Earlier quoted context omitted.
Honestly, I don't think you understand what imposter syndrome is. It is an inability to properly assess one's competence. These people do not think they are "merely average", they think they are the bottom of the barrel, and those thoughts lead to serious behavioral issues and the condition might degrade to a generalized anxiety disorder or depression. I'd recommend focusing on what people say and do instead of what…
In the broad societal sense I’m talking about, people with imposter syndrome do not believe they’re the bottom of the barrel, maybe they believe they’re at the bottom of a given organization or trade but being at the bottom of such things is not that bad in the grand scheme of things. My lack of belief in imposter syndrome is only strengthened by people advocating they believe in it out of concern for negative outcom…
I know people with imposter syndrome. They do believe they're the worst, that they are just fooling everyone and that someone is going to find out. That they're not valid at all for whatever it is they're doing, no matter what that is. It's not just about low self-esteem, and it isn't extremely rare to see it similar signs outside of a work context (relationships, study, hobbies).
> My lack of belief in imposter syndrome is only strengthened by people advocating they believe in it out of concern for negative outcomes if we did not deny it as that creates an obvious bias. Depressed people also have more objective views of their own performance than non-depressed people (they are irrational in some ways, but not THIS way).
"Believing in it out of concern"? Honestly, you have absolutely no idea about this issue. I've seen the real consequences of this. It's not just about believing they're out of place, but the behavioral changes those irrational thoughts bring. From the mild ones such as slowing down their careers because they don't think they're worthy to take on new opportunities, or reduced work performance, to serious ones like complete decision paralysis or extreme overpreparation to the point of neglecting other aspects of their life, and it can evolve to serious anxiety and depression disorders with all the consequences those have.
> Depressed people also have more objective views of their own performance than non-depressed people (they are irrational in some ways, but not THIS way).
Imposter syndrome and depression are different things. Clearly you don't know what the disorder is and yet you feel you're perfectly qualified to dismiss it as a non-existing thing.
You can think you're bad at your job and that doesn't necessarily mean it's imposter syndrome. You might even think you're actually an imposter and that those around you think better of you than you actually are and it still doesn't mean it's imposter syndrome 100%. If the assessment is more or less accurate and specially if you can deal with that in a healthy way, it's not imposter syndrome. That's the issue, that's why it's a disorder. It's not about "the thought" but about the thought being irrational and immovable by evidence, and about the actual effects and disruptions those thoughts have on the daily life of the person.