December 9, 2025
Dawn Paine, Founder and CEO of Aurora Creative Agency, kicked off the World Media Group’s Agency Future Leaders event with a story about her own imposter syndrome. She was in a global strategy meeting in Kyoto, surrounded by 40 senior leaders. There were 25 Japanese middle-aged men, 14 white European middle-aged men, and her, a working-class woman from Liverpool who wasn’t even a hardcore gamer.
Paine was the Marketing Director at Nintendo, the only female on the global leadership team, and in that moment, she felt like a complete fraud.
“I do remember having real moments of, ‘Oh my god. Why am I here? How did I even get here? I am literally going to get found out at any moment,” she recalled.
If you’ve had that feeling, the good news is you’re not alone and, more importantly, you can learn to weaponise it.
Reframe your thinking
What’s perhaps surprising, Paine explained, is that imposter syndrome doesn’t appear to fade as you get more successful. Not when you become a director at 34. Not when you run massive campaigns for global brands. Not even when you reach the C-suite.
“I don’t think it ever goes away, which I think is quite interesting, and it shows up at times when you don’t even expect it, which is really annoying!”
The term ‘imposter syndrome’, coined in 1978 by two American female psychologists, describes both a thinking pattern and a physiological response. “It is literally your inner critic writ large. But at the same time, there’s also data that suggests that it is physiological; you do get cortisol spikes in the form of fight or flight.”
This dual nature, both mental and physical, means you can’t just think your way out of it. But you can reframe it.
Uncomfortable excitement
Paine had a eureka moment when she was listening to the ex-Google executive Matt Brittin speak. He wasn’t talking about imposter syndrome, but Dawn recognised the parallel immediately. Rather than ‘imposter syndrome’ he described it as ‘uncomfortable excitement.’
“I love that phrase,” Paine says. “I subsequently realised that’s basically how I live my life, and why I do what I do, and why I make some of the decisions that I make,” she explains. “I love that feeling of, you know it’s a little bit scary, but you’re on the brink of doing something really interesting, and something that you know is going to bring you growth.”
The physical sensation might be identical – the racing heart, the cortisol spike, the nervous energy – but the meaning you assign it transforms it entirely. It’s not “I’m going to be exposed as a fraud.” It’s “I’m about to learn something incredible.”
Ask the “dumb” questions
At Nintendo, Dawn led a team of hardcore gamers despite not being one herself. Rather than hide this gap, she weaponised it.
“I think the bit I’ve probably always been quite good at is asking the really dumb questions, and embracing the dumb questions,” she explains. “Because I think when you ask the seemingly stupid question, particularly when you work in a technology context, quite often there’ll be other people in the room thinking it, but maybe too scared to say it.”
That’s when Paine’s imposter system became a superpower. Those basic questions often unlocked insights that transformed marketing campaign performance, and resonated with Nintendo’s target audience – non-gamers. “What you’re flagging is a human truth that perhaps your consumer base will be thinking as well,” Paine says.
Create safe spaces as you grow
As you progress in your career, your responsibility shifts from managing your own imposter syndrome to helping others manage theirs.
Paine points to her mentor, Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s former global president (“the Japanese Steve Jobs”). He created conditions for her to speak, not just because she was the token woman, but because he understood the power of diversity.
“What massively helped me was him ensuring that my voice was heard in whatever conversation was had,” Paine recalls. This gave her a sense of belonging that helped mitigate the imposter syndrome during her ten-year career with Nintendo.
Leaders can create safe spaces by creating a listening space. But while it’s important to become an exceptional listener, Paine warns not to create “an overly safe space” or it could end up being “quite passive because people are too nice.” You want an environment that’s “fun and dynamic and creative and sparky, where people feel comfortable being able to say, actually I disagree with that and here’s why.”
The greatest minds feel it too
When imposter syndrome strikes, remember you’re in good company. Paine points out that “Michelle Obama talked about never feeling that she fully fitted in at Princeton. Einstein described himself as ‘an involuntary swindler.’
“If you think that literally the greatest minds in the world have grappled with this, you’re kind of okay to have those feelings. And once you reframe them, you can turn that into some quite positive energy,” she notes.
Imposter syndrome isn’t a weakness to overcome – it’s a signal that you’re pushing into growth territory. The uncomfortable excitement means you’re exactly where you need to be: on the edge of something that will make you better.
Dawn Paine was interviewed by Hannah Diddams, SVP B2B Marketing & Studios, Business Insider.
For more insights from the Agency Future Leaders event, read our companion pieces on harnessing AI’s potential and Building Unshakeable Client-Agency Trust.