boys are raised to be certain, to not show fear and to go for it. Girls are raised to be careful, to avoid risk, to wait and see. If anyone is susceptible to feeling like an imposter, the nurtured response to deal with them are different. If you’re a boy/man you go for it, fight through the fear. If you’re a girl/woman you stay back, stay safe.

Thankfully I see signs of this changing. A movement has begun to question traditional male gender stereotypes such as stoicism and strength, opening the door for important traits of vulnerability and sensitivity. Similarly, there are movements aimed at young girls and women to believe, to go for it, to dare and to risk.

This leads to another important point that Ruchika and Burey make. Overcoming imposter syndrome means creating an environment that fosters a variety of leadership styles and in which diverse racial, ethnic, and gender identities are seen as just as professional as the current model (where everyone looks the same. I don’t have to describe it, you know). They argue that we must focus on fixing the cultures and the organizations that enable, perpetuate, and exacerbate bias and exclusion which lead to feelings of uncertainty and doubt. I agree we must do this. It’s critical.  

But equally as important I believe we must normalize feelings of uncertainty and doubt that everyone feels. Maybe before we can unhitch the term imposter syndrome from women, we must first hitch the cart to men’s horses. Maybe that will be an easier first step. What do you think?

I also don’t think it means we need to do away with all the workshops and conversations with women about imposter syndrome as Ruchika and Burey seem to suggest. The feelings are still there. Targeting organizational and cultural initiatives won’t magically make individual feelings go away overnight. This isn’t an either-or situation. It’s a both situation. I agree that this isn’t about fixing women, but it is about having conversations that get at negative self talk.

Here’s the bottom line.

Let’s normalize feelings of uncertainty and doubt – it’s a human thing, not a gender thing.

Let’s retire this term of imposter syndrome once and for all.

Let’s continue to have conversations about negative self-talk of all forms.

Let’s create the cultures and organizations that make it okay to express our doubts and embrace a broader definition of competence, confidence and leadership style.