Where Does the Imposter Syndrome Come From?

As Executive Coaches for company leaders, we are increasingly aware that people. no matter how high their rank, struggle with and suffer from The Imposter Syndrome. They get anxious before presentations, they doubt their vision for company success, they suffer with procrastination before doing any important task.

These are very intelligent people, usually very experienced people. Yet, they tell us they are dogged by The Imposter Syndrome. Yes, they feel like imposters!

In fact, many of them have felt that way since they were in school, bringing home top of the class grades with hardly ever studying.

And many of them tell us that their parents took it for granted that they would excel. No big deal. But it was a big deal and they never got any help owning their own excellence while growing up.

So, where does the Imposter Syndrome come from? One key source is never getting help with personal ownership of their outstanding capacities, with validation that they were exceptional, with knowing that most others could not do what they could do – and so easily.

For more about how to overcome the imposter syndrome go to a free demo of Module One of our new online Learning & Development course “Being Fabulous In Business” www.beingFabulousinBusiness.com

@JackieLyles, @DeniseCassino, @JamesSniechowski, @SteveLillo      

Jim Sniechowski, PhD and his wife Judith Sherven, PhD are an executive coaching team for a wide variety of tech companies and the Los Angeles Times best-selling authors of 8 books. They have been interviewed by over 3000 television and radio shows including Oprah, The View, CNN, and Canada AM.