The Anxious Achiever The Upside of Imposter Syndrome with Basima Tewfik
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May 7, 2026 
Basima Tewfik, an MIT Sloan assistant professor who studies the social self at work, explains why imposter thoughts and neuroticism can be strengths. She explores how self-doubt can boost listening, collaboration, creativity, and interpersonal effectiveness. Practical tactics like defusion techniques and ways to work with anxiety are discussed.
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Neuroticism Can Be A Workplace Strength
- Negative labels like anxious or neurotic hide cognitive advantages that can be functional at work.
- Basima Tewfik shows neuroticism includes agility to jump tasks and manage engagement variability, which helps in interrupted or multitask environments.
Imposter Thoughts Are An Information Signal
- Imposter thoughts are primarily the belief that others overestimate your ability, not only a fear of being found out.
- Basima reframes it as an information asymmetry: you see your flaws, others see your successes, which can signal you're actually doing well.
Finance Study Linked Imposter Thoughts To Being More Charming
- In a finance company study, employees reporting more frequent imposter thoughts received higher supervisor ratings for interpersonal effectiveness.
- Basima initially worried about halo effects, prompting further studies to validate the pattern.