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Unpacking Michelle Obama’s Impostor Syndrome
In a December 2018 talk at an all-girls school in North London, Michelle Obama was asked how she felt about being viewed as a “symbol of hope.” That’s when the former First Lady disclosed something countless millions of women and men around the world experience, but often don’t have a name for. "I still have a little [bit of] impostor syndrome, it never goes away, that you're actually listening to me." Impostor syndrome describes a core belief that we're not as bright or competent or...
Is Impostor Syndrome a Fad?
In 2006, I got a call from Inc. magazine staff writer and now Editor at Large Leigh Buchanan, looking for help with a piece she was writing on impostor syndrome. None of the successful, and at that time, male business owners she reached out to identified with impostor syndrome. Or if they did, no one would go on record. How things have changed. Today men, and it seems everyone, can’t stop talking about impostor syndrome. Suddenly, the term is everywhere – in song lyrics, movies, television,...
Impostor Syndrome and Overnight Success
It's common for people who experience overnight success to experience impostor syndrome. That’s what happened to viral sensation Sarah Cooper, known for her hysterical videos on Tiktoc lip-syncing Donald Trump's speeches during the 2020 election. Here’s how Cooper described her experience in an interview with The Daily Beast. Each video I made got millions of views… then my life did start to change. I started getting attention from all kinds of journalists and celebrities and people I’d...
When it Comes to Impostor Syndrome, Do Examine Childhood Messages – But Don’t Get Stuck There
Even well-meaning parents can inadvertently send messages that impact how competent and confident their children later feel. If the only response to earning all As and one B is, “What’s that B doing there?” the child quickly learns that the only thing that’s acceptable is perfection. And for kids, praise is like oxygen. Other kids earned outstanding grades and yet received no praise at all. Regardless of the many reasons why good parents might not praise a child for academic achievement, it...
Organizational Costs of Impostor Syndrome: What’s Old is New Again
Have you noticed how the business world has taken note of impostor syndrome in a big way? In the recent past, colleagues and I have spoken at companies like Pfizer, Vanguard, Johnson & Johnson, Molson Coors, T. Rowe Price, PWC, Carrier, Trane, Liberty Mutual, Rakuten, BP, Sun Life, AXA, KFC, Microsoft, IBM, Boston Consulting Group, Coinbase, CIGNA, Hello Fresh, NASA, RaceTrac, and Deloitte— to name a very few. For companies like Google, JP Morgan, Microsoft, Siemens, Dell, Diageo,...
The Natural Genius’s View of Competence
When Max was 10 years old he asked his Uncle Jason to teach him how to play the piano. He quit after five minutes. Looking back Max realized that he didn’t want to “learn” how to play the guitar… he just wanted to “play” the guitar. The Perfectionist continues to be the most obvious and familiar of my five competence types, often described as the five Types of Impostor Syndrome. But that’s not what was happening here. The expectation that he should be able to quickly and easily pick up the...
What It Means to Normalize Impostor Syndrome
Adelle was convinced that she’d fooled everyone into thinking she was smarter and more capable than Adelle “knew” herself to be. “I suffer with impostor syndrome on a minute-to-minute basis,” she wrote. She’d recently graduated with honors from an elite women’s college. She was also the first in her working-class family to go beyond high school.Instead of applying for corporate jobs or law school like her classmates, Adelle decided to use her business degree as a self-employed social media...
What Is Impostor Syndrome?
Have you ever been unsure whether what’s holding you — or others — back is impostor syndrome, low self-esteem, lack of confidence, or something else entirely? Since there is so much confusion about impostor syndrome, let's start by answering the common question of, "what is impostor syndrome?" and then we'll address what it is not. For starters… Impostor syndrome isn’t a “fancy term” for low self-esteem.Think of self-esteem as the global sense we have about ourselves. But impostor syndrome...
New Narratives About Impostor Syndrome In Popular Culture
Impostor syndrome is seemingly everywhere, with an explosion of attention via books, blogs, online and print articles, podcasts, television and radio interviews, and social media. And with this popularity comes consequential shifts in the public conversation. Currently there are two divergent narratives about impostor syndrome. One frames it as a positive. The other challenges the very concept itself while simultaneously blaming it on systemic bias in society as a whole or within...
What If I Really AM an Impostor?
Dear Dr. Young, For me, it’s always been about achieving success when I have no business doing so. That’s not to say that I exploit others, far from it! Instead, it’s that I shouldn’t be in the position I am in because I don’t know these things, I don’t have the degrees, and I don’t have the experience. When asked by the team or higher-ups what I think our next move is, I tell them what I think we should do, and the suggestion is met with high praise and acclaim!But I have no idea how to...
Why I Hate Accomplishment Lists
Anyone who has ever started a small business knows how painfully slow success can be. It’s easy to get discouraged. That’s why, in the mid-90s, I started to document small wins. Year 1 Interviewed by my local newspaper Applied to teach at adult learning center Ran one public workshop Year 2 Interviewed by The Boston Globe Profiled in UMass alum magazine Sent press releases to 12 newspapers Taught two adult learning center classes Took HTML class Bought website domain The process reminded me...
