Whether you are a senior executive, a startup founder, a corporate leader or serve on a board, chances are that in a new stretch role or in some situations or with a certain stakeholder, you have felt like a “fake.” Like your game face is not supported by your authentic self. This belief of “perceived intellectual phoniness” is often called the imposter syndrome (IS) or imposter phenomena.
Academic research on “Impostorism” has been extensive since the term first originated in the 1970s. Here are some IS highlights:
• It is a distorted self-view where you might believe that your success is driven by factors like luck, persuasive abilities and hard work, but not by innate abilities.
• It is widely prevalent, across genders, industries and seniority levels. One research study suggests that 70% of people will experience imposter syndrome at least once in their lives.
• Your IS experience falls within a spectrum — from low levels to severe.
• The negative impacts of IS can include being susceptible to procrastination, perfectionism and stress and burnout. You might avoid big opportunities, avoid strategic risks and slow your own career progression because you believe it will put you at risk. For example, you may not pursue a board role because of a misperception that you are not “ready.”
Your Imposter Syndrome is the quintessential blind spot.
It is important for you as a strong, seasoned leader to have a clear and objective view of your own abilities and effectiveness. This helps you leverage yourself optimally, take strategic risks and build trust and credibility with others.
Here are four habits from brain science that can help you overcome your imposter syndrome:
The objective self-view habit: List and focus on your accomplishments and leverage self-talk.
The brain is an efficiency-driven system and what is “front of mind” is what it remembers. Keep your accomplishments front of mind. You can do this by listing your accomplishments, focusing on them and leveraging self-talk to internalize them. Here is a step-by-step:
• Look back at all your key successes, experiences and contributions. Make a list.
• For each accomplishment, identify your underlying skills, talents and capabilities that likely drove those outcomes.
• Add a third-party perspective by asking your trusted advisers and sponsors what they value most about you.
• Review and reflect on the list on a regular basis. Leverage self-talk to ‘own it’ (like an athlete reviewing their highlight reel). This will help your brain internalize your success.
The “plan-replace” habit.
Your “imposter” narrative is a mental habit that activates in certain scenarios more than in others. To break this mental habit, you need to build a deliberate intervention.
Starting a new habit of “plan-replace” is particularly helpful.
Here is how it works:
• Plan: Identify likely situations when your imposter mode is most activated. For example, your imposter mode might become a driving force whenever you take on a big visible project or when you meet an important stakeholder. Identify these situations so that you know your triggers.
• Replace: Execute a simple game plan for those situations. Replace your imposter thoughts in that moment with a realistic self-view.
• Consider looking at your achievement and accomplishment portfolio.
• Challenge the absurdity of the imposter view and use self-talk.
• Think back to a time when you took on similar challenging tasks successfully. Ask “how true is it that you don’t have the capabilities to handle the situation” and “if someone else had these exact past results, would they be able to handle it” to get additional perspective.
Prime your brain for when/then habit: When I am in imposter mode, then I will execute this game plan.
The action habit.
Our brains are constantly updating our self-view based on our actions, outcomes and experiences. Act in alignment with the realistic self-view, not the imposter view. Watch for your default habits and behaviors
• Are you over-preparing to make things “perfect” beyond the point of incremental returns? Stop. Shift your behavior so that your efforts are strategic and optimal, not excessive.
• Are you saying no to a bigger role because of the narrative that “I am not ready for that?” Be curious about whether you can handle the challenge and it is a comfortable stretch and not out of reach.
• Are you taking on stress for a key stakeholder conversation? Lean into realistic self-view, use self-talk and reframe.
The empathy habit: Helping others.
Chances are, many others around you — your peers, your stakeholders, your team and your friends — are also secretly experiencing their own versions of imposter syndrome.
Activate your empathy habit and help others:
• Talk about your experience and how you are working to overcome it. Sharing openly, especially when you are in a key role, gives others permission to recognize their own imposter experience and know they are not isolated.
• Mentor others and help them notice when their behavior speaks to imposter syndrome. Help them identify small steps they can take to overcome this.
• When you give performance feedback, get specific and tell them about the intrinsic skills and talent you saw that drove that success.
Sharing, mentoring and teaching others with empathy and insight not only helps others but is also a powerful way to reduce your brain’s negativity bias and help you overcome your own imposter syndrome. If you notice you are more susceptible to imposter syndrome, take on these four habits. Experiment with them for a few months and learn to be the leader you truly are.