When imposter syndrome gets something right

I did not want to be engaging in Raygun discourse in 2026. I didn’t care in 2024, and I still don't care now.

But Netflix is pushing their Raygun documentary pretty hard, and I saw a clip.

In it, Australian breaker Rachael ‘Raygun’ Gunn describes walking through the Olympic Village before the Paris Games and being overwhelmed by the feeling that she did not belong there.

“I felt like an imposter,” Gunn says.

Well, that's because you are one.

 

 

 

 

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Introducing: imposters with imposter syndrome

We have all heard of imposter syndrome. It is the feeling that everyone around you somehow knows what they are doing while you have accidentally wandered into the room without completing a compulsory “how to be a functioning adult” course.

It's real, and it is remarkably common.

A 2020 systematic review examining 62 studies involving more than 14,000 people found estimates of its prevalence ranging from 9% to 82%, depending on how it was measured. It was also associated with poorer job satisfaction, impaired job performance and burnout.

Usually, imposter syndrome describes somebody whose perception of their own inadequacy does not match reality.

But another category gets far less attention: imposters with imposter syndrome.

These are people who feel hopelessly behind everyone around them because, well, they are.

A capable person with imposter syndrome feels behind the rest and thinks: “I need to get better.” 

An imposter with imposter syndrome decides that the uncomfortable feeling is the problem.

There's one in every workplace

You know someone exactly like this. You've worked with them. Heck, you might even be one (although, let's face it, you wouldn't know)

They get promoted into a job requiring knowledge they haven't developed yet. That's normal. Plenty of people grow into their roles.

But instead of developing competence, they'd rather maintain the appearance of it.

They assign work they don't understand, regurgitating what someone else told them after half-listening to their explanation. You naturally ask them whether it might be easier to speak directly with the person who actually knew the brief.

Nothing offends the imposter with imposter syndrome more. Going around them would suggest their role in this process was unnecessary.

That's because it is. They added nothing and make everyone's job harder.

They're the person who asks a question, doesn't understand the answer, and then confidently explains that answer incorrectly at the next meeting.

And when something goes wrong, responsibility mysteriously migrates down the organisational chart.

It's always someone else's mistake. Luckily, the imposter assures the people above them that they'll have a talk with whoever apparently messed it up.

It's a neat system. If every failure belongs to somebody else, you never have to develop.

READ MORE: Raygun tapped to MC $100-a-ticket Sydney fundraiser

READ MORE: ‘The whole world could laugh at me’: Raygun’s fear before Paris Olympics revealed

A title isn't evidence of competence

This is where the language around imposter syndrome becomes counterproductive.

Feeling uncomfortable in a senior position doesn't always mean your brain is lying to you. Sometimes that discomfort is information.

Maybe you need more experience. Maybe there are gaps in your knowledge. Maybe the people around you are currently better at the job.

None of those things makes you a failure. But if you're standing in the Olympic village with that discomfort and your answer to that is to ignore it and push through, you've robbed yourself of an opportunity for growth.

Good operators admit when they don't know something. They let people with more expertise take the lead. Then they learn.

The imposter does the opposite. They demand respect for their title, treat questions as challenges to their authority and redistribute mistakes among everybody below them. 

Then they send in the lawyers when someone makes fun of them.

Maybe listen to the feeling

Most people who think they are imposters are probably not. Their self-awareness is what makes them a good person. Yes, this means you are reading this. You are normal and cool, and I like you.

The research makes clear that impostor feelings are widespread and can have genuine consequences for people who are perfectly capable of doing their jobs.

Most people recognise where they fall short & worry about disappointing people. Then, they put in the work to try to close that gap.

The people worth worrying about are those who experience the same gap and conclude everybody else needs to change.

Don't treat every feeling of professional inadequacy as something that must be soothed away immediately.

Listen to that inner voice that tells you “I am not good enough at this yet.”

Let it guide you to making your place in the world more additive than subtractive.

And, ideally, do all of that without forcing us to endure an awful Netflix ‘leave it on in the background’ slop-umentary.