I don’t use the word love much with my executive clients. Not because it isn’t present in the room — it is, in almost every session.
But most of the people I work with would visibly flinch at it. This piece is for them.
And for anyone who has ever sensed that something essential is missing from corporate culture, and how they lead — but couldn’t quite name what it was.
We’ve been calling it the wrong thing.
Impostor Syndrome suggests you’re faking it. You’re not.
That impostor feeling isn’t lying to you — it’s just telling you the wrong story. It’s not that you don’t belong.
It’s that you’re disconnected — from the part of you that was always real, always capable, always enough.
For years I assumed the problem was fundamentally me.
The anxiety, the pain, the depression returning despite doing everything right.
It took a long time to find the right word for it. This piece is for anyone still looking. Trauma — here’s what it actually is — and why understanding it changes everything.