The Real Root of Manager Imposter Syndrome (And How to Fix It)
You just landed your first manager role. You are sitting in meetings, your team is looking at you for answers, and you have a pit in your stomach. You feel like a fraud, and you are just waiting for someone to find you out.
I was in your shoes once. This feeling is so common, it has a name: Imposter Syndrome.
As resourceful as you are, you start looking for a solution. You decide to fake it till you make it. On day one, you put on the manager mask. You start performing, acting with a level of confidence you do not feel, pretending you have all the answers.
This is the single biggest mistake you can make.
The Mask is the Cause, Not the Cure
Here is the hard lesson I had to learn: your team sees right through it. They know it is impossible for you to have all the answers. When you show fake confidence, it does not build trust; it makes you look reckless and alienates your team.
And that is the real root of imposter syndrome.
You feel like an imposter because you are one. You are projecting confidence from a knowledge base that does not exist. You are telling a lie, and you are terrified of being uncovered. That lie is what fuels the anxiety.
The Real Fix: Shift Your Confidence
The answer is not to fake it harder. The answer is to drop the mask.
This is the crucial shift: your confidence as a new manager must move from having the right answers to having the right process.
Your team does not need you to be a genius. They need you to be a guide. They need you to have a structured way of solving problems.
The moment you have the courage to say, That is a great question. I do not have the answer right now, but I will find out and get back to you, two things happen. First, your stress will drop. Second, you will show a much deeper kind of confidence—not the fake confidence of an expert, but the real confidence of a problem-solver.
When you openly admit you do not know something, you create a safe space for your team to be human, too. That is the foundation of a high-performing team.
For a deeper playbook, check the Manager Augmented book or learn more about me.