Doubt Can Be Integrity

My take: Imposter Syndrome is a sign you have integrity.

It means you’re not falling into the Dunning-Kruger trap of overestimating your abilities.

David Dunning and Justin Kruger, a Cornell psychologist and grad student, found that people who performed worst overestimated their skill, whereas people who performed best underestimated theirs.

We’ve all met a blowhard who thinks they know more than they actually do.

But we need to remember that the inverse of that is also true.

The best leaders I know carry some doubt. It keeps their confidence aligned with reality.

So when I see someone who is clearly very capable and they have Imposter Syndrome, I see that as a sign of integrity.

In a recent interview in Nautilus Magazine (gift link) David Dunning himself said:

‘Confidence isn’t bad. Confidence is something to be managed, and there are times you really want to be confident. In preparation, you don’t want to be overconfident. You want to be, if anything, underconfident, and overprepare. If you’re going into battle, or if you’re going to the Olympic Games, you definitely won’t just go, “Nah, I won’t practice today. I won’t train. I’m going to get the gold.” But on the day that you’re executing, you do want to be supremely confident, because it’ll have a payoff.’

Going between two confidence states on command isn't intuitive, especially for people whose overpreparation has been treated like a flaw. This is where coaching can help.

Imposter Syndrome has other roots too, RSD, old childhood messages that we’re not good enough, evolutionary fear of exile.

But I hope that this reframe helps.

Because it’s true.

Where has doubt kept your leadership sharp, and how did you switch back to confidence?

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