All of us are somebody’s Kenyan
Why you’re already an expert
There is a scene in the movie, “Identify Thief”, starring Melissa McCarthy and Jason Bateman, in which Melissa McCarthy’s character tries to run away, and Jason Bateman gently jogs the few yards to catch up with her. She stops right away, and collpases her hands onto her knees to recover. Breathless, her face conveys total disgust with her pursuer as spits out at him, “what are you, a f*%king Kenyan?”
ALL of us are somebody’s Kenyan.
I’ve found two ways to get over this hump. The first is the hardest — fake it til you make it. It’s easier said than done. Such advice is as useful as someone telling you not be be afraid of spiders. “Doh! I feel so FOOLISH! Why didn’t I think of just not being afraid of spiders sooner!”
It doesn’t help that I suffer from imposter syndrome. I always think I need to know more, or have more experience before I have accumulated credibility to satisfy some lofty idea of what is ‘enough.’ It’s curious because in other ways I have realized that good things don’t happen by waiting until we’re ready to act, instead we become ready by acting. However, when a topic is important to me, when there is a reputational element, I don’t feel I can take the risk.
