I'm at my desk thinking about the next podcast I will be doing, and a question popped into my head - "Do other experts feel uneasy or not good enough like I do?" So I decided to use the deep research option on my ChatGPT account, and the results were fascinating. Here are the results with links and sources. Can you relate to this? The title is a link to my discussion thread with ChatGPT, so you can have a conversation with the data and findings. What new insights did you uncover? 

Impostor Syndrome in Business Owners, Teachers, and Therapists (2020–2025)

Impostor syndrome – the chronic belief that one is a fraud despite evidence of competence – remains pervasive across professions. Recent research confirms this phenomenon affects a large majority of professionals, often tied to an intense fear of failure and judgment by others. Estimates suggest roughly 62–70% of people experience impostor feelings at some point in their livesassets.kpmg.compubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Those afflicted struggle to internalize success, attributing accomplishments to luck, and live with a persistent fear of being “exposed” as not good enoughfrontiersin.org. Below, we highlight findings from the past five years on how impostor syndrome manifests in business owners, teachers, and therapists, with emphasis on themes of public visibility, fear of failure, and career change.

Business Owners & Entrepreneurs

Recent studies show impostor syndrome is extremely common among entrepreneurs and leaders, shaping their fears and behaviors:

• Prevalence: In a 2022 UK survey of 500 business owners, 78% said they have experienced impostor syndrome during their careernerdwallet.com. Over half of these respondents felt it was actively affecting their ability to lead their business or teamnerdwallet.com. (By comparison, one 2023 report noted as many as 87% of entrepreneurs admit to having felt like an impostor at some pointleaders.com.) Only 22% of leaders in the UK survey said they had never had impostor feelingsnerdwallet.com – underscoring how nearly everyone in leadership is touched by this issue.
  
  
• Triggers – visibility & judgment: High-pressure, public situations tend to intensify impostor feelings for business owners. The NerdWallet UK poll found impostor syndrome peaks during career transitions or moments of high visibility – for example, starting a new role or business was the most common trigger (reported by 57% of leaders)nerdwallet.com. Receiving praise in front of colleagues was another top trigger (55% of respondents)nerdwallet.com. In fact, impostor feelings often come to the forefront when leaders must “do exactly what their role entails – visibly lead their teams.” Nearly half of business leaders reported feeling “inadequate” when running staff meetings (49%), conducting performance reviews (47%), or giving presentations (44%)nerdwallet.com. These findings suggest that the more public and judgment-prone a task, the more self-doubt creeps in. As one HR analysis noted, half of leaders felt like impostors even in routine meetings, and 44% felt it when presenting – classic scenarios that spark fear of being judged incompetent in front of othershcamag.comhcamag.com.
  
  
• Fear of failure and its impact: The fear of failure associated with impostor syndrome can drive drastic decisions and stress among entrepreneurs. In the UK survey, 59% of business leaders said they had seriously considered quitting their jobs because of impostor feelings, and many had even left a previous job due to this self-doubtnerdwallet.com. Research by NerdWallet also found impostor syndrome had tangible effects on leaders’ well-being: it strained professional relationships (reported by 64%), harmed physical health (53%), and even affected finances (51%) as some hesitated to pursue opportunitieshcamag.comhcamag.com. Case studies illustrate this struggle. For example, an early-stage startup founder in 2024 described how his crippling impostor feelings led him to avoid investor calls and networking – he “started procrastinating heavily” and thought, “Who am I to be sharing my experiences or my story? …I thought of myself as incompetent.”storyboard18.com Such personal accounts show how fear of failure and judgment can cause entrepreneurs to withdraw from opportunities, undermining their business growth. On the flip side, veteran entrepreneurs report that impostor syndrome tends to ease with experience – 74% of founders with 6+ years of experience reported high wellness, compared to 57% of new foundersstoryboard18.comstoryboard18.com – suggesting that time and practice can build confidence despite early impostor fears.
  
  

Teachers and Educators

Impostor syndrome is prevalent in the teaching profession as well, often intertwined with fears of public failure in the classroom and harsh evaluation. Key findings include:

• High incidence among new teachers: A 2022 study in Frontiers in Psychology found an alarming 93% of pre-service (student) teachers experienced moderate impostor syndrome, with 54% reporting frequent or severe impostor thoughtsfrontiersin.org. In other words, the vast majority of teachers-in-training felt like frauds to some degree. This impostor feeling was linked with lower well-being and higher burnout risk, and it was especially pronounced during the transition into teaching – a time of heavy self-doubt as novices enter the classroomfrontiersin.orgfrontiersin.org. Women and LGBTQ+ pre-service educators in the sample reported particularly severe impostor scoresfrontiersin.org, aligning with other research that impostor syndrome can be heightened among individuals who feel added pressure to “prove” themselves. Notably, these doubts contribute to early attrition in education; impostor syndrome is now recognized as one factor (among others like stress and burnout) driving new teachers out of the profession within the first few yearsfrontiersin.orgfrontiersin.org.
  
  
• Fear of evaluation and judgment: Teachers frequently cite fear of being judged or exposed as “not good enough” as a core impostor concern. In the academic literature, impostor syndrome in educators is characterized by “fear of evaluation, believing that others have overestimated their abilities,” and an inability to accept positive feedbackfrontiersin.org. For example, an educator with impostor feelings will dread classroom observations or parent-teacher meetings, convinced any scrutiny will reveal them as inadequate. They also struggle to internalize praise – one study noted these teachers often discount their successes as flukes or mistakes rather than skillfrontiersin.org. This aligns with anecdotal reports from teachers themselves. As one teacher wrote, “Yes, most of us think... ‘Wow, that lesson bombed’ or ‘I really sucked today,’ but teacher impostor syndrome is persistent. We feel as though we are fooling everyone. We are frauds and can’t understand why anyone would want us as teachers.”boredteachers.com Such persistent self-criticism shows how ordinary setbacks (a bad lesson, an upset parent, a critical principal) get magnified into personal failure in the teacher’s mindboredteachers.comboredteachers.com. This fear of failure can become so overwhelming that, as that teacher added, it “makes us want to quit teaching altogether.”boredteachers.com Indeed, education experts observe that many capable teachers exit the field prematurely because they constantly feel they’re not “good enough” – a direct consequence of impostor phenomenon colliding with a high-stakes, high-visibility job.
  
  
• Contributing factors (feedback and support): The school environment can either exacerbate or alleviate impostor feelings in teachers. Negative, high-pressure school cultures tend to reinforce self-doubt. A teacher-blogger in 2023 noted that “micromanaging and criticizing without constructive feedback damages the entire school climate and leads to teachers feeling less than they are, causing teacher impostor syndrome.”boredteachers.com In schools where principals focus only on test scores or mistakes (with comments like “your scores are low” or comparisons between teachers), teachers report heightened fear that they are failing publicly. By contrast, positive support can mitigate these fears. Providing mentorship to new teachers is critical – “studies show that new teachers experience the most significant degree of teacher impostor syndrome in schools without mentorship,” whereas having an experienced mentor or supportive colleagues helps normalize their strugglesboredteachers.com. Recognition and encouragement also make a difference; simple words of praise or reassurance from administrators and peers can help counter the internal narrative of not measuring upboredteachers.com. This reflects a broader theme: when teachers feel safe to discuss mistakes and receive affirmation, impostor syndrome loses some of its grip. Otherwise, the combination of public visibility (being in front of students every day) and constant external evaluation can turn the classroom into a stage of constant anxiety for impostor-prone educators.
  
  

Therapists and Mental Health Professionals

It might be ironic, but even those helping others with confidence and anxiety often battle impostor syndrome themselves. Therapists, counselors, and other mental health professionals have reported significant impostor feelings in recent years, centered on fears of inadequacy, being exposed as unqualified, and the pressure of not “failing” clients:

• Prevalence in healthcare: A 2025 systematic review in BMC Psychology found a pooled impostor syndrome prevalence of about 62% among health service providers (including doctors, nurses, psychologists, etc.)pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. In other words, nearly two-thirds of healthcare professionals surveyed globally have felt like frauds to some extent. Individual studies vary widely – some report rates as high as 70–80% in certain samples of clinicianspubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov – but the consensus is that impostor feelings are very common in the therapy and healthcare field. One counseling association article flatly stated: “Many teachers and mental health professionals struggle at times with not feeling confident in themselves or their abilities, and often being unable to reflect upon their successes.”iscainfo.com For caring professionals, the stakes feel especially high: they are supposed to be experts helping others, so admitting self-doubt is taboo. This may explain why impostor syndrome in therapists often coexists with conditions like burnout and anxiety. In fact, research finds that higher impostor scores among mental health workers correlate with greater compassion fatigue and burnout – those who secretly feel “not good enough” tend to overwork and overextend (or conversely, procrastinate out of fear), until they exhaust themselvesmentalhealthacademy.com.au.
  
  
• “They’ll realize I have no idea what I’m doing” – fear of being found out: Therapists frequently report an ongoing fear of being exposed as incompetent. This manifests in thoughts like, “I’m not really a good therapist, and it’s only a matter of time before everyone realizes.” A poignant first-person example comes from a school counselor reflecting on her early days: “Today is the day they’re going to realize that I don’t know what I’m doing.”iscainfo.com She had this thought in 2020 while preparing to give a presentation on an unfamiliar topic, illustrating the classic impostor worry that everyone will find out you’re unqualified. Similarly, trauma therapists have described moments of panic before seeing clients. One clinician recalled being assigned her very first client in graduate school and “constantly questioning myself, wondering if I had what it took to help this client or if they would discover that I did not know anything.”traumatreatmentcollective.com Despite having proper training (she had an undergrad degree and was pursuing a master’s), she felt like an impostor who was one step away from being unmasked. These narratives show how fear of judgment pervades therapists’ psyche – they worry not only about clients doubting them, but also peers or supervisors (“Do my colleagues think I’m clueless?”). In response, some clinicians over-prepare or avoid challenges: for example, a young therapist might spend nights obsessively reading treatment manuals (to avoid “failing” a client), or avoid taking on certain complex cases out of self-doubt. Experts note that this can become a self-sabotaging cycle, as an “impostor” therapist might hesitate to consult with colleagues or ask for help (lest they look incompetent), which increases isolation and anxietymentalhealthacademy.com.aumentalhealthacademy.com.au. Paradoxically, therapists struggling with impostor feelings often remind themselves that they encourage clients to be self-compassionate – a standard they then have trouble applying to themselves.
  
  
• Career stage and reinvention: Just as in other fields, career transitions tend to heighten impostor syndrome for mental health professionals. New or less-experienced therapists are most vulnerable – studies have found impostor syndrome tends to decline with years of work experience as clinicians gain confidencementalhealthacademy.com.au. Early-career therapists (interns, recent graduates) report the highest impostor scores, which gradually ease as they accumulate successful cases and expertise. For instance, in the Clark et al. (2021) study of American mental health workers, impostor feelings were significantly lower in those with many years of practice, suggesting that experience helps “impostors” develop a professional identity and trust in their skillsmentalhealthacademy.com.au. That said, any major change or new challenge can resurrect those feelings. Senior therapists sometimes experience a resurgence of impostorism when adopting a new therapy modality, switching to a new specialization, or even after a break (such as returning from sabbatical). The 2025 review noted impostor syndrome was prevalent not just in young providers but also among some older practitioners nearing retirementnerdwallet.com – possibly because the profession or techniques have evolved, forcing a form of reinvention late in their career. In all, impostor syndrome can accompany “firsts” and transitions at any stage: the first client, a new job role, a new type of patient, or other moments where a therapist feels pushed beyond their comfort zone. The encouraging news is that awareness and mentorship in the field are growing. Seasoned therapists openly discuss impostor feelings in supervision groups and literature, emphasizing that almost everyone in counseling has felt this way at timesiscainfo.com. By normalizing these experiences and explicitly addressing fear of failure, the mental health community is beginning to chip away at the shame that allows impostor syndrome to thrive in silence.
  
  

In summary, across business, education, and therapy, impostor syndrome consistently manifests as self-doubt fueled by fear of failure and judgment, often peaking during moments of high visibility or personal reinvention. Business owners fear public failure – e.g. a CEO worries a bad presentation will reveal they’re “not leader material.” Teachers under scrutiny fear letting students down or being labeled a fraud by observers. Therapists fear not truly helping clients and imagine colleagues secretly questioning their competence. Despite these professions differing greatly, their experiences with impostor feelings are strikingly similar. As one academic study noted, “The root of impostorism is thinking that people don’t see you as you really are… We think people like us for something that isn’t real and that they won’t like us if they find out who we really are.”marriott.byu.edu This encapsulates the internal struggle – the impostor’s core fear of being unmasked. The past five years of research have not only quantified how widespread this phenomenon is, but also spotlighted its consequences: stalled careers, mental health strain, and lost opportunities. On a hopeful note, many of these studies also discuss solutions – from seeking social support to fostering open conversations about mistakes – to help high-achieving professionals break the cycle of impostorism. By recognizing how impostor syndrome specifically impacts entrepreneurs, educators, and therapists, organizations and individuals can take targeted steps to address the fear of failure and judgment that holds so many backiscainfo.com. In the meantime, the data makes one thing clear: feeling like an impostor is incredibly common – even among those who by all objective measures are talented, qualified, and making a difference in their fieldsassets.kpmg.comassets.kpmg.com. Each of these professions has begun openly acknowledging this fact, which is an important first step in ensuring that fear of public failure or reinvention does not keep otherwise capable people from embracing their successes.

Sources:

• Latest surveys and reports on impostor syndrome among entrepreneurs and leadersnerdwallet.comnerdwallet.comnerdwallet.comhcamag.com
  
  
• KPMG Women’s Leadership 2020 study (impostor syndrome in female executives)assets.kpmg.comassets.kpmg.com
  
  
• Frontiers in Psychology (2022) – study on pre-service teachers and impostor phenomenonfrontiersin.orgfrontiersin.org
  
  
• Teacher narratives and expert commentary (Bored Teachers, 2023)boredteachers.comboredteachers.comboredteachers.com
  
  
• Human Resources Director (Oct 2023) – data on leaders’ impostor feelings and triggershcamag.comhcamag.com
  
  
• Fast Company (May 2024) – executive coach on CEOs with impostor syndromefastcompany.comfastcompany.com
  
  
• Psychology Today and ISCA insights on counselors with impostor syndromeiscainfo.comiscainfo.com
  
  
• Mental health professional research (Clark et al., 2021; BMC Psychology 2025 meta-analysis)mentalhealthacademy.com.aupubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  
  
• First-person accounts from entrepreneurs and therapists (2024–2018)storyboard18.comtraumatreatmentcollective.com which illustrate the personal side of these statistics.