How to embrace your inner imposter

Ever feel way out of your depth leading your company, or that your success isn’t your own? Maybe you spend time you don’t have agonising over every decision, feel ill-equipped as a leader, even a fraud? It’s possible you’re experiencing Imposter Syndrome, a thorn in the side of many female founder CEOs. 

Don’t suffer in silence. Keep reading, as I reveal where your imposter comes from, why it’s actually a strength, and how you can channel its influence for good through one-to-one coaching.

Imposter syndrome is far more common than you think, and typically affects high achievers at some point in their professional lives.

Imposter Syndrome

A persistent internalised fear of being exposed as a fraud. Often characterised by:

1. having exceptionally high expectations of yourself

2. feeling like you don’t belong and have got where you are by luck

3. feeling like a fraud

It’s hardly surprising that start-up founder CEOs have an increased likelihood of experiencing imposter syndrome. Great leadership skills take a professional lifetime to develop.

Traditional routes into a CEO role take 15-20 years of working your way up the ladder including development programmes, learning from role models, mentors, and peers - not something a founder CEO has time for. 

Investors and stakeholders (and that voice in your head) expect you to embody what it means to be a CEO in 7 years or less, learning whilst leading a high-growth business. The fact is, founders often learn to navigate complex leadership transitions ‘on the job’.

Picture the scene

You’re pitching to an investor or a big client, they ask you a question, and your mind goes blank. You can’t find your words and you’re certain they’ve spotted a major flaw in your thinking.

You’re about to address an all-staff meeting to talk through the company roadmap and you start thinking ‘they’re going to see through me and realise I don’t know what I’m doing.’

Remember, while these doubts can be challenging at that moment, as a founder CEO, your willingness to question your capability is a strength and it keeps you on a path of self-development.

Your imposter has its place and, when properly managed, can even improve your leadership. 

Imposter Syndrome stems from humility

Humility is ‘the quality of having a modest view of one's own importance’. Humility is powerful, especially when coupled with a founder CEO’s tenacity to advance their company and its impact in lockstep with its growth.

Humble leaders are emotionally intelligent, embrace their strengths and weaknesses, and build high-performing teams around them to complement their skills. They recognise they don’t have all the answers and don’t need to be the smartest person in every room. 

Humility translates into methodical, intentional leadership.

Your imposter is your ally

Your imposter’s unmanaged influence is disruptive, but don’t forget, it comes from a place of wanting to keep you safe. It's not inherently bad. In fact, an effectively managed imposter keeps you accountable. 

Embrace it.

Face it head-on, as you would with any problem faced by your business.

How to channel your imposter for ‘good’

1. Recognise when your imposter is most likely to rear its head. And be ready.

Anxiety and self-doubt are normal responses to stressors like change, and success we don’t feel we deserve. For a founder scaling their start-up, change is constant and rapid. It can feel like you’re the sole solution finder under constant pressure to perform. A perfect storm for self-doubt. 

Different circumstances spark imposter syndrome for different people. Some are triggered by specific circumstances, like public speaking, or by certain people, like investors or their peers.

2. Challenge your imposter’s worldview.

When its voice emerges, don’t automatically accept your imposter’s view as truth. Question its credibility through challenge. Your imposter most likely speaks in blanket generalisations, which you can logically discredit.

When you freeze when questioned by investors, remember you don’t have to have all the answers. You have your board and team to support you. Investors are equally as interested in how you cope with high-pressure situations and uncertainty. No one is more knowledgeable about your business than you, embrace that.

3. Name (and own) the emotion.

Your inner imposter shows its face at key points of transition – of which there have likely been many since starting your business. There will be many more in your role of founder and CEO as your company scales.

When you say out loud what you’re experiencing, the feeling quickly dissipates. ‘I don’t have all the answers’, becomes ‘I don’t need all the answers - that’s why I hired the best team’.

The Role of Founder Coaching

Business coaches commonly help founders, CEOs and other high achievers manage transitions in their career and the experience of imposter syndrome that can come with this success. Working with a founder coach through your transition from founder to CEO accelerates performance in a changing role and reduces the risk of costly mistakes.

Find out more about Aata’s suite of founder coaching services. There’s something for everyone wherever you are in your founder CEO journey, whether you’re new to coaching and want clarity about what you actually need, you know exactly what your weaknesses are and want to address them head-on, or you’re looking for a community with which to share the highs and lows of founder life.