In this episode, I am having a conversation with Dr Valerie Young who is a world thought leader on impostor syndrome. She tells me that impostor syndrome is about feeling that you are not as good as others, attributing your successes to external factors, and a pervasive fear of being found out. It is common in healthcare professionals, linked at least partially to the stakes being high, and our culture of criticising each other. Dealing with impostor syndrome requires recognition that it is common, and normalising it's presence. It requires reframing to a humble realist response where people have a realistic appraisal of their skills and a healthy response to feedback. And it requires separation of feelings of confidence from actual competence, they two are not the same, and thinking and acting competent is likely to come before one feels confident.

Dr. Valerie Young is widely recognized as the foremost thought leader on impostor syndrome. In addition to speaking at over 100 universities including Harvard, MIT, Yale medical school, and Oxford she’s spoken at such diverse organizations as Pfizer, Google, the National Cancer Institute, and NASA. Her award-winning book “The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women: And Men, Why Capable People Suffer from Impostor Syndrome and How to Thrive in Spite of It” has been published in 7 languages. And her advice has been cited in Time, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Science, The New York Times, on the BBC, and elsewhere. In 2021 she co-founded the Impostor Syndrome Institute to bring solutions to organizations. You can learn more about Valerie’s work at ImpostorSyndrome.com

If you liked this episode you might also like episodes 19 and 69 on the inner critic.

Listen at https://matdaniel.net/podcast/; https://open.spotify.com/show/1j8uLaUU1g5bYTRVuwUX7j?si=672ec26a73164d7f; https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/doctors-at-work/id1701284564; or watch on www.youtube.com/@dr-coach/videos.
Production: Shot by Polachek

You can find out more about Mat's coaching to help doctors create successful and meaningful careers at www.MatDaniel.net.