AI Cafe Conversations · 2026-07-17 · 13 min
Send us Fan Mail Sahar Andrade, MB.BCh, Neuroleadership Coach and Forbes Coaches Council member, answers a question she hears privately from nearly every senior executive she coaches. Is imposter syndrome real at the executive level? The feeling is real. The interpretation most leaders attach to it is frequently wrong. What gets called imposter syndrome is often identity expansion instead, discomfort that signals a leader is operating at the edge of their current capacity, not evidence they do not belong there. This episode breaks down why the pattern intensifies with seniority instead of fading, and what to do with it when it shows up. In this Forbes article-like edition, Sahar breaks down the difference between imposter syndrome as most leaders describe it and identity expansion as the neuroscience actually supports it. She unpacks why the discomfort intensifies with seniority rather than fading, why the nervous system cannot cleanly distinguish “dangerous” from “unfamiliar,” and the Pushback Beat every high-achieving leader is quietly thinking. Not sure where you stand? Thirty minutes. No pitch.
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