When High Performance Hides Self Doubt

A PROBOS Perspective on Imposter Syndrome

What if some of the behaviours we reward as high performance are actually being driven by fear of being found out?

I see it surprisingly often, highly successful capable people ,who have earned the promotion, built the experience, delivered the results and gained the respect of those around them. Yet somewhere underneath all of that sits a persistent thought: “What if I'm not actually as good as everyone thinks I am?” Imposter syndrome is often talked about as though it belongs to people at the beginning of their careers. In my experience, it doesn't. I see it in senior leaders, executives, high performers, people stepping into bigger roles, people sitting around boardroom tables who, outwardly, appear completely confident and it doesn't always look like insecurity.

Sometimes it looks remarkably like high performance. The person who prepares for hours longer than everyone else, the leader who needs to know every detail before walking into the meeting, the executive who struggles to delegate because they need to control the outcome, the colleague who works harder and longer because they believe they constantly have something to prove, the person who won't speak until they are absolutely certain they are right and the perfectionist who finds it almost impossible to say: “That's good enough.”

From the outside, we may admire these behaviours- committed, thorough, driven, conscientious, with high standards but sometimes the motivation underneath them is very different. Fear.

Fear of getting something wrong, of being exposed, fear that success was luck, that everyone else somehow knows more and fear that eventually someone will discover: “I shouldn't really be here.”

That is why I think understanding human behaviour matters so much in leadership. Behaviour only tells us what someone is doing. Great leadership becomes curious about why. Two people can demonstrate exactly the same behaviour for completely different reasons. One person may prepare extensively because they enjoy being prepared. Another may prepare excessively because the thought of being caught without an answer terrifies them.

Same behaviour but a very different human experience and potentially very different consequences, because living with that level of internal pressure is exhausting.

Every success provides temporary relief but instead of becoming evidence of capability, it gets explained away.

I was lucky.

I had a good team.

They didn't ask the difficult question.

Anyone could have done it.

Then the next challenge arrives.

And the proving starts again.

It creates an uncomfortable paradox.

The more successful someone becomes, the more they may feel they have to lose.

A bigger role means greater visibility. Greater visibility means greater scrutiny. Greater scrutiny means a greater perceived risk of being exposed so the very success that should build confidence can sometimes amplify self doubt. This is also why telling someone: “Don't be ridiculous, you're brilliant.” rarely solves it. Reassurance feels good but it doesn't necessarily change the belief underneath. Instead, I think we need to help people reconnect with evidence.

• What have you actually achieved?

• What did you contribute to that outcome?

• What strengths did you use?

• What feedback have you consistently received?

• What challenges have you already navigated?

• What would you say to someone else with exactly your experience who was questioning whether they belonged in the room?

That last question can be particularly revealing because we often judge ourselves using a standard we would never apply to anybody else and leaders have an important role here too.

Not by becoming someone's permanent source of reassurance but by creating environments where people don't believe they need to know everything to belong. Where saying “I don't know” isn't interpreted as incompetence. Where questions are valued and where mistakes can become learning. Where leaders themselves demonstrate humility. Where asking for help doesn't diminish credibility. Where people don't have to perform certainty in order to be taken seriously.

Perhaps we also need to look more carefully at what we reward. If someone is consistently working excessive hours, is that commitment or are they frightened of dropping the ball? If someone won't delegate, are they exceptionally conscientious or do they believe their value comes from being indispensable? If someone rarely contributes in senior meetings, do they lack ambition or are they waiting until they can guarantee they won't be wrong? If someone dismisses every success, is that humility or do they genuinely struggle to believe they deserve it?

The answer isn't to diagnose people from their behaviour- it is to become curious about it.

What's driving this?

That's a question I wish more leaders asked because high performance and self doubt can coexist, as can confidence and vulnerability. So can seniority and uncertainty. Sometimes the person who appears to have everything under control is using an enormous amount of emotional energy making sure nobody discovers that they don't feel that way inside. Perhaps the goal shouldn't be to eliminate self doubt altogether, as a little doubt keeps us humble, but to frame it as 'stay curious and pen to learning'. The danger comes when doubt starts determining behaviour. When it stops us speaking, applying, delegating, taking a risk, accepting recognition or simply enjoying the success we've worked incredibly hard to achieve.

Performance follows people.

And if we want sustainable high performance, we have to understand the person underneath the performance- not just what they deliver, but what it is costing them to deliver it.

Who in your organisation appears highly capable on the outside, but may be working far harder than necessary to convince themselves, and everyone else, that they deserve to be there?

At PROBOS we believe leadership is not becoming simpler. But it can become clearer.

We help leaders navigate complexity with clarity and confidence.