The Impostor Syndrome Files

In this episode of the Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about the power of our thoughts and why they can feel so convincing in the moment. My guest this week is Kay Tear, a business psychologist, executive coach and author who helps people better understand how their minds work.
Kay challenges the way we think about impostor syndrome, resilience and our reactions to change. We explore how our state of mind shapes our experience and why two people can face the same situation and walk away with completely different interpretations.
We also discuss what happens when we become consumed by fearful thinking and how we can loosen its grip. Kay shares why noticing our thoughts, creating space for fresh thinking and taking one small action can help us move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
About My Guest
Most leadership training is boring — and it's aimed at the wrong problem entirely. It teaches skills to people who are already too overwhelmed to take them in, and calls that development.  So Kay Tear built Business Reimagined to work with organisations that want to liberate their people from overwhelm, burnout and disengagement. They want to create an exceptional employee experience with unique yet proven approaches that redefine development and wellbeing. 
A Business Psychologist for over 20 years and an executive coach, Kay helps leaders learn about the human operating system — not behaviour, not competencies, but the inner world actually running the show underneath. Her approach is ruthlessly simple by design, because overwhelmed leaders don't need more content, they need less noise. 
Kay is the author of Overcome Imposter Syndrome and Overcome Anxious Attachment.
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Connect with Kay:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaytear/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Ms-Kay-Tear/author/B0F67BGCQ7
Website: www.businessreimagined.co.uk
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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
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Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://www.kimmeninger.com

In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about how to take greater ownership of your professional experience. My guest this week is Laura Massetti, founder & CEO of Real Work Ready, who helps early-career professionals build the skills they need to navigate the workplace with confidence.
Laura shares her journey from a successful corporate career to building her own business in Italy. We explore what happens when our professional identity becomes intertwined with our sense of self and why changing our environment can create the space to reexamine who we are and what we want.
We also discuss the unwritten rules that make the workplace feel so confusing, especially as AI changes how early-career professionals learn and grow. Laura shares how feedback, mentorship and stronger workplace skills can help us feel less at the mercy of others and recognize that we have more control than we think.
About My Guest
Laura Massetti is the Founder and CEO of Real Work Ready™ — the operating system for the first five years of work. A two-time C-level executive, Laura spent 15 years hiring, managing, and writing the performance reviews early-career professionals are trying to navigate.
She had succeeded mostly by accident — by access, by being in the right rooms at the right time. Then she left New York, moved to Veneto in northern Italy, and started over. In that stillness, she found the question that changed everything: not how do I train people better, but what are managers actually evaluating? The answer was clear. It had always been clear. Nobody had ever written it down. So she did.
That document became Real Work Ready™ — and The Performance Model Framework™, the six competencies every manager scores, whether they say so or not.
Laura holds an MBA from Baruch College and has completed executive education at Harvard Business School and Imperial College London.
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Connect with Laura:
Website: realworkready.com
Free resource — The Manager Feedback Decoder (the 5 phrases managers say and what they actually mean): realworkready.com/decoder
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lauramassetti
Podcast: Real Work Ready on YouTube — youtube.com/@Realworkreadyhq
Instagram: @realworkready
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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://www.kimmeninger.com

In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about stress, intentionality and why doing more isn’t always the path to greater success. My guest this week is Trish Walker, executive coach, speaker and former president of home and services at Best Buy.
Trish shares how an unexpected “lifequake” led her to step away from a long and successful corporate career and reconsider what she wanted next. Here we explore the importance of listening to our own signals, asking for help and trusting ourselves when life doesn’t go according to plan.
We also challenge the high-achiever belief that our value is measured by how much we do. Trish shares why slowing down can create greater clarity, focus and confidence, and how small shifts can help us move through work and life with less stress and more success.
About My Guest
As a former Fortune 100 executive, Trish Walker guides leaders to perform at their highest levels and achieve Less Stress. More Success™. By blending C-suite executive experience with mindfulness and neuroscience, she translates insight into practical, real-world strategies. She helps leaders think more clearly, make better decisions and strengthen performance to elevate leadership in the moments that matter.
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Connect with Trish:
Website: https://www.mydaily-dash.com/ 
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patriciatrishwalker/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@my-daily-dash
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/my_daily_dash/
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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://www.kimmeninger.com

In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about performance anxiety and why it can affect even the most experienced professionals. My guest this week is Dr. David Lee Fish, a former music professor who now helps people navigate speech fright, stage fright and competition anxiety.
David shares his own experience of freezing during an early performance and the shame that came from believing he was the only one struggling. We explore what’s happening in our bodies when we feel judged or threatened and why our internal “bodyguard” can make high-stakes moments even harder.
We also discuss a different way to respond when anxiety takes over. David explains how mindfulness can help us redirect our attention, why the middle of a stressful moment is the wrong time to debate our fears and how everyday activities can become opportunities to build the skills we need when the pressure is on.
About My Guest
David Lee Fish, Ph.D., works with professionals who are excellent at their jobs but fall short of their potential when they speak in front of others, whether in formal presentations, team meetings, online sessions, or job interviews. His approach to performance anxiety has an unusual origin. He developed it independently through Zen practice, then, years later, discovered that Jon Kabat-Zinn, who brought mindfulness into mainstream medicine, had learned from the same Korean master. They arrived at the same place independently of one another. His counterintuitive method has helped professionals reclaim the confidence that anxiety was suppressing.
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Connect with David:
Website: https://riseupeight.com/
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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://www.kimmeninger.com

In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about career pivots, self-discovery and why waiting for the perfect time can keep us from pursuing what matters. My guest this week is Niki Lazaridou, who has held a number of entrepreneurial and senior leadership roles.
Niki shares her diverse career background and the journey that led her to finding her purpose. In our conversation, we discuss the balance between having enough pressure to motivate us and having so much pressure that we shift into survival mode. Niki introduces the Greek word meraki, which describes putting a piece of your soul into what you do, and explains why curiosity, effort and personal investment can create a deeper sense of purpose.
Finally, we explore how our core values can help us distinguish impostor syndrome from a work environment that is genuinely out of alignment. Niki shares how identifying directness, empathy and freedom as her three core values helped her better understand her emotional reactions at work, and why saying our fears out loud can release pressure and create stronger human connection.
About My Guest
With 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur and working in senior positions in a variety of corporations and organizations, Niki has been positioned as a Pool of Experts Team in the United Nations, Senior Risk Manager in PWC, and Program Manager in Publicis Sapient.
Currently serving as Strategy Manager at Minc Sweden, she is commissioned to redesign the entire incubator model in order to foster collaboration in the Nordic Region.
She is also a Mentor in Entrepreneurship at Harvard University, as well as a professional advisor at MIT, currently driving her own collaboration initiative between Harvard and CERN in Geneva.
Niki is also a member of Forbes Women connecting to a global network of women leaders, founders, and professionals.
As an entrepreneur, Niki has worked on projects with MIT Media Lab, ABC, BBC, Puma, Amazon, Peabody Essex Museum, Blue Lagoon Iceland, Body Worlds Exhibition while also being published in Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Boston Globe, i-D, Cosmopolitan.
She has delivered workshops & Academic Teaching at IKEA, Hyper Island, Apple, and BA courses in Media Technology at BTH. Her education focuses in Software Engineering, Media and Communications, and AI.
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Connect with Niki:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikilazaridou/
Website: https://www.nikilazaridou.com/
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Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:

Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/challenge

Learn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:
https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroup

Join the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6

Join the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumans

Schedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-session

Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/

Website:
https://www.kimmeninger.com