Imposter Syndrome
topic on 9 shows · 19 statements across 15 episodes
Founder's Journal 
the Knowledge Project 
BigDeal 
Lenny's Podcast 
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Top Founders 
How I Built This 
20VC
19 statements about Imposter Syndrome, every show
Gary Vaynerchuk: Imposter syndrome is just a euphemistic label for insecurity
“Do you know what imposter syndrome is? It's called insecurity. We've just given it makeup. Nobody's like, yo, I'm insecure. Nobody says that code, but so many people are like, man, I have imposter syndrome. Makeup. Got it? The definition, literally the definit…”
Galloway: Lacking Imposter Syndrome Means You Are Arrogant or Not Reaching Enough
“If you don't feel imposter syndrome, you're either arrogant or not reaching, Far enough.”
Stebbings: Imposter syndrome is good because it drives extreme work ethic
“It's what drives me to go up and go and work at, you know, two AM when everyone else is going to bed. So I actually think imposter syndrome is good.”
Pfeffer: Projecting self-doubt causes others to doubt your qualifications
“Don't think of yourself is not deserving of the job that you hold, because that attitude will leak out, and other people will say, you know, if Lenny doesn't think he deserves the job, then maybe I shouldn't think he deserves the job either.”
Grant: Imposter Syndrome Is Often a Sign of Hidden Potential
“This is one of the things I've come to believe about imposter syndrome is it's often a sign of hidden potential. If other people have higher expectations for you than you do of yourself, it means they've seen a capacity for growth in you. That's not visible to…”
Lichaw: Imposter syndrome can be functional and doesn't always need fixing
“Certain stories we tell ourselves are actually
Quite functional and do not necessarily need to be rewritten.
So imposter syndrome, for an example, if you're going around saying, I feel like I'm an imposter.
I can't believe I'm doing this.
You can try to fake i…”
Wu: Imposter syndrome is a positive force pushing learning and growth
“Imposter syndrome, which is always something that I've felt my entire life, and I still feel to this day, is it can be a good thing. It always used to terrify me, but now I'm almost like I intentionally put myself into these imposter syndrome like uncomfortabl…”
Neha Bagaria: Imposter syndrome stems from early childhood conditioning of girls
“I mean, most of the times, you know, we will tell girls to not be so bossy, or we will tell girls to be more humble you know, to not speak up, not voice your opinion, not speak against authority. And it's all of this that chips away at her. Sense of self belie…”
Google searches for 'imposter syndrome' surged alongside Instagram's launch in 2010
“In 2010, when Instagram came around, you can see it literally in Google search algorithm. Imposter syndrome starts to take off.”
Imposter syndrome has degraded into a meaningless catch-all for mental maladies
“So imposter syndrome, I think has become a catch all term for all of the mental maladies of human beings. And it's crap to me.”
Imposter syndrome fluctuates cyclically between peak confidence and severe self-doubt
“The first thing you need to know about imposter syndrome is it goes in waves. When it's a zero out of 10, I'm feeling really confident about the work I'm doing, and I just feel like I have my swagger. When it's a 10 out of 10, I'm feeling self-conscious, it's …”
Peak imposter syndrome triggers extreme overwork and destroys work-life balance
“I've noticed at points in my career when I'm a 10 out of 10 on the imposter syndrome spectrum, the way that I work changes. First, I lose any semblance of work-life balance. I find myself having to work harder and harder to make up for this feeling that I don'…”
Imposter syndrome attacks fundamental identity, degrading confidence in actual strengths
“The third effect, and I'd say the most detrimental, is that when I experience imposter syndrome, it makes me lose confidence in doing the things I'm actually really good at. And that's because imposter syndrome doesn't just attack specific skills. It attacks y…”
Repeating worst-case fears out loud prevents obsessive rumination and impaired performance
“If I repeat this enough times out loud to myself, it will allow me to sit with provoking thoughts of imposter syndrome without obsessing about them over and over in a way that impacts my ability to perform.”
Lieberman: Imposter syndrome attacks character and identity, not just skills
“Because imposter syndrome doesn't just attack specific skills. It attacks your character. It attacks your identity. It attacks everything you believe makes you.”
Lieberman: Fighting anxiety directly only prolongs it and worsens imposter feelings
“What I quickly realized is that by talking back to the anxiety, it actually made the waves of anxiety longer and the feelings of fraudulence more pronounced.”
Bonnici: Leaders overcome imposter syndrome by admitting uncertainty to their teams
“What helped with the imposter syndrome and self doubt was, is verbalizing it actually. So like saying to your team, like, Hey, this is what I think we need to do, but I'm not sure. What do you think? And I think just leveling with your team and saying like, He…”
Katrina Lake: Imposter Syndrome Is Caused by Exclusionary Tech Environments
“Historically people have talked about imposter syndrome as being Something that individuals deal with, like that you or I are wrangling with, but actually this is something that like the environment is creating. Like the technology ecosystem is, is excluding p…”
Schroeder: Successful founders often feel like frauds unless they repeat their success
“I felt like, unless I could do it again, that I was a one-time hit, that I was a fraud, that I just happened to be lucky, I was in the right place at the right time, and I have to do it again. This is a completely unwarranted, idiotic feeling, That most founde…”