Impostor on the Throne: When the Throne Goes to Someone Who Shouldn’t Be

I remember the first time I heard the term pretender on the throne—it felt like something out of a fantasy novel or medieval history. Imagine an intruder sitting on a throne, wearing a crown that doesn’t belong to him, while the people cheer without realizing they’ve been tricked.

The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that “pretenders” don’t always come in the form of fake kings usurping the throne. Pretenders can come in many forms in the real world—incompetent leaders, bosses who only win in name, or even… myself.

To be honest, I’ve felt like an impostor on the throne in my own life. When I first got a promotion at work, I felt like I was walking into the CEO’s office. Sitting in my comfy chair with my expensive laptop, I thought to myself, “This has to be wrong. When will HR realize they made a mistake in giving me this position?”

After all, I’ve worked hard, learned from my mistakes, and proven myself. But there’s still a little voice in my head that says, you’re just lucky, you don’t deserve it.

Ironically, the people around me believe that I deserve it because they see my success as a result of hard work. While I see it as a fluke and I’m not the only one who feels this way. Indeed, impostor syndrome is a modern-day epidemic that affects many talented people today.

However, there’s a big difference between feeling like an impostor and being a master impostor. Yes, there are many real-life examples in politics, business, and even on social media today. In short, how many people have managed to get into positions of power without adequate competence?

Dictators who sell false promises, CEOs who inherited wealth without leadership skills, or influencers who are full of “fake it til you make it” sayings. They don’t just feel like impostor, they actually are impostor.

And the funny thing is, most of them don’t feel like impostor at all. They appear confident, they speak as if they own the world, and sometimes, they even make us, the more competent ones, doubt ourselves.

This is an interesting question. Should a leader always feel worthy? Or is self-doubt a sign that someone cares and is aware of their responsibilities?

There are times in our lives when we feel like we are not the right person for a certain role. But perhaps because we feel this way, we become more cautious, more willing to learn, and more worthy of the position.

So what about the real impostors? They may be able to sit on the throne, but history often does not favor them. As the saying goes, “You can fool some of the people for a while, but you can’t fool all of the people forever.”

Eventually, the impostors who sit on the throne will be exposed, either through their own failures or because people begin to open their eyes. What about us? We can only hope that if we do sit on the throne, we are not an interloper, but someone who deserves to be there.