This article examines 2 kinds of malaise that affect leaders – the imposter phenomenon and leaders suffering from depression.

The Imposter Phenomenon: High Confidence but Low Esteem

“Any day now, they’re going to find out I’m a fraud.”

It’s estimated that some 70% of people in the U.S. have experienced imposter syndrome at some point in their lives, according to the International Journal of Behavioral Science.

The term was coined in the 1970s by two clinical psychologists, who observed many high-achieving women believed that they were not competent despite all their accomplishments. These women believed that they were frauds and attributed their successes to luck.

You might frequently hear these feelings expressed. There is some level of self-doubt and often self-depreciation.

They are plagued with the near-constant worry of not measuring up, of never being good enough, even though they’re more than competent. They work hard, they excel, and in most cases they achieve great success.

Well-known psychiatrist Dr Ang Yong Guan posits about highly successful people, who have high self-confidence but suffer from low self-esteem.

Michael Jackson is a case in point: a world class iconic songwriter and dancer, winning multiple Grammy Awards, creator of ‘The Moon Walk’ Yet he often felt trapped, battled, and lonely.

Michael said his father told him he had a “fat nose”,^[23] and physically and emotionally abused him during rehearsals.

He recalled that Joe often sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed, ready to punish any mistakes.^[16][24]

Joe acknowledged that he regularly whipped Michael.^[25] Katherine said that although whipping later came to be considered abuse, it was a common way to discipline children when Michael was growing up.^[26][27]

Michael’s other brothers, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon, denied that their father was abusive and said that the whippings, which had a deeper impact on Michael because he was younger, kept them disciplined and out of trouble.^[28]

Listen to the inner voices of Michael.

“I sit there and say, ‘Please don’t call me up, I am too shy.’ But once I get up there, I take control of myself. Being onstage is magic. There’s nothing like it. You feel the energy of everybody who’s out there. You feel it all over your body. When the lights hit you, it’s all over, I swear it is.”

“I remember one time we were getting ready to go to South America and everything was packed up and in the car ready to go and I hid and I was crying because I really did not want to go, I wanted to play. I did not want to go.”

“The minute I started breaking the all-time record in record sales—I broke Elvis’s records, I broke Beatles records—the minute it became the all-time best-selling album in the history of the Guinness Book of World Records, overnight they called me a freak. They called me a homosexual. They called me a child molester. They said I bleached my skin. They did everything to turn the public against me.

“I’m a strong person.  I’m a warrior and I know what is inside of me.  I’m a fighter, but it’s very painful at the end of the day.”

“Sometimes I walk around the neighbourhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home.”

This dug-in fear of being exposed as a fraud is often a sign that you are struggling with what’s called imposter syndrome.

Impostor syndrome can lead to anxiety, depression, and debilitating feelings of shame and unworthiness. In late 1995, Jackson was admitted to a hospital after collapsing during rehearsals for a televised performance, caused by a stress-related panic attack.^[226]

It can also give rise to missed opportunities, lost contributions, unfulfilled goals, even failed relationships. When someone has impostor syndrome, they have a tendency to hide and hold themselves back.

Are you suffering from Imposter Phenomenon? Do this quiz. https://www.psycom.net/imposter-syndrome-quiz

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