Perfectionists set impossibly high standards – for themselves and often for others. Even minor flaws feel like full-blown failures. Delegating becomes stressful because letting go of control means risking imperfection.

This mindset can lead to micromanagement, burnout and a deep reluctance to celebrate wins.

Not good, particularly in a team environment. As a leader, the Perfectionist may constantly revise presentations, overprepare for meetings, or avoid handing off tasks, even when their team is more than capable.

So, what can you do about it? Well, try redefining success not as “flawless,” but as complete, valuable and forward-moving. Share stories of mistakes you've learned from. Try to create a team culture where “done” is sometimes better than “done perfectly.”

The Superperson

“If I were truly competent, I wouldn’t need help.”

Superpeople tie their worth to how much they can handle on their own. Long hours, packed calendars, and being the “fixer” for every problem become badges of honor. But underneath it all? A fear that asking for help equals failure.

This archetype often shows up in leaders who feel they must prove themselves by constantly being the most dependable person in the room – at the expense of their own energy and balance.

It can be hard to accept that you can’t do everything yourself. Start with the radical idea that leaders are not meant to do it all alone. Modeling healthy boundaries, getting proper rest, and leading collaborative teamwork doesn’t make you weak – it shows others they can do the same.

The Natural Genius

“If I were really talented, this wouldn’t be so hard.”

For the Natural Genius, competence is measured by speed and ease. If something takes effort, it must mean they’re not truly cut out for it. These leaders often excel early in life, and when they finally hit a challenge they can’t instantly master, they assume they’re impostors.

They may avoid new responsibilities or projects that stretch them, just to avoid the sting of struggling. Learning in public – especially asking for help – can feel humiliating.

Very few people are born to lead. Embrace the idea that leadership is learned, not innate. Struggle doesn’t disprove your intelligence; it confirms you’re growing. Be the kind of leader who accepts that they don’t have to know everything, right away.

The Soloist

“If I were truly capable, I wouldn’t need anyone’s input.”

Soloists are fiercely independent. Collaboration? Mentorship? Input? These can feel like crutches, proof they’re not doing enough on their own. For this archetype, asking for help isn’t just uncomfortable, it feels like failure.

In leadership, Soloists may struggle with team-building, resist feedback, or avoid cross-functional collaboration. It’s not arrogance, it’s fear that needing others means they don’t belong in their role.

Soloists need to reframe asking for help as a strength, not a shortcoming. No one builds great things alone. In fact, the most successful leaders surround themselves with people who challenge and complement them.

The Expert

“I can’t lead until I know everything.”

Experts believe that the only path to legitimacy is through knowledge – and not just a little of it. Constant certifications, research, over-preparing for meetings... all in an attempt to finally feel “ready.”

But the bar keeps rising. The Expert often delays promotions, hesitates to speak up, or avoids visibility because they fear being “found out” as not knowing enough. The truth is no one ever knows it all. Pretending we should can become a trap.

If you think you might be an Expert, you should try to accept that real leadership is about curiosity, not certainty. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room. Your role is to ask the right questions, make sound decisions, and empower others to shine.

So, What Now?

Chances are, one or more of these archetypes resonated with you. (Maybe a little too much.)

The key isn’t to “fix” yourself or eliminate impostor feelings entirely. It’s to notice the story you’re telling yourself and gently challenge it.

Remember: confidence doesn’t mean never doubting yourself. It means moving forward anyway, with clarity about who you are, what you bring to the table, and how you want to lead.

As a manager or leader, recognizing these patterns in yourself helps us show up with more empathy and intention. And seeing them in others? That gives us the power to lead teams that are not just high-performing, but also deeply human.

Because great leadership isn’t about being perfect, superhuman or all-knowing. It’s about being real.

What’s Next?

Whether you’re subject to self-doubt yourself, or manage someone you think might be, you can find out more about Impostor Syndrome in our article on it.

And if you’re not sure about whether it’s a problem you’ve got, or what kind you’ve got, you can take our self-assessment, What’s Your Impostor Syndrome Archetype?

Women leaders are particularly susceptible to Impostor Syndrome, particularly in the all-too-often macho environment of the C-suite.

So, check out How Women Leaders Can Overcome Impostor Syndrome for some tried and true advice – and maybe some pointers on how not to be part of the problem.

Tip of the Week

Recovering the Ball When You've Dropped It at Work

By Kevin Dunne, Mindtools Content Editor and Writer

We’ve all made mistakes at work. Probably not as big as the one I found searching for “the biggest mistakes at work ever.”

The IT person involved was asked to cancel a few credit cards. They canceled 17 million. The next day, the company got millions of calls from unhappy customers…

So if you drop the ball at work, try our six-step solution for getting over a mistake:

1. Stop! Breathing space can stop you from getting things out of proportion or making them worse.
2. Be cool. Panic, fear and embarrassment are emotions that can cloud your judgment.
3. Own it. Don’t pretend it didn't happen or blame someone else. Instead, tell whoever needs to know and apologize.
4. Recover the ball. Offer a range of solutions if possible.
5. Expect some fallout. You could lose people's confidence and respect, but you can regain them.
6. Move on. Reflect on what went wrong, what you could have done differently, and what you can learn. Ask for feedback and move on to bigger and better things.

For more advice, see our article How to Learn From Your Mistakes.

Pain Points Podcast

Ageism is rife in the workplace. Nearly half of recruiters believe a 57-year-old candidate is “too old” to hire. Nine out of ten workers aged over 40 say they've experienced out-and-out ageism at work.

So what’s going on here, and what can we do about it? On Pain Points this week we meet Tracy Riddell from the Centre for Ageing Better. She examines the latest data and explains the dangers of discriminating against older workers – but also the huge benefits of building truly multi-generational teams.

Subscribe Today

Video of the Week

Debra Kurtz, How Can I Be a More Empathetic Manager?

Research shows that empathy is a valuable management trait. But how do you develop it? And how do you keep it under control?

Get answers and advice in this video from organizational psychologist Debra Kurtz.

Watch Now

News Roundup

This Week's Global Workplace Insights

Time to Make a Decision About Decisions

You may have noticed that the geopolitical seas we are all obliged to sail in have been somewhat turbulent of late.

And across corporate America in particular, report global Organizational Consultants Korn Ferry, this is leading to a serious case of “decision fatigue.”

Korn Ferry’s business psychologist James Bywater warns that if you don’t take steps to combat decision fatigue, it can lead to “suboptimal choices, procrastination, and other forms of avoidance.”

You know you are suffering from it if you become “impatient, avoidant, irritable, indecisive, or tempted to make a rash or bold choice.”

Here’s what you can do:

• Lower your cognitive load: make fewer non-vital decisions, like wearing more or less the same thing to work every day.
• Sleep on your decisions: research tells us we are less sharp in the afternoon, so make those tough calls in the morning.
• Delegate: get your team involved, a learning opportunity for them too.
• Easy does it: don’t make important decisions if you’ve made a ton already.
• Done and dusted: don’t drain yourself by revisiting decisions you’ve already made. Trust yourself.

Hard Truth About Soft-Soaping

A spoonful of sugar may help the medicine go down, but women maybe overdoing it in their work communications – and damaging their careers in the process.

Reporting on a study by language instruction platform Preply, online workplace news portal Worklife revealed that more than 80 percent of women surveyed in the U.S. admitted to “deliberately altering their communication style at work.”

Nicole Baudry, a director at ad agency Think Shift, said, “Women feel compelled to soften their workplace communications with emojis, exclamation points, and overly polite language.

“This stems from women’s fear of being perceived as too harsh, intense or direct – particularly in digital communications where body language cues are absent.”

One consequence of re-reading their emails to get the perfect impact is a reduction in women’s productivity.

The other, says Baudry is career damaging: “Because we’re constantly concerned about how we’re perceived, we end up in softer, soft skills roles – communications, human resources, marketing – whereas men, since they’re not worried about this, can climb through finance, sales, operations.”

Her emoji-free advice? “Just send the damn message. You don’t have to contort your communication to be more digestible.”

Take the worry out of whether your messaging is working by having a look at our article Top Tips For Confident Communication.

See you next week for more member-exclusive content and insight from the Mindtools team!