Episode 5 of Work Truths: Off the Record is live, and I’m delighted to be joined once again by Emma Clark, a highly experienced employment lawyer.

In this conversation, Emma and I look at where and how the imposter phenomenon shows up in real working life – especially in promotion decisions, performance management, discrimination, and the damage that toxic workplaces can do.

Emma brings a sharp legal lens to the subject. We talk about why women, and particularly women of colour, can face extra barriers when confidence is read through biased ideas like ‘executive presence’, how performance improvement plans can become a negative turning point for people already doubting themselves, and why workplace culture can tip normal self-doubt into something much more serious.

I was especially interested in Emma’s reflectio ...