Bringing your most authentic self to every room!

WPP Stream
Nov 6 · 5 min read

By: Marvyn Harrison

“Who am I?” A philosophical or spiritual answer may lead you to different understandings but in the context of work it’s usually presented as a question to you in the form of “What do you do?” When you walk around an unconference in Athens for 3 days surrounded by great minds, sun and a mainly vegan menu, the lanyard with your name and company attached to your chest it becomes your new face, no longer do you get the same level of eye contact, it is replaced with a dip and lean into your chest so people can read if you are worthy of stopping or just another face in the crowd. It’s an extremely cynical observation, of which I’m aware but I do wonder what are they looking for when they dip and lean? What makes them stay and what makes them keep walking? It’s a question that can linger in the mind of what I can only call imposter syndrome.

I suffered for many years with a form ‘Imposter syndrome’ (also known as impostor phenomenon, impostorism, fraud syndrome or the impostor experience) is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalised fear of being exposed as a “fraud”. My particular form of imposter syndrome was driven by my experience of being a Black British and working class. I understood that my culture wasn’t mainstream or widely understood, my grandmother was born in Jamaica, where a uniquely brilliant form of broken English is spoken called Patois and all my peers spoke London accents including ‘East London slang’ and ‘Cockney’ (many people whose English is a second language will understand you think in one language and speak in another) I often found my speech and written language to fall foul of the grammar police. I was different in my immediate surroundings (race) and I was even more different from the people on TV (race and class). The TV was the main window I had to live outside of Hackney and so far was my connection from the people on TV, adverts and the news that I never considered how they got there, where they lived or why they were there.

So when I started working in marketing and later advertising I never saw many people like me and I didn’t have a huge passion for rugby, rowing or skiing and I never actually sat in a pub and just drank before. The dreaded question of ‘What did you do over the weekend?’ drew terror but I don’t think I was alone in my state of ‘imposter’, from my anecdotal understanding from other women, LGBT community members, other racial minorities and victims of class stratification; the boxes we are placed in to be protected can sometimes limit what you can be or you find that you are only in the room because you tick an inclusion box. Is that tokenism? is that worse? How are they perceived around the business? When companies hire mostly high-achieving people, imposter syndrome can run rampant on corporate teams — and even throughout whole companies. It’s expensive for organisations when these issues go unaddressed: Many of the symptoms of imposter syndrome result in inefficient use of the company’s time and resources, which leads to real costs to organisations.

In the last 5 years, I have consciously tried to appreciate my previous work, experiences and skills of having real value and a part of that are, the feeling of bringing my most authentic self into every room. Sounds obvious to many but success has always been hetero-normative and euro-centric in its dressing and presentation. The idea of “This is what success looks and sounds like” is the sentence which precludes the diversity and inclusion movement, I don’t know anyone who speaks like Jacob Rees-Mogg, do I belong in these businesses? Will I ever run one?

For the first time, I have the aspiration, desire, and belief that I can and will — all of my fibers are preparing me to lead a business to succeed in the near future and the journey has been long and horrifyingly insightful on a personal level but extremely fruitful. I have clarity, the type of clarity people spend a lifetime seeking, the ‘um’ you feel in your stomach before you say ‘I do’ at the altar. Once that’s removed you are free, you become fearless and can channel your energy into doing a good job instead of worrying if you did a good job.

When I arrived at Hogarth a year ago, I brought my authentic self and within that, I found a natural fit for my ambitions, my goals, my passion and a place where I could produce a measurable change for the people we worked with. This culminated to my best year professionally, the growth of my parenting podcast and social change platform ‘Dope Black Dads’ and a profound experience of being at Stream Athens 2019. The key environment for people to bring their best selves to every room are:

  • Safety — Feeling safe and as if your position in the room you are entering is safe, inclusive and representative of its members.
  • Why — A clear idea of the objective of the room and the function each person brings and provides to the overall success.
  • A voice — Opportunities to bring your vision for problem-solving to the room, being heard is to be valued and changes the dynamics of the space especially when this is facilitated by senior or experienced team members.

For those who have never attended WPP Steam, it’s a mental playground for the advertising ecosystem where you can talk about anything and meet great people and be accepted. That’s what I did, a benefit of being on the other side of imposter syndrome is you can do things that you would have talked yourself out of, I hosted two discussions;

  1. Is racial diversity in advertising important?
  2. The ‘black nod’: Why don’t women have a secret code for the workplace? Co-hosted by Danielle Dodoo

2 years ago I would have never discussed racial identity at work because ultimately it’s a long overdue and misunderstood concept which often leaves people frustrated, angered or embarrassed. I would have faked a topic to fit into what I believed the narrative to be and my unique experiences and perspective would have been lost. I am glad to have met everyone at Steam and I hope I met your authentic selves. If not, I hope to meet you next year.

Marvyn Harrison is Head of Content Strategy Worldwide and Founder of parenting podcast Dope Black Dads. With 15 years of experience in marketing and advertising, Marvyn has had the pleasure of working with a diverse client list including Samsung, City Football Group, News UK and Betfair and agencies including Holler, We Are Social and Hey Human. Marvyn specialises in Strategy of content but has also led social media, digital, production and data teams and departments.

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