Looking at his CV, you wouldn’t think Professor MIKE PARANAL could ever feel like an imposter.
He’s got a graduate degree in business taxation from USC Leventhal and a JD/MBA from the University of Pennsylvania and its Wharton School of Business. He has a post-graduate diploma in law from Oxford. He’s been an international attorney and winner of prestigious fellowships. He is currently the director of the Tax Transaction Advisory Group for the U.S. operations of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), even as he teaches accounting classes as an assistant professor of clinical accounting at the Leventhal School.
He also created and oversees the GEMS (Guiding Exceptional Minds) program through Leventhal, a select professional development program.
And yet, as he explained to new students at spring convocation, he recently experienced “imposter syndrome,” where he found himself in a situation where he doubted himself despite his credentials. Paranal’s inspirational speech to students urged them to acknowledge the self-doubt they might feel at times and accept it as the path towards growth.
“I wanted to convey to students that it’s OK to feel uncomfortable,” he said. “You do not get the reward of growth without the risk and that risk requires you to embrace the doubt.”
Paranal told a story about being asked to consult for SpaceX. “They were excited to be working with a professor from USC,” he told students. But then someone posed a question and looked to him for an answer — he felt like he was out of his league.