Imposter syndrome is real, but don’t let it make you feel like a fraud

I have a confession. My whole working life, I have carried a secret: I feel like I’m going to be found out. This feeling is called “imposter syndrome”, and through telling my story, I have learned that I am not alone.

Some of the best of us have experienced it: Albert Einstein, American poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, and even the mighty Beyonce.

But beyond the big names, studies suggest that 70 per cent of professionals experience imposter syndrome.

As an industry, we are very good at packaging up a problem with a label and name and then moving on, without considering the real impact on our lives – and, as I’ve found out, our jobs. Imposter syndrome affects my work and development, and that of others too.

So consider this my call to all business leaders to address it.

Throughout my career, and well before joining Google, I have always felt “lucky” for my successes and unable to recognise my own abilities. This made me feel unfulfilled and blocked my own development – it made me feel like a fraud. The long-term impact of these feelings can cause depression and self-esteem issues. But businesses can help their employees, and individuals can find ways to manage and surmount these crippling anxieties.

What I have learned is that, as business leaders, we need to open up the conversation. It’s up to us to de-stigmatise discussions of mental health in the workplace. We need to learn to understand how certain behaviours may affect how an individual perceives their own work.

Experiencing imposter syndrome may erode self-confidence, but it also manifests in many other ways – and this is where it can get dangerous.

In my case, I was overworking and challenging myself and my team, pushing everyone really hard and inflexibly to compensate for my lack of confidence and belief. This is not good leadership.

However, recognising the issue has enabled me to deal with my own anxieties and change my behaviour to improve as a leader, setting a better example for my team and my peers.

Let me be clear, there’s no magic cure for imposter syndrome. Drag queen diva RuPaul calls it your “inner saboteur”. You can’t get rid of it, but you can manage it better.

It all comes down to using effective coping strategies. One I use is creating a “Yay Me” folder – every time I feel really proud of something or get excellent feedback, I save it all to a folder on my computer. Then, when I’m feeling not-so-good, I can go back to it and remind myself that I am competent – excellent, even.

This ties into the other part of my strategy – note a reason every day detailing why you belong and why you are epic at what you do, and ban the word “lucky” from your vocabulary.

As business leaders, we need to learn to accept different ways of working, and encourage diversity within organisations.

It’s true that women are more inclined to experience imposter syndrome and tend to feel it more acutely. And if you are from an ethnic minority, it can be extremely difficult not to feel like an imposter when nobody else round the table looks like you.

We must strive to make the workplace somewhere that doesn't make anyone feel out of place by prioritising inclusivity as a business goal, and by allowing people to admit openly when they are struggling. The alternative isn’t pretty.

Beyonce created Sasha Fierce as a stage alter-ego to help overcome her fears. Let’s create our own Sasha personas – for me it's expressed through fashion – to help reassure us that we have earned and deserve our achievements. Because you know what? I’m brilliant, and so are you.