Imposter Syndrome at Work
For the person who got the job, the promotion or the seat at the table, and still feels like someone is about to figure out they do not belong there.
Imposter syndrome at work is the feeling that you do not deserve your role and will be found out, even when the evidence says you are doing well. To get past it, call it by its name, write down the real evidence for why you are there, ask someone you trust what they see in you, and act before you feel fully qualified. Confidence comes after action, not before it.
I have hired and promoted a lot of people over the years, and I can tell you that the people who feel like imposters are very rarely the ones who actually are. More often it is the reverse. The people who worry most about whether they belong are usually the ones paying the closest attention, working the hardest and caring the most about getting it right. The feeling is real. It just is not telling them the truth.
A woman in our credentialing department had worked a second job most of her life. When a sales role opened up, I told her she should go for it. She said she would not be good at it. I told her she would have support, that we would help her through it, and that if it did not work out she could come back to the role she had.
She took it, and she became one of our top performers and won awards for it. She did not lack the ability. She lacked someone telling her they could see it, and the safety to try.
I have seen the same thing when I promote leaders. I ask the team, without saying who applied, who they think the next leader should be. More than once they have named someone who never put their name in. When I told one of those people how her team saw her, she was genuinely surprised. She is now in a leadership role at another company. The people around you often see what you cannot.
Feeling out of your depth is very often just what growing feels like from the inside.
Six steps to get past it
Call it by its name
When the “they are going to find me out” feeling shows up, name it: this is imposter syndrome, and it shows up for capable people all the time. Treating it as a familiar pattern rather than as evidence about you takes away a lot of its weight.
Look at the evidence
Write down the concrete reasons you are where you are. The results you delivered, the problems you solved, the people who chose you. Imposter syndrome works by ignoring evidence, so put it somewhere you can see it.
Ask how others see you
Ask a manager or colleague you trust what they see you doing well. You may be surprised by the answer, the same way the people on my teams often were. It is hard to argue with your own doubts. It is much easier to hear someone else describe what they actually see.
Separate new from bad
Feeling unsure in a new role is not the same as being bad at it. It means you are learning, which is exactly what every person in that role did before you. Give yourself the same patience you would give a new hire you believed in.
Act before you feel qualified
If you wait to feel ready, you will wait a long time, because the feeling of being qualified usually shows up after you have done the thing a few times. Take the next step at the level you are at. The confidence follows. There is more on that in Confidence Comes After Action.
Say it out loud
Imposter syndrome feeds on secrecy, the belief that you are the only one who feels this way. Tell someone you trust. Almost every time, they will tell you they have felt it too, and that alone shrinks it.
The people who see
your potential are
usually right.
If you lead people who feel this way
Some of your best people are holding back because they do not believe they belong in the next role. Tell them specifically what you see in them, and tell them they will have support if it gets hard. That combination, belief plus a safety net, is what turned my credentialing specialist into a top performer. Am I Developing People, or Just Directing Them? goes further.
Common questions
What is imposter syndrome at work?
The persistent feeling that you do not really deserve your role and will eventually be found out, even when the evidence says you are doing well. It is a pattern of thinking, not a diagnosis, and it is extremely common among capable people. I wrote more about that feeling in The Fear of Being Found Out.
Why do high achievers get imposter syndrome?
Because they keep stepping into roles slightly beyond their experience, and every new stretch brings the feeling back. Feeling out of your depth is often a sign you are growing, not a sign you do not belong.
Does imposter syndrome ever go away?
It usually gets quieter rather than disappearing. Most people learn to recognize it, act anyway, and let the evidence of what they do slowly outweigh the voice.
How do I help someone on my team with imposter syndrome?
Tell them specifically what you see them doing well, and tell them they will have support if it gets hard. Many capable people need to hear that someone else sees their potential before they will act on it.
Write down five real reasons you are where you are, ask one person what they see in you, and take your next step before you feel ready. The feeling of belonging follows the doing.
You Are Capable
of More.
Ten principles for becoming the person you know you are capable of being, built from real stories of people who doubted themselves and did it anyway. Winner of the How-To category at the 2026 Paris Book Festival.
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