Meet Casey Mccabe

We recently connected with Casey Mccabe and have shared our conversation below.

Casey, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

Shortly after starting my first job out of college, I started to develop a pretty serious case of imposter syndrome. I was working at KGW News in Portland, a local NBC affiliate station. Many of my coworkers and superiors had worked most of, if not all of their careers with KGW as the end goal in mind. As someone fresh out of college I obviously felt out of place and outmatched by most of the newsrooms veteran journalists. I overcame this thanks to one specific project I worked on, a documentary called “Sick Medicine.” The documentary looked at medical malpractice and practitioners attempts to elude repercussions by moving to different states. The project took the better part of a year, and I was in charge of a large bulk of the research. Every day that I was able to catch another practitioner who had broken the law and jumped state lines I felt an immense sense of accomplishment. Once the documentary was finished and I got to view the final product all semblance of being an imposter in the midst of professionals vanished. I was a critical part in a project that won awards, and had my name along with scores of others of industry greats in the credits. Even when I first got the assignment I was skeptical if I would actually be able to contribute in a meaningful way. But as my spreadsheet of data grew each day, that sense of not being good enough was repeatedly challenged. If there was any lingering doubt in my mind it evaporated when I saw our documentary featured in a John Oliver segment about medical malpractice. My dreams and accomplishments had come full circle, with shows like Oliver’s inspiring my interest in documentary work to begin with.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I recently completed a two month long road trip across the United States and documented the entire thing! I have pictures, videos, and other content on my Instagram account (@therealcaseymccabe) and I am currently working on adapting my journals and notes from the journey into a manuscript for a book! In the meantime I am also exploring more opportunities related to future documentaries! If you’re interested in viewing “Sick Medicine” it is available for free on YouTube!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

For me I think the three biggest contributors to success are determination, an openness to criticism, and a thick skin. Determination is the cornerstone in any successful endeavor and it can be difficult to develop or improve as a skill. For me, the trick is telling yourself “just one more.” Whether it is entering one more line of data in a spreadsheet, asking one more question of an interviewee, or filing one more job application. This even goes for “one more rep” on the stair master or with weights in the gym. The key is once you get the ball rolling don’t stop, it’s ok to take breaks, but remind yourself you have “one more” task to complete, even if that task must wait until tomorrow.

An openness to criticism is essential in every field, particularly journalism. A true openness to criticism goes beyond hearing people out, but having a true willingness to try something new even if you’re skeptical or it doesn’t feel right.
Hand in hand with accepting criticism is having a thick skin. When someone says “I don’t like your article” the gut reaction is to push back or clam up. Instead we ought to embrace this opinion and ask “what didn’t you like” or even go so far as to reveal your own misgivings with a body of work. Having a thick skin means listening to criticism, but being able to separate your work from yourself. I can be critical of my work and tear it to shreds without being critical of myself and tearing my self esteem to shreds.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

One author I have frequently drawn upon in my life is Hunter S. Thompson. While on my latest road trip adventure I read his book, “Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail,, ’72.” The book was an interesting read, for a number of reasons, the most salient being our impending presidential election. Even 52-years-ago Thompson offered us his own nugget of truth. “How low do you have to stoop in this country to be president?”

Thompson’s various works in additional to their well known debauchery, challenge us to see the world through a different lens and often ask questions of the reader that go well beyond the 60’s and 70’s when they were written. One quote from “’72” that stood out to me was the following, “press on, nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not, nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not, un-rewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not, the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” (Pg.481) Thompson’s writings although freakish in their own right ask the reader a simple question, what kind of world do we want to live in? One of cruelty and punishment? Or one where we protect and cherish our fellow human beings despite their differences.

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