About Impostor Syndrome Institute

Impostor Syndrome Institute (ISI) has been the leading provider of training and tools for four decades. Its approach is grounded in the pioneering work of co-founder Dr. Valerie Young.

Whereas early remedies for the impostor phenomenon focused entirely on therapy, Young used the results of her doctoral research with professional women – over half of whom were women of color – to design the first educational intervention.

In addition to addressing both the internal and external sources of impostor feelings, the approach offered a proven process that empowered individuals to take charge of their own self- and pattern awareness and thus, transformation.

Since then, Dr. Young’s work has been delivered to over half a million people worldwide, including:

At 100+ universities in the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, and the UK, and at such diverse organizations as Google, Pfizer, Apple, JP Morgan, Boeing, IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Vanguard, Microsoft, Visibility STEM Africa, Scandinavian Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Society of Women Engineers, National Cancer Institute, NASA, and the National Basketball Association.

Young’s groundbreaking identification of competence distortions in the form of “the five types of impostor syndrome” (Perfectionist, Expert, Natural Genius, Soloist, Superhuman) in 1999 has over 8 million Google search results.

Her book on women and impostor syndrome has been translated into ten languages, including Turkish and Korean. 

Young’s status as the leading thought leader on impostor syndrome led her to bethe only non-psychologist and non-academic whom the American Psychological Association invited to contribute a chapter to the first research-based book on the topic.

The Impostor Syndrome Institute builds on this unparalleled experience to provide free resources to individuals and organizations and to train coaches and HR specialists to effectively address this multifaceted, highly nuanced topic with clients and employees.