Have you felt like an Impostor?

Rashmi Ravikumar and I facilitated a Fraternitea session on the Impostor Phenomenon last week; thank you to all those of you who attended and were so generous and vulnerable in your participation.

IP is a term that was first coined by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in a paper they wrote in 1978 describing the internal experience of phoniness, felt by individuals who are highly successful but unable to internalise their success.

While it was first postulated as something that impacts high achieving women, there has been a wealth of academic literature over the years which has shown this phenomenon manifesting across genders, ages and professions.

The Impostor phenomenon has gotten more attention in the past few years, with a number of famous figures from Sheryl Sandberg to Neil Gaiman (one of my favourite authors) publicly sharing their own experiences.

As with any concept that gets mass attention on social media, it may have been interpreted in an overly simplistic manner - it is not the same as low self-esteem; it is not about needing large amounts of external validation. There are three common characteristics that you would resonate with if, at some point in your lives, you have experienced IP.