About me

I’m Suzanne Mercier and for much of my adult life, I’ve felt like an imposter. I didn’t have a label for my feelings of not being good enough until about 8 years ago when I learned about the Imposter Syndrome. The discovery made sense of all the ‘seemingly crazy’ career decisions I had made over the prior years. For me the discovery was liberating and gave me choice around what I wanted to do with my career and my life.

I recognise the Imposter Syndrome can feel daunting and confrontational. It takes courage to venture into the journey of self-discovery and self-leadership that leads us through the Imposter Syndrome and into the space of authenticity. In my case, I was so ready to figure out why I kept sabotaging my opportunities, so the pain of staying in the same space was greater than the pain of change.

Like many of you reading this website, I’ve had quite an illustrious career. My first recognition of the experience of the Imposter Syndrome was when I was a Director on the Board of George Patterson Advertising. As the first woman on the Board, I told myself I had been appointed to satisfy pressure around equal opportunity rather than on merit. Uncomfortable with the position, I managed to handle it for 2 years, then left to start my own business. The Syndrome followed me and I continued to sabotage my efforts to build a successful business.  Over the past 20 years, I’ve worked with some pretty big names. Nonetheless, I kept waiting for someone to figure out I didn’t have what it took to work with these big names. It took quite some time and I finally got that I am good enough, my work is valuable and so am I as a regular human being.

That’s the destination for each of us – to realise that who we are is so much more than we think it is. Yes, we all have ‘wobbly bits’, those weaknesses we would rather others don’t see. As a very sage friend once said to me, they’re the bits that make you interesting. I finally get it!

And if I can help you reach that space of liking and valuing yourself, I’d love to.

If you’d like a more formal rundown on my background, click here.