‘High stakes’: Tackling marketing’s ‘destabilising’ imposter crisis

Overworking, overthinking, perfectionism and a persistent fear of failure. These common symptoms of imposter syndrome may sound all too familiar to many marketers.

Not only have most (84.9%) of the 2,350 respondents to Marketing Week’s 2026 Career & Salary Survey experienced imposter syndrome, for half, these feelings have intensified over the past 12 months.

“I rarely meet someone who doesn’t have imposter syndrome,” says Huawei global chief brand officer turned executive coach Andrew Garrihy.

“I have imposter syndrome. The challenge is turning it into a force for good instead of something destructive.”

Understanding the root cause is at the heart of his coaching work with CMOs and senior marketing leaders. Garrihy has observed an inflection point where volatile company culture and a disregard for marketing meet. The idea “everyone thinks they can do marketing” fuels a lack of respect, meaning marketers are constantly being challenged.

“When you’ve got a marketer that’s got really strong imposter syndrome in an organisation where marketing is not respected and where maybe performance is off, that’s a recipe for real problems,” he notes.

It really has got to a level where we’re losing good people from the sector.

Richard Clark, Boodsta

The tweaking of job titles in a bid to redefine marketing is not helping matters, Garrihy points out. He recalls a chief growth officer he worked with whose CEO explained the rationale behind the hire.

“The CEO was like: ‘We specifically didn’t call this a CMO, because we wanted someone really commercial.’ And I’m like: ‘You know that’s a CMO? You know it’s what a CMO does?’” says Garrihy.

That the role of marketing is being questioned and consistently undervalued by some businesses is contributing to the intensifying imposter syndrome. In many cases, this attitude comes from the top.

“Only a few weeks ago, I was talking to a CMO whose CEO said: ‘I don’t know what you do all day. I don’t know what you’re here to do,’” recalls Warwick Business School’s Professor Laura Chamberlain. “It’s common. It’s really common.”

This belief exposes a fundamental lack of understanding not only of what marketing is, but what it’s there to do, she argues. If marketers are constantly expected to justify their existence no wonder they’re scared a small mistake could cost them their job.

“There’s lots of things that are quite high stakes and if people don’t have confidence in their decision making, that’s where the imposter gremlins start to run rampant,” Chamberlain notes.

Marketers doubting their abilities may try to fill any knowledge gaps with extra qualifications, which increases their knowledge base without necessarily fixing their imposter syndrome. This is where developing critical thinking skills could help marketers make more “confident decisions”, Chamberlain suggests.

‘Absolute crisis’: Are marketers at breaking point?

The Whole Marketer founder Abigail Dixon agrees most people have imposter syndrome and these feelings are rooted in fear.

“It could be fear of comparison. It could be fear of being found out. There are loads of different ways that imposter syndrome manifests,” she says.

Layer on top the acute uncertainty within workplaces, with roles changing, structures evolving, volatile market conditions and limited job security. The rapid evolution of technology, particularly around AI, also means marketers are questioning their skillsets.

“Your certainty levels will be lesser and therefore you’ll probably feel more susceptible, and when things are happening around you, your imposter will kick in,” says Dixon.

Given imposter syndrome is “absolutely acute” within marketing, it’s important to establish coping mechanisms, Garrihy argues. Marketers should start by gaining an understanding of the entire business, which he believes would help newly appointed CMOs transition from functional expert to C-suite leader.

“We don’t invest in leadership training for our marketers,” he notes. “To give them the confidence, resilience and flexibility to stand up to these issues [of imposter syndrome].”

Justifying your existence

Former Sephora CMO and founder of content and strategic agency Boodsta, Richard Clark believes confidence is also being eroded by ever-expanding remits.

He has built a series of WhatsApp communities for his marketing peers. One is for general conversation, one for marketing, one for digital and in another he shares job postings.

Based on these conversations, he sees marketers being asked to wear every hat from designer to salesperson to ecommerce specialist. Arduous job processes, spanning eight plus stages and last minute ghosting are “destroying” confidence still further, while confused job specs only exacerbate the problem.

“I remember when I had my last semi-permanent role, the job spec – I just didn’t even understand it. They asked me for an interview and I was thinking: ‘I don’t even know what you really want,’” he recalls.

It was only when he had a conversation with the CEO that he understood what the business was looking for.

Only a few weeks ago, I was talking to a CMO whose CEO said: ‘I don’t know what you do all day. I don’t know what you’re here to do.’

Laura Chamberlain, Warwick Business School

If marketers do land a role they’re immediately under pressure to deliver in their first 100 days, adding an extra level of stress.

“You’re like: ‘I don’t know the business. I don’t know what I can do in the first 100 days. Give me a month. I can tell you what I can do in the next 70 days. But in the first week, I genuinely don’t know,’” he says.

Clark can see how hard it would be to push back when being asked on what they’ll achieve in the first 100 days, especially if they’ve been out of work for a long time or it’s their first CMO role.

“You would really struggle and then you would get your imposter syndrome and be like: ‘OK, why don’t I know it?’ You’d almost be forced to come up with something that could be half baked,” he suggests.

“Then the perception is, because it isn’t right, you’re not that good. And that’s within your first month.”

Half of marketers say imposter syndrome ‘intensifying’

These kinds of perceptions can cost people their jobs. When times are hard, Clark points out marketing teams are often scaled back or cut completely, making them an easy target for the corporate blame game.

“Particularly in a B2B environment. We’ve got to give leads to a sales team and then the sales team will blame marketing if they don’t sell. They haven’t got a brochure, or they haven’t had a lead come in, the event didn’t work. The salesperson doesn’t necessarily take responsibility as a first action. It’s always marketing’s fault,” he notes.

Furthermore, Clark sees marketing having to justify things they never had to justify before. He has observed marketing leaders encountering “friction” from their peers, even people who were previously boardroom allies. Add to that what often feels like a lack of support from HR.

“I’ve been in situations where I’ve been: ‘You know what? There’s a lot going on and I’ve got no one I can go and speak to. Just even, how do I cope with this?’ I don’t even mean the mental health, I mean there’s just so much going on. A lot of HR functions aren’t equipped for that,” Clark notes.

Blurred lines

Former Deliveroo marketer and founder of coaching firm Badass Unicorn, Alice ter Haar, has also observed the same “constant pressure” on marketers to prove their worth.

She describes it as “destabilising” to cope with the level of scrutiny within businesses and the industry at large, alongside the expectation marketers should be able to make things happen that are “out of the ordinary”.

“A good friend of mine said: ‘Marketers are meant to be magicians. You’re meant to create magic while hitting unrealistic deadlines. Measuring this, testing that, delivering the top line, being careful of the bottom line and with half the money,’” says ter Haar.

“Marketers are often asked to do the impossible and have ridiculous targets. Ridiculous targets that nobody can hit is not an environment in which people feel safe.”

There’s always that pressure to deliver and everyone thinks they’re a marketer, agrees marketing director at Canadian energy firm NB Power, Tanya O’Brien.

“It’s the constant: ‘Why aren’t we? Why aren’t we? Why aren’t we?’” she says.

It could be fear of comparison. It could be fear of being found out. There are loads of different ways that imposter syndrome manifests.

Abigail Dixon, The Whole Marketer

Being repeatedly questioned by your peers puts marketers on the back foot, as does the need for them to play many different roles at once.

“One day you’re in the trenches writing the email that’s going out and another day you’re presenting to the board. The lines I find in marketing get really blurred in that way,” O’Brien explains.

“Again, because a lot of our stakeholders don’t really understand how marketing works, a lot of them just think it’s pretty pictures. You don’t get a lot of support in that way.”

Clark urges his marketing peers not to internalise this lack of appreciation as a comment on their self-worth, although he understands this is difficult given imposter syndrome often leads to overthinking.

Sadly, people who lose confidence in their abilities may find it hard to escape the compulsion to overwork, a dynamic pushing marketers to the edge of burnout and sparking a potential exodus of talent. Clark has met many peers who’ve left the profession, because they don’t feel supported.

“People may open up coffee shops, or I have one person on my group who opened a dog walking business. [They say] ‘I just have to take cuts in my life, because actually it’s going to make me happy,’” he explains. “It really has got to a level where we’re losing good people from the sector.”

Marketing Week will continue its deep dive on mental health as the feature series continues.