How High-Achieving Leaders Can Reframe Imposter Phenomenon

The VP sitting across from me had just landed a career-making promotion - bigger scope and global visibility. From the outside, she looked like the obvious choice; inside, she felt like she’d somehow tricked everyone.

“I keep waiting for the email that says, ‘We made a mistake,’” she sighed over lunch as we ducked into a booth in the back corner. “They think I’m this confident, strategic leader but I feel like I’m just really good at faking it.”

I wish I could tell you this was unusual. It isn’t.

When I joined the ATD Talent Development Leader podcast last year to talk about the imposter phenomenon and the inner critic, the response from talent development and HR leaders was immediate and intense (and flattering!) Our follow-up Ask Me Anything (AMA) with ATD’s 30,000-member community only reinforced the counter intuitive reality I see in my coaching practice every day: the higher you rise, the more likely it is that self-doubt will quietly hitch a ride.

If you’ve ever stepped into a new role, stretch assignment, or high-visibility project and felt like a fraud, you’ve had a surprisingly common experience. The key is learning to distinguish between a true psychological condition and the normal discomfort of growth - and to turn that discomfort into a strategic advantage for yourself and your organization.

Why I Call It Imposter Phenomenon, Not Imposter Syndrome

The term “imposter phenomenon” was first coined in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes, who noticed a paradox: some of the most successful women they worked with felt like intellectual frauds despite extensive evidence of competence and achievement. They chose the word phenomenon deliberately to describe an experience, not a permanent medical condition.

Over time, the phrase “imposter syndrome” became more popular, which is catchy, but misleading. When most of us hear “syndrome,” we think of a chronic, perhaps untreatable diagnosis. For many leaders, though, what they call “imposter syndrome” is actually situational self-doubt: the discomfort that naturally arises when you’re doing something new, visible, or high stakes.

Researchers have worked for decades to better measure this experience. A recent meta-analysis of 108 studies with more than 42,000 participants found that women tend to score higher than men on imposter measures, with small-to-moderate but consistent differences across time and regions, and some variation by field (smaller gender gaps in business than in academia). Men experience it too, they’re simply less likely to talk about it.

For leaders, the language we use matters. Calling everything “imposter syndrome” can pathologize what is often a healthy signal of growth and make people feel broken for experiencing normal self-doubt.

Why High-Achieving Leaders Feel Like Imposters 

In my work as a C‑suite coach, I regularly see a pattern that personality research backs up: many top performers have very high ambition and relatively low adjustment (in Hogan assessments, this means they are driven, intense, and rarely satisfied with their performance). That combination is rocket fuel for achievement—and a reliable recipe for never feeling like you’ve “arrived.”

In my ATD interview, I shared a story about how I’d recently finished debriefing a leadership team that works with one of the top YouTubers in the world. By any external standard, they are wildly successful. Yet behind the LinkedIn profiles and polished media presence, the theme was familiar:

• “I’m not sure I’m really up to this.”

• “I’m always waiting to be found out.”

• “Whatever I do, it never feels like enough.”

  
  

This is part of what drives high achievers, but unchecked, it can lead to chronic anxiety, burnout, and perfectionism that actually undermines performance.

A 2020 systematic review of imposter phenomenon found that stronger impostor feelings are associated with increased anxiety, depression, and decreased job satisfaction and performance. For some, this rises to the level of a genuine mental health issue that requires professional treatment.

For many others, though, the work is about learning to partner with your inner critic instead of letting it run the show.

Practical Strategies to Tame Your Inner Critic

Whether you identify with imposter phenomenon or simply recognize persistent self-doubt, you can build new habits that keep your inner critic in proportion.

1. Identify the source of the anxiety

When you feel that familiar spike of “I can’t do this”:

• Pause, close your eyes, and ask: What exactly am I afraid might happen?

• Write down the worst-case scenario. Getting it out of your head and onto paper is grounding and clarifying.

  
  

Often, the fear is nonspecific. Naming it helps you decide whether you’re dealing with a real risk or an exaggerated story.

2. Listen to the inner voice and right-size your dragon

Notice the actual words your inner critic is using:

• “I’m going to fail.”

• “They’ll realize I don’t belong here.”

• “I can’t believe they picked me to lead this.”

In Jungian psychology, the dragon symbolizes the unconscious—both protective and intimidating. When I coach leaders, I invite them to “right-size the dragon”:

• You don’t need a huge dragon blocking your path, insisting you’re not ready.

• You want a small dragon on your shoulder saying, “This is hard and important. Let’s prepare.”

You can do this literally (speaking out loud) or metaphorically (writing it down): “Thank you for trying to protect me. I hear you. And I’m choosing to move forward anyway.”

3. Reframe permanent labels into temporary states

Our brains love extreme, permanent language under stress:

• “I’m a mess.”

• “I’m worthless.”

• “I always screw this up.”

Language like this locks us into a fixed identity. Instead, reframe into temporary, specific states:

• “I feel overwhelmed today.”

• “Right now, I’m struggling to get started.”

• “This project isn’t going well yet.”

This shift, which mirrors techniques used in cognitive behavioral therapy, has been shown to reduce anxiety and improve problem-solving by loosening the grip of all-or-nothing thinking.

4. Fact-check your story with a two-column exercise

When your dragon is firing up, facts help.

On a sheet of paper, draw two columns:

• Left: Challenging facts (the concerns you know are true)

• Right: Helpful facts (equally true information that your inner critic is ignoring)

For example:

• Left: “Another candidate has an MBA.”

• Right: “I have five more years of directly relevant experience and was asked to lead last year’s flagship project.”

• Left: “That senior leader was curt in our last meeting.”

• Right: “They selected me for this assignment and have praised my results before.”

This isn’t “positive thinking”; it’s complete thinking. You’re balancing the story your anxiety tells with the full data set.

Turning Anxiety into Excitement: Using Neuroscience to Your Advantage

One of my favorite insights from the research: anxiety and excitement are physiologically similar. Both are high-arousal states: racing heart, quickened breath, heightened alertness. The difference is the story we attach to those sensations.

Studies have shown that simply saying “I am excited” instead of “I am anxious” before a high-pressure task (like public speaking or a difficult exam) can improve performance by shifting people into a more opportunity-focused mindset.

“Your brain is designed to protect you, not to help you perform at your best. The key is learning how to recognize the stress response and reset it in real time.” - EY Coach Paul McGinniss

You can borrow this in your own leadership practice:

• Before a big presentation or new role, tell yourself: “I am excited about this challenge.”

• Smile—yes, even if you don’t feel like it. Research on the facial feedback hypothesis suggests that activating the muscles used in smiling can increase positive affect and reduce stress.

  
  

Neuroscience also confirms what talent development leaders know intuitively: our brains literally “light up” under novelty and challenge. When we’re doing something rote, the areas involved in active learning go quiet. When we stretch into the unfamiliar, new neural pathways are formed.

As the late David Peterson, who founded Google’s coaching program, put it: There’s no comfort in the learning zone and no learning in the comfort zone.”

Your discomfort is not a sign you’re failing. It’s often evidence that you’re exactly where growth happens.

How Talent Development Leaders Can Model Healthy Risk-Taking

For those of you leading learning, leadership, and culture initiatives, your relationship with your own inner critic directly shapes the climates you create.

On the podcast and and during my “Ask Me Anything” session with ATD’s members, we talked about several ways TD leaders can embed this work:

• Normalize the conversationIntegrate discussions about self-doubt and imposter feelings into leadership programs, rather than treating them as personal defects to hide.

• Teach practical tools, not just conceptsShare exercises like right-sizing the dragon, reframing language, and the two-column fact-check as part of your leadership curricula.

• Celebrate progress, not just outcomesMany high performers never pause to “bathe in their success.” Building deliberate rituals to acknowledge wins—big and small—helps counter perfectionism and burnout.

  
  

Want to go deeper?

If this resonates with you—or you’d like to equip your managers and high-potential leaders with these tools—there are several ways to continue the conversation:

• Take the free Promotability Index Assessment® (Forbes called it “a SWOT analysis for your career”) and reflect on where self-doubt may be holding you back in any of the five elements.

• Explore my resource library at barnardbahn.com, where I share articles, interviews, and tools on promotability, executive presence, and leading through change.

• Consider bringing me in for a keynote, workshop, or leadership series on imposter phenomenon, taming the inner critic, and building promotable, growth-oriented cultures.

  
  

You’re not alone in hearing that inner voice. With the right awareness and practices, you can transform it from a harsh critic into a powerful ally—for yourself, your team, and your organization.