871. The Best Person On Your Team Might Be the Least Sure

No Days Off with Brian Gubernick · Aug 3, 2026 · 10m

There's someone on almost every team who's excellent at the work, respected by her peers, and completely unconvinced of any of it. The self-doubt never announces itself as self-doubt. It shows up as sarcasm.

Brian read it as ego for a long time. It wasn't ego, it was armor. In this episode: why impostor phenomenon concentrates in high performers, why praise is the weakest tool you have, and four things that actually work — trading compliments for evidence, pairing a high standard with belief, naming the behavior instead of the insecurity, and sponsoring rather than mentoring.

Then the turn…