You would think that the more you achieve, the more confident you would feel.

More experience. More evidence. More reasons to trust yourself.

But for most high performers, the opposite happens.

The promotion arrives and instead of feeling proud, you spend the first few weeks waiting for someone to realise they made a mistake. The business grows and instead of feeling secure, you feel more pressure about what happens if it stops. You walk into meetings where you have more experience than most people in the room and still feel like the least qualified person in it.

This is impostor syndrome. And if you recognise it, you are in very good company. 70% of people experience it at some point. But high performers, especially in senior leadership roles, experience it more intensely and more consistently than most.

What Is Impostor Syndrome? The Psychology Behind It

Impostor syndrome was first identified in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes. They observed that high-achieving women, despite clear evidence of their success, believed they had fooled others and were close to being exposed.

Since then, research has shown this pattern is not limited by gender, industry, or level of seniority. It shows up most in people who care deeply about doing a good job.

Here is what is happening underneath it.

When you achieve something significant, your brain does not automatically update its internal picture of who you are. Your identity, the story you hold about yourself, lags behind your external reality. You have the role, the results, and the responsibility. But internally, you are still catching up.

Psychologists call this identity lag.

And the higher you go, the wider that gap becomes.

Success does not remove impostor syndrome. Each new level places you in unfamiliar territory again. The expectations are higher, the decisions carry more weight, you are more visible, and you are no longer judged on effort alone. You are judged on decisions.

Your brain is wired to scan for risk. It starts looking for where things could go wrong. That signal is impostor syndrome. It is not evidence that you are not good enough. It is a response to being stretched.

When it goes unmanaged, it starts to affect your confidence in specific ways. You over-prepare and under-speak. You hold back in meetings where you should be contributing. You give away credit that belongs to you. You compare your internal doubt to someone else's external wins. You work harder than necessary to prove yourself. And over time, this becomes exhausting.

Three Things That Make Impostor Syndrome Worse for Leaders

Visibility

The more people are watching, the louder the voice becomes. Larger teams, senior stakeholders, higher expectations all amplify the impostor experience.

Comparison

You compare your internal experience to other people's external performance. You see confidence and assume they feel it. Most do not. They have simply learned to manage it better.

Silence

Impostor syndrome grows when it is not spoken about. At senior level, fewer people give you honest reflection. So your internal voice fills the gap.

It is worth noting that a small amount of impostor syndrome is actually useful. It signals that you are stretching into something new, operating outside your comfort zone, and growing. The discomfort often appears at the edge of growth, not the edge of failure. The goal is not to remove it entirely. The goal is to stop letting it define your decisions.

Three Evidence-Based Ways to Manage Impostor Syndrome

1. Build an Evidence File

Impostor syndrome filters for what you have not done well and ignores everything you have.

Create a simple document and start collecting evidence that reflects reality. Wins, positive feedback, decisions that landed well, conversations that made a difference. Not only the big moments. The consistent ones too.

When the voice gets louder, read it. Your brain needs real data to update its picture of you.

2. Use the ABC Technique

Developed by psychologist Albert Ellis and widely used in cognitive behavioural therapy, this breaks the impostor pattern in real time.

A: Adversity. What is triggering the feeling?

B: Belief. What am I telling myself about this?

C: Challenge. What is the evidence for and against that belief?

The key question is simple: am I responding to facts or to my interpretation of them? Most of the time, it is the interpretation.

3. Name the Voice

This is one of the most consistent findings in the research. Impostor syndrome reduces when you stop treating the thought as truth and start recognising where it comes from.

In high performers, the impostor voice often sounds like fact. "I am not ready." "I do not belong here." "I am going to be found out."

Pause and name it. Ask yourself: whose voice is this? Is this actually mine, or something I absorbed over time?

It may sound like a parent. A teacher. A former manager. An old environment where you had to prove yourself constantly. That is not your present reality. It is an old pattern showing up in a new context.

You are not arguing with the thought. You are identifying its origin. That separation reduces its power and creates space to respond with clarity instead of reaction.

This Week's Reflection

What have I achieved in the last three months that I have not fully acknowledged?

Write down three things. Be specific. Include the evidence. Your brain needs it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is impostor syndrome in leadership? Impostor syndrome in leadership is the persistent belief that you have not truly earned your position, despite clear evidence of competence and achievement. It is rooted in identity lag, the gap between your external reality and your internal self-concept, and tends to intensify rather than diminish with seniority.

Why does impostor syndrome get worse the more successful you become? Each new level of success places leaders in unfamiliar territory with higher stakes, greater visibility, and fewer peers offering honest feedback. The brain's threat-detection system responds to this stretch by amplifying self-doubt. Identity lag also widens with each promotion, meaning the internal self-concept takes longer to catch up with external reality.

What is identity lag in leadership? Identity lag is the psychological gap between a leader's external achievements and their internal self-concept. When someone achieves a significant promotion or milestone, the brain does not automatically update its picture of who that person is. The leader has the role and the results but internally still identifies with an earlier, less senior version of themselves.

What is the ABC technique for impostor syndrome? The ABC technique, developed by psychologist Albert Ellis and used in cognitive behavioural therapy, involves identifying the Adversity triggering the impostor feeling, the Belief driving the response, and then Challenging that belief with actual evidence. It interrupts automatic impostor thinking by separating facts from interpretation.

Is impostor syndrome more common in women leaders? Impostor syndrome was first identified in high-achieving women but subsequent research shows it affects leaders regardless of gender. It is most prevalent in people who care deeply about doing a good job and in environments with high visibility, frequent comparison, and limited honest peer feedback, all of which are common features of senior leadership.

Can impostor syndrome ever be useful? Yes. A manageable level of impostor syndrome signals that a leader is stretching beyond their comfort zone, which is where growth happens. The challenge is distinguishing between the productive discomfort of growth and the paralysing self-doubt that prevents contribution. The goal is not to eliminate it but to stop letting it make decisions.

Nicola Hladky is an Executive Mindset Coach and NCPS Registered Psychotherapist. She works with senior leaders and founders through The Elevation Method, combining clinical psychology with executive strategy. Based in the North West UK.

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