Close
You’ve read the audit papers, scanned the risk reports, debated the issues with your team. The audit committee meeting is in twenty minutes. Or maybe it’s a meeting with the CFO, or the head of strategy, or a cross-functional risk task force. You’re expected to walk into the room with clarity, insight, and recommendations, maybe even foresight. The unsaid (or sometimes said) expectation is this:
“You’re the expert. You should know.”
But here’s the silent question trailing your every step:
What if I don’t? What if I get found out?
In the world of audit, risk, and assurance, professionals are often positioned as advisors, protectors, sense-makers, and occasionally convenient scapegoats. The bar is high. The terrain is shifting. And the expectation is this strange hybrid of omniscient analyst and strategic whisperer.
Yet the reality?
The world has changed dramatically. AI is transforming processes faster than guidelines can keep up. ESG risks are morphing. Business models are being reimagined. The lines between assurance, advice, and agility are blurring.
And we, the professionals tasked with navigating this landscape, are human. Learning. Adapting. Often figuring it out as we go.
The pressure to “know it all” collides with the truth that we often do not know yet. And this dissonance is fertile ground for imposter syndrome.
Contrary to the myth, imposter syndrome doesn’t show up because you’re not good enough. It shows up precisely because you care, you’re growing, and you’re stretching into new territory.
Audit and risk professionals are often high achievers with deep integrity. But the voice of imposter syndrome can still whisper:
This inner dialogue doesn’t just sap confidence. It can silence our unique perspectives. It can push us into defensive over-preparation or polished but hollow posturing. Or worse, it can stop us from asking bold, catalytic questions, the very questions that move governance forward.
One of the most courageous things an audit or risk leader can say is:
“Here’s what we know. Here’s what we’re still exploring.”
It signals integrity, curiosity, and clarity. In fact, with today’s rapid shifts, the ability to synthesize available insight while acknowledging uncertainty is a leadership superpower. But most of us weren’t trained to say “I don’t know yet.” We were trained to be bulletproof. Conclusive. Decisive.
And so we armor up.
We speak in jargon. We flood our decks with data. We preemptively anticipate every question. We fear being caught off guard. In the process, we lose the humanness of our profession, the trust, humility, and emotional intelligence that actually drive good governance.
I say this from personal experience. I have often found myself, consciously or unconsciously, slipping into the habit of speaking jargon or trying to sound like I know more than I do. It usually happens in rooms where I want to prove I belong or where I fear being seen as unsure. But it never feels great. In fact, it often leaves me feeling disconnected from my own truth, and most times, it’s quietly seen through anyway. Genuine friends would hold up the mirror for me to see how I came across.
It took me time to realize the unbelievable power of simply saying, “I don’t know yet.” The moment I embraced that phrase, I felt something shift. It was liberating. It created space for learning, for dialogue, for clarity. And more importantly, it brought me back to myself.
The most respected audit and risk professionals I’ve worked with aren’t always the most knowledgeable. They’re the most grounded. They walk into the room not with the weight of “I must know it all,” but with the posture of “I will help us think this through.”
They ask:
And they are not afraid to say:
This mindset doesn’t dilute your credibility. It builds trust.
You don’t get there by reading more technical guidance, though that helps.
You get there by doing the inner work.
By reflecting.
By questioning your narratives.
By finding a space where you don’t have to perform expertise but can reconnect with your judgment.
And this is where coaching becomes more than just a support tool. It becomes a strategic resource.
Coaching offers a rare, judgment-free zone where you can pause and ask:
It’s not therapy.
It’s not advice.
It’s structured, intentional space to think clearly, courageously, and compassionately with yourself.
For aspiring audit leaders especially, coaching can make the difference between performing leadership and embodying it.
Imagine walking into your next high-stakes room not with fear, but with presence.
Not with a script, but with a spine.
Not trying to prove yourself, but ready to contribute what you know and open the door to what still needs to be discovered.
Coaching can help you discover the practices that work for you. To get yourself into the zone of presence and to be authentically yourself.
Here are three such practices:
Before entering any high-stakes room, take 60 seconds to breathe deeply and remind yourself: “I don’t need to know everything. I just need to be fully here.”
When asked a challenging question, normalize pausing thoughtfully before responding. Say: “That’s an important question. Let me think about that for a moment.”
Practice saying “I don’t have that answer right now, but I’ll find out” or “Why don’t we hear others’ perspectives on this.”
Maybe it’s time we normalized coaching as part of the audit and risk leader’s readiness and renewal process.
Not because we’re broken. But because we’re evolving.
And in this evolving world, we don’t need to step-in or step-up with insecurity.
We need to face it, together.
With courage. With curiosity.
And yes, with coaching.
