Michelle Obama: white men do not have to worry about impostor syndrome

White men do not have to worry about impostor syndrome, according to Michelle Obama , who said she had sat “at every powerful table there is” and not found one who admitted feeling such self-doubt. The former US first lady told SXSW London that she wanted to “demystify” what it was like to sit in elite meetings, which she said were often populated by people from diverse backgrounds who felt like outsiders. “There’s so many people like me, like you: women, minorities, folks who aren’t supposed to be at these tables … they are sitting around thinking that they’re impostors,” she said. “I’ve never heard a white man talk about impostor syndrome. I haven’t met one.” The former first lady was participating in a live recording of the IMO podcast she hosts with her brother, Craig Robinson, which has been a key part of her reinvention after her family’s time in political office. In a wide-ranging discussion, Obama gave her views on “helicopter parenting” where carers are overcontrolling and domineering , which she said was affecting children negatively because it showed they did not have the confidence of their parents. Obama said her parents made her and Robinson take “responsibility for their lives” from the age of five, insisting that they used an alarm clock to wake themselves up for school. She said many parentstoday were too controlling over the experiences their children had and refused to be there as “counsel but not intervention”, as her parents were. …