The Truth About Imposter Syndrome No One Tells Leaders

"You're an imposter. A fraud. A fake. And it's only a matter of time before you get found out — a paper tiger, a stuffed shirt, a house of cards.”

If that's you, you're in the majority. Every serious leader I've ever worked with carries some version of this.

But here's what nobody tells you: Imposter Syndrome isn't a psychological flaw. It's a misdiagnosis. And chasing the cure is what keeps it alive.

The first thing to accept about imposter syndrome is its prevalence. Every leader worth their salt has experienced it to some degree - perhaps not to the intensity that some suffer from, but anyone who has never questioned their ability to meet their responsibilities may be one of the 3-4% of leaders that qualify as psychopaths. Which would you rather be?

Generally, psychopaths do not experience typical imposter syndrome because it requires self-doubt, anxiety, and a conscience—traits they typically lack. While they are often "imposters" in life due to deception and masking their true nature, they usually possess a grandiose self-image, feel superior, and feel no guilt, making them unlikely to feel like a fraud.

So you can immediately take comfort from the fact that, as a self-diagnosed imposter, you have automatically excluded yourself from a far more exclusive and dangerous club altogether - the psychopaths!

But to really get a handle on what imposter syndrome is truly all about, let’s look at the origins of the name. An imposter is literally someone that imposes - originally a tax - but now someone who imposes a falsehood on others, pretending to be something they are not - a snakeoil salesman, but selling themselves rather than a service or product.

A syndrome is a coming together of various symptoms and this is where opinions divide - many experts prefer the term "imposter phenomenon" or imposterism, because it is not a recognized clinical disease. Nonetheless, sufferers experience feelings of persistent self-doubt, fear of being exposed as a "fraud," and attributing success to luck rather than ability. Individuals often experience intense perfectionism, overworking to avoid being "found out," and difficulty accepting praise. These feelings can lead to anxiety, and depression which are very much recognised clinical diseases.

So an imposter syndrome sufferer is imposing a false view of who they are on themselves, believing it to be true and undergoing the consequences of doubt, fear and anxiety as a result. Not much fun! But it doesn’t stop there because they also feel the need to compensate for the apparent lack through hard work, self-scrutiny and perfectionism.

So let’s make no bones that it is a heavy load to carry for anyone - let alone a leader who has elevated levels of responsibility to carry anyway.

I’m making the point that imposter syndrome is an intense and debilitating condition to carry, because the antidote can seem simple to the point of dismissive without this context.

And the truth about managing imposter syndrome is it is simple - very simple - but that doesn’t always make it easy.

So let’s get into dealing with imposter syndrome, mitigating its impact and reframing it as a perfectly natural and healthy response to your leadership role.

At the beginning of this article I said Imposter Syndrome is a misdiagnosis. Here’s what I mean:

You're a senior manager with a level of responsibility and authority which others have placed upon you. This is not your first gig - you’ve not come out of nowhere, you have a track record of success and demonstrable experience of making an impact where it matters.

Sure, you may not have done this particular job before and it may be a big step up from where you were before. But the people that put you there are not stupid - they see competence and ability in you that you may not be able to see in yourself.

The picture we hold of ourselves is notoriously unreliable, especially when it comes to our capacity to assess what we are truly capable of. This is simply because we mistake this picture of who we are with who we really are. The picture we hold of ourselves is ego - it is a construct of ideas, opinions and beliefs accrued over years and decades of life. Some of it is positive, some negative but it is inherently inaccurate because it is made up of what was - not what is. It’s no more than an artefact, a left over from the past.

Ego is a fact of human life - we all have one and we all need one - but when we believe it to define the extent of who we are, we run into trouble - exactly the kind of trouble that imposter syndrome brings with it. Which is why imposter syndrome is a misdiagnosis - it is a mis-representation of who we really are, created by ego.

So the first step in dealing with imposter syndrome is to remind yourself that you are not who you think you are - good or bad. Whatever you think you are cannot be who you really are because you are not a thought!

Now that’s easy to say, it’s not always so easy to realise, or to make real. The fact is that having practiced believing our ego for so long, our perspective may not change the first time we challenge its veracity. So we need an arsenal of tricks and strategies to roll back the ignorance that we’ve been living in for too long.

Number 1 is to deploy the insight we’ve just revealed - you cannot be who you think you are because you are not a thought. Keep this in mind - literally - as an antidote to the subconscious assumption that you are defined by who you think you are. In the vedic tradition - going back many thousands of years - the mantra neti, neti - meaning not this, not that - is used to remind us that whatever we think about ourselves - or anything else for that matter - cannot be true because a thought is never the thing itself.

The second strategy is to remind yourself that everyone experiences imposter syndrome to an extent - some more than others, admittedly, but it is an integral part of being human. The alternative is psychopathy which is hopefully not an attractive option!

The third requires a little discipline - something you will have plenty of, given the seniority you have already achieved. And that is to relentlessly reject any feeling of inadequacy and instead, focus on whatever is in front of you. To make this easier, a little simple but radical psychology will help:

It is generally thought that we think our thoughts. In reality, this is not true - just as we do not beat our hearts, grow our nails or heal our wounds. Our brain thinks our thoughts for us using an intelligence that is way beyond our conscious intellects. If you carefully observe the flow of thinking that takes place in your mind, you will not be able to identify the source. And by the same token, you will not be able to stop the thoughts. In fact, if you try, you will just create more thinking!

So trying to stop thoughts is a fool’s game and one that you are guaranteed to lose. However, although you won’t stem the flow of thinking, you have full discretion over which thoughts you pay attention to. And that is the trick - whenever you find yourself entertaining thoughts of lack, weakness and inadequacy - imposterism if you like - simply turn your attention to whatever is in front of you. Don’t dwell in what you know cannot be true.

Fourthly, meditation is an excellent practice to establish. It develops the capacity to choose which thoughts to pay attention to and enables you to detach from the negative thinking that goes hand in hand with imposter syndrome. But a word of warning - meditation works best as a daily practice, not as an ad hoc reaction to feeling overwhelmed by negative emotion. Drop me a line if you want to know more.

Imposter syndrome is no more than buying into an illusion of your own making. This is why chasing the cure keeps it alive. Because you are responsible for creating it in the first place, you are perfectly placed to defuse it and mitigate its effects, always remembering that no normal person with an ego is immune from it. After all, it's preferable to being a psychopath!

See you in the next article!