“Marketers spend a billion dollars a year targeting influentials. Duncan Watts says they’re wasting their money.” (Gasp) Could Gladwell have gotten it wrong? Fast Company

Maybe You Should. Psychologists have long known of what is called the Imposter Syndrome, in which people have a secret sense they are less competent than they appear to others. The idea that you’re a phony has been seen as a tormenting reflection of self-doubt in an anxious personality type. But it may be subtler than that. New research clarifies that those suffering from Imposter Syndrome, rather than being phonies, may in effect really be “phony phonies.” Adopting self-deprecation may lower others’ expectations and take pressure off one, preserving or even inflating self-serving confidence. New York Times