Why Achievement Doesn’t Cure Imposter Syndrome with Dr. Kyle Elliott

Why do successful founders still feel like frauds? Dr. Kyle Elliott has a surprising answer. Dr. Kyle Elliott has worked one on one with more than a thousand tech leaders and has been featured in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and the New York Times. He started his coaching career on Fiverr, charging $5 an hour to review resumes, and he's now the person Silicon Valley's top talent quietly call when they're struggling. What makes him different is that he doesn't coach anxiety, burnout, and self doubt from the outside, he's lived it and built his career on being radically open about it. In this episode of Founder Unfiltered, Kyle and I talk about the gap between how executives look on LinkedIn and how they actually feel, why imposter syndrome can get worse the more successful you become, and why writing out your accomplishments doesn't fix it. We also get into his own history with anxiety, OCD, and panic attacks, how he defines burnout as an occupational phenomenon rather than a personal failing, and why he believes founders need to build community the easy way instead of forcing themselves into networking events. If you care about linkedin thought leadership as a founder, this conversation is a reminder that the internal story matters as much as the external one. Kyle also shares what it means to own your fabulousness and why that matters more than ever in a world where anyone can build and launch anything. Build your founder brand with Mylance: https://mylance.co Connect with Bradley Jacobs:   / bradley-r-jacobs   00:00 Welcome and introducing Dr. Kyle Elliott 00:49 Starting a coaching business on Fiverr for $5 02:06 The gap between how leaders look online and how they feel 04:07 Why imposter syndrome persists despite real accomplishments 05:18 Does success make imposter syndrome worse 08:14 Kyle's own relationship with imposter syndrome 09:39 Living with anxiety, OCD, and panic attacks in public 11:21 Why talking about mental health helps recovery 12:29 The courage it takes for founders to share openly 16:43 Defining burnout as an occupational phenomenon 18:06 What to do when you're dreading work every day 20:07 The story that results will finally make you happy 23:52 What surprises Kyle most about coaching executives 25:16 Why founder loneliness is an epidemic 27:17 Building low effort relationships instead of networking events 28:40 Owning your fabulousness and standing out 31:17 Where to find and work with Kyle