Whether you are aspiring to your first non-executive appointment or have years of board experience, there is a good chance you have met Imposter Syndrome.
It has a familiar voice: Who am I to be here? What if everyone else knows more than I do? What if I ask the question that reveals I am not as capable as they think?
I have held a variety of senior roles during my career, many of them as a freelancer for global companies. Each new opportunity often brought the same uninvited companion. Imposter Syndrome did not disappear as my experience grew, it simply found new material to work with every time.
A surprisingly common boardroom companion
Board work can create ideal conditions for this type of self-doubt to appear. The responsibilities are serious, the papers are dense and the people around the table often have impressive careers. The role also asks us to contribute without slipping into the executive and operational space. Even highly experienced people can wonder whether they know enough, speak enough or belong at all.
I have learned that this feeling can emerge at any stage. Aspiring non-executive directors (NEDs) may believe they need one more qualification before applying. First-time NEDs may compare their contributions with those of longer-serving directors. Experienced directors can encounter it when entering a new sector, chairing a committee or facing an unfamiliar issue.
What exceptional candidates taught me
A few years ago, one of my roles with Board Apprentice placed me on the selection committee for aspiring board apprentices. The quality of the applicants was astounding. Many of them had significant professional experience and a genuine drive to contribute.
Repeatedly, I found myself wondering why many of them, both men and women, were not applying directly for board roles rather than applying to the apprentice programme. When I asked, I learned that beneath their many achievements sat a shared hesitation, many did not believe they were ready.
From the outside, their capability was obvious. From the inside, they were measuring themselves against an imagined version of the perfect director, someone who had already seen every situation, understood every acronym, and always knew the right question to ask.
That person does not exist.
This experience stayed with me because it exposed one of Imposter Syndrome‚most convincing tricks, it encourages us to treat uncertainty as evidence of inadequacy. Uncertainty is part of responsible governance. Effective NEDs do not know everything. They notice what they do not know, ask thoughtful questions, and exercise their best judgment.
When doubt becomes a governance issue
A degree of humility is valuable in the boardroom. It keeps us curious and alert to the limits of our own expertise. Imposter Syndrome becomes less helpful when it changes our behaviour. We might hold back a question because we assume everyone else understands, defer too readily to the most confident voice in the room, wait until we feel completely ready before pursuing an opportunity, or mistake unfamiliarity for incapability.
Any of these responses can diminish the independent thinking and constructive challenge that a board needs. The aim is not to eliminate every instance of doubt. It is to prevent that doubt from deterring a useful contribution.
What boards and chairs can do
Most advice on Imposter Syndrome, including my own, focuses on what we can do as individuals. That matters, but it is only part of the picture. One Harvard Business Review article, "Stop Telling Women They Have Impostor Syndrome"‚1, challenged me to think about this more widely. The authors argue that self-doubt is not always simply a personal issue to be fixed. Sometimes, it is a very understandable response to environments where people are overlooked, interrupted, or held to a different standard.
Boards are not immune to this. When newer or less conventional directors hold back, it is worth asking not only whether they lack confidence, but whether the board makes it easy to contribute. Chairs and fellow directors can make a real difference by inviting quieter voices into the discussion, rather than waiting for them to fight for airtime, treating clarifying questions as a sign of diligence, not inexperience.
Confidence grows more easily in a boardroom that expects every director to contribute.
What I am learning along the way
While boards work on the conditions in the room, each of us still need to walk into the meeting. Over the years, I have learned a handful of practices that help me quiet the inner critic enough to contribute.
Name it
The first thing I try to do is name the feeling. Simply reminding myself 'I am experiencing self-doubt' creates some distance from it. I remember that a feeling is not a fact, and that self-doubt is different from being incapable. Sometimes that means gently returning to the evidence of what I have learned, the feedback I have received and the experience I have already built over the years.
Prepare for contribution, not perfection
Before a meeting, I focus on preparing to contribute to areas where I have experience rather than trying to know and understand everything in detail. As I read the papers, I identify where my judgement is needed, where I am curious and consider how my perspective might add value.
Ask the "dumb" question
I remind myself that if something is unclear to me, it may be unclear to others too. Asking a straightforward question can still feel scary, but I have seen how it can uncover an assumption or create constructive dialogue.
Draw on the board around you
In my first role as a board apprentice, I asked the board member with whom I felt the least natural connection to be my mentor. I was a little intimidated by her because she seemed so direct and assured, which was precisely why I chose her. Our candid conversations made an enormous difference in my experience. She helped me see that even people who appear very confident can recognise self-doubt, and that confidence is often something we practise rather than something we simply have. Since then, I have often drawn on mentoring relationships and learned that even the strongest board members experience doubt and learn from it.
You do not have to wait to feel fearless
Courage in the boardroom rarely looks like total confidence. More often, it means contributing despite the internal voice that suggests you should stay quiet.
NEDness exists to make the governance landscape more accessible and less lonely, a place to build clarity and capability while learning alongside people at every stage of board life.
No imposters allowed. Not because self-doubt never appears, but because everyone brings experience worth sharing and insight worth hearing. We are all more than good enough to join the conversation.
Use of AI statement
This article was written by Nanette van Vliet, its human author. AI was used to compile the footnotes. It did not write the argument, the interpretation or any of the original editorial. The article was reviewed and edited by Peggy Curley, Chief Communications Officer, and approved for publication under the NEDness Editorial Policy.
Sources and further reading
The personal experiences and reflections in this article are the author’s own. The following sources provide wider context.
1 Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey, “Stop Telling Women They Have Impostor Syndrome”, Harvard Business Review, 2021. A useful challenge to approaches that focus solely on individual confidence while overlooking bias and workplace culture. ↩
2 Steve Peters, The Chimp Paradox: The Mind Management Programme for Confidence, Success, and Happiness, 2012. A practical model for recognising and managing the emotional thoughts and reactions that can feed self-doubt.
3 Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Ament Imes, “The Impostor Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention”, Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 1978.