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.

It also recognized the organizational sources and costs of impostor syndrome, something Young described in a 1985 cover article in The Executive Female magazine.

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

This includes at more than 100 universities in the US, Canada, Japan, Europe, and the UK, and over 150 organizations, including Google, Pfizer, Apple, JP Morgan, Vanguard, Boeing, Johnson & Johnson, NASA, Visibility STEM Africa, National Cancer Institute, Scandinavian Society of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, Women in Science, and the National Basketball Association.

Testament to the global resonance of Young and ISI’s approach, her ground-breaking identification of competence distortions in the form of “the five types of impostor syndrome” (Perfectionist, Expert, Natural Genius, Soloist, Superhuman) in 1999 has over 3 million Google search results and her book on women and impostor syndrome has been translated into nine languages, including Turkish and Korean.

In recognition of her position as the leading thought leader, Young was the only non-psychologist and non-academic whom the American Psychological Association invited to contribute a chapter to the first research-based book on impostor phenomenon.

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.