The Limitless Leader Newsletter: Imposter Syndrome Is Lying to You

Imposter Syndrome Is Lying to You.

The most capable leaders I know still wrestle with imposter syndrome.

Not the ones who are figuring it out. The ones who have already built something real, led through hard seasons, and earned every seat they are sitting in.

That used to confuse me. Now it makes complete sense.

Here is what I know: the voice is not telling you the truth. And most high-performing leaders are handing it authority it has never earned.

Imposter syndrome does not target the people who should not be in the room.

It targets the people who care the most about doing it well.

A 2024 Korn Ferry study found that 71% of U.S. CEOs experience imposter syndrome. And 85% of those same CEOs say they are fully competent in the role. Read that again. The majority of the people running companies in this country are privately questioning whether they belong there. Not early in their careers. Now. At the top. Korn Ferry​

78% of business leaders have experienced imposter syndrome at some point in their careers, and research shows it does not ease up as you climb. It follows you. HRD America​

The leader who is not losing sleep over whether they belong is probably not asking the right questions. They are just showing up and taking up space.

You are asking hard questions. Holding a high standard. Paying attention to the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

And then you take all of that and let it talk you out of the very things you are most qualified to do.

That is the lie. Imposter syndrome takes your strengths, your standards, your drive, and reframes them as evidence that you are not enough. It is not wisdom. It is fear with a very convincing argument.

Harvard Business Review has called high performers with imposter syndrome "insecure overachievers" and flagged them as a hidden burnout risk inside high-performance cultures. The doubt does not stay quiet. When you keep obeying it, it compounds. Harvard Business Review​

The goal is not to silence the voice.

I have never met a leader who fully silenced it. I have met plenty who learned to stop letting it vote.

When Bryan asked me to take on more at BELAY, I was not ready. I had not done it at that scale. The voice had a lot of opinions. I said yes anyway.

When I stepped into the CEO role, it showed up again. Same fear, bigger title.

What changed was not the voice. What changed was my relationship to it.

The feeling of not being enough is not evidence that you are not enough. It is evidence that you take the work seriously. Those are not the same thing.

Here is what the research actually shows: Imposter syndrome is part of the broader Dunning-Kruger effect, where those with limited skills overestimate their abilities, while those who excel underestimate theirs. In other words, the doubt is most intense in the people who are most capable. The ones who are least qualified rarely question themselves at all. Fortune​

Stop waiting for certainty before you lead. Certainty is not coming. The only way through imposter syndrome is to build a body of evidence against it. One decision at a time. One room at a time. One yes before you feel ready at a time.

You cannot think your way out of it. You have to lead your way out of it.

What it is: Stop asking the voice for permission.

Why it matters: Every time you wait for the doubt to disappear before you act, you give it more authority than it deserves. The doubt does not go away first. The action comes first. The doubt quiets after.

How to lead:

This week, write down one decision you have been sitting on because you do not feel ready. Not because you lack information. Not because the timing is wrong. Because the voice said wait.

Then ask yourself one question: what would I do if I trusted my own track record as much as I trust the fear?

Make that move.

The voice will still be there. Lead anyway.

What is one decision the voice has been talking you out of?

Download my book, Rise Up & Lead Well, for the frameworks I use to lead clearly and stop letting doubt run the room.