Imposter syndrome test for leaders: is the feeling telling you something true?
If you feel that you are performing leadership rather than doing it, you are in good company, and most tests will tell you so and stop. This one asks a second question: is the feeling tracking anything real? A leader with a real skill gap and a leader with a strong record and a loud doubt need different advice, and a test that scores only the feeling gives them the same one.
Twelve statements about the last 30 days, in four groups: the feeling itself, your actual record, how you hand out credit and blame, and how much you cover. About four minutes. You get a score from 0 to 100 where higher means steadier footing, a level, four bars, and a Feeling versus Record gap that tells you which of three patterns your answers fit.
This is not a clinical instrument and it is not a diagnosis. It is a score on twelve statements written for people who lead. If the last month has held more than doubt, the note at the foot of this page and of every result page comes first. No email is needed to see your result.
Imposter Syndrome Test for Leaders
Is my imposter feeling telling me something true?
What you get
- Your score out of 100
- Which of the 4 results you land on
- Scores across Feeling, Record, Attribution and Cover
- Your strongest dimension and your gap, and where to start
Email me this result
Optional. Your score is already on screen. Enter your details and a copy of this result, your score, your level and your four dimension scores, is sent to you.
Done. Your result is on its way.
Related tools
The four results
Every completed run lands on one of these pages, with your own scores drawn from the link the tool gives you. Each one is readable without taking the tool.
- OvershadowedThe doubt is loud and it is running things.
- Second GuessingThe doubt is present, not in charge, and expensive.
- Finding FootingYou have doubt and a record, and the record mostly wins.
- GroundedThe feeling is quiet and the record is in view.
How this differs
The most cited scale in this field is the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale, published in 1985. It is copyrighted and is not used or paraphrased here, and none of the twelve statements below is a leader specific rewrite of it. This test separates the feeling from the record on purpose, because a leader with a real skill gap and a leader with a strong record and a loud doubt need different advice, and every existing quiz gives them the same one.
It differs from the live diagnostics on this site, none of which measures your self view, and from the burnout test, which measures state; this one measures the distance between doubt and evidence, and the two link to each other. It is written by a coach, not a clinician, and it stops where coaching stops: coaching works with frustration and the wish to move, and when the doubt has turned into fear or something heavier, the first call is a doctor or a therapist.
What happens to your responses
Your score, your result and your dimension scores are shown on screen without an email address. An anonymous copy of the score and the dimension scores, with no name, email or free text, joins the aggregate statistics for this tool, which are published only when a cut has at least 30 completions. Email is optional. Only if you ask for the result by email is it written to your contact record, and only then. The full rules are on the methodology page.
This test is not a clinical instrument and your result is not a diagnosis. It is a score on twelve statements about leading, written by a coach, not a clinician. If the feeling has spread from work into the rest of life, if sleep, appetite or health have changed, or if the last month has held more than doubt, please talk to your doctor or to someone you trust before you read any more of this page.
A coach, a peer group and a page like this one come after that, not instead of it. When I think a client needs a doctor or a therapist first, I tell them so in those words, and we do not start coaching until they have made that call. Coaching starts where there is frustration and a wish to move. Fear, grief and a body that has stopped coping belong with a clinician, and there is nothing weak about going there first.
Common questions
Is this a clinical imposter syndrome test?
No. It is not a clinical instrument, it does not diagnose anything, and imposter syndrome is not a clinical diagnosis. The test is twelve statements written for people who lead, scored to show the feeling and your record side by side. If the last month has held more than doubt, if sleep or health have gone, a doctor or a trusted person comes before any page like this one.
What is the Feeling versus Record gap?
Your Record score minus your Feeling score. A gap of 20 or more means your record is stronger than the feeling allows, the pattern where doubt is not tracking evidence. Near zero means the two agree. Minus 20 or below means the confidence is running ahead of the record, or the record is thin, which is an experience gap rather than an imposter pattern. The result page names which one you have.
Why does a higher score mean less imposter feeling?
The score measures steadiness of footing, from 0 to 100, so that it reads the same way as the other tools on this site. The three Feeling statements and four others are reverse scored, so agreeing with a doubt lowers the score and agreeing with a piece of evidence raises it. Four levels run from Overshadowed to Grounded. High is steadier, not better as a person.
Is this the same as the scale used in research on imposter feelings?
No. The most cited scale in this field is copyrighted and is not used or paraphrased here. That scale measures the feeling. This test measures the feeling and the record separately, and adds attribution and concealment, because a leader with a strong record and a loud doubt and a leader with a thin record need different advice. The twelve statements are original.
Who sees my answers?
Nobody, by name. Your result is shown without an email and there is no share button on this test. Completions are counted anonymously so the statistics page can report level distributions once thirty leaders have taken it, rounded to the nearest 5 percent. If you choose to email yourself the result, that address is not added to any selling sequence.
Related tools
- Leadership Assessment GuideReference. How to assess leadership, and which tool to use.
- 360 Feedback TemplateDownload. A complete 360 survey structure.
- 360 Feedback Question BankReference. Questions organised by competency.
- Executive Coaching Cost IndexReference. Published coaching price ranges with sources.
- 5 Minute LeaderProgramme. Execution standards for leaders.
The numbers behind this tool
Aggregate results are published at Imposter Syndrome Statistics for Leaders: Benchmark once a cut reaches 30 completions, under the Leadership Readiness Index methodology. More free tools are at the tools shelf.