24. Why do most founders and entrepreneurs feel like frauds and suffer from impostor syndrome?

The topics for these blogs come from the things I discuss most often with founders. Once they have started to trust me, they almost always talk about how they feel like frauds who will soon be caught and exposed. Even the most talented and successful feel this way. That is when I tell my favorite anecdote from author Neil Gaiman.

Some years ago, I was lucky enough invited to a gathering of great and good people: artists and scientists, writers and discoverers of things. And I felt that at any moment they would realize that I didn’t qualify to be there, among these people who had really done things.

On my second or third night there, I was standing at the back of the hall, while a musical entertainment happened, and I started talking to a very nice, polite, elderly gentleman about several things, including our shared first name*. And then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, “I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am I doing here? They’ve made amazing things. I just went where I was sent.”

And I said, “Yes. But you were the first man on the moon. I think that counts for something.”

Two Neils and a Neal

And I felt a bit better. Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did. Maybe there weren’t any grown-ups, only people who had worked hard and also got lucky and were slightly out of their depth, all of us doing the best job we could, which is all we can really hope for.

Impostor Syndrome

People with impostor syndrome engage in a psychological pattern of doubting their competence and accomplishments. In short, they feel like frauds. They attribute any successes or recognition to either luck or deception. A UK study shows just how common this is, with 85% of people admitting to feeling inadequate or incompetent at work. Most of those people suffer in silence because they think they are alone in this. Only 25% are aware of the existence of impostor syndrome. Entrepreneurs with these feelings are often paralyzed with self-doubt, harming their businesses and chances for success.

I experience impostor syndrome all the time, despite any objective evidence to the contrary. For example: I studied astrophysics in graduate school. I founded a company and brought it to a successful exit. I have been invited to speak at conferences around the world. I have dozens of published articles. I am regularly sought out as an authority on multiple subjects. 

Yet, I had a hard time writing that paragraph or believing those statements. In particular, I feel impostor syndrome every time I write or record for Feel the Boot.

Steve Jobs from WikiMedia

I suspect that impostor syndrome is even more common among entrepreneurs than in the general population. We are high achieving people with high expectations. Our role models tend to be the most successful founders and CEOs in the world, people like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos. If they are our reference for what we should be as founders, it is no wonder we feel that we fall short. We also tend to surround ourselves with amazing people, far above the average, which skews our perspective on our qualities.

Anti-Impostor Syndrome

There is a mirror image to impostor syndrome in a set of people with no doubt about their worth or ability. Interestingly, where people with impostor syndrome underestimate their competence, this other group generally overestimates it.

The Dunning-Kruger effect describes this odd relationship where self-assessed competence is often inversely proportional to actual competence. High performing entrepreneurs tend to assume that everyone around them is at or above their level.

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

I think that part of this has to do with knowing what we don’t know. The greater your knowledge of a subject, the more you understand the vast extent of your ignorance. With each increase in knowledge or skill, we simultaneously discover an even larger set of new things about which we are ignorant. In my experience, true experts are humble in the face of the ocean of unknowns they can see.

Conversely, people who only know a little often think that is everything there is to know.

A Vaccine Against Impostor Syndrome.

Just recognizing the existence, and near ubiquity, of impostor syndrome among founders can go a long way to reducing its impact. Thinking of Neil Armstrong’s self-doubt gets me through many crises of confidence.
Knowing that we tend to undervalue our true areas of expertise, try to take a hard and realistic look at your abilities. Recognize where you are strong, and hire or otherwise compensate for the areas where you are objectively weaker.

One path to recognizing our strengths is to start taking compliments seriously. If you regularly hear positive and specific statements about yourself or your work, believe them!

Many of us suffer needlessly with this problem because we think we are alone. Entrepreneurs are constantly selling and pitching, and one of their key products are themselves. We often try to create an image of the perfect confident leader and visionary. It would be healthier for all of us if we could, even just in private with each other, admit and share these feelings. It goes a long way to reducing the burden. The community of entrepreneurs is powerful. We need to leverage our networks for mutual support far more than we do.