New Delhi, Sept. 25 -- They say you are "worth it." That you deserved out-of-turn promotions. Your bets have worked well for the company, and hence you have been allotted a senior position. But then a creepy feeling rises at the nape of your neck when you face an experienced group of contemporaries or hear a hushed whisper after you make a point, with perplexed looks around the table signalling that you may have missed your mark. A voice whispers in your head: You are not worth it.

A part of you clamps up. You retreat into your cabin. You work harder than ever to ensure they do not detect flaws. They don't. Your rise in the company is meteoric now. But every now and then, that hushed feeling creeps back in. An old mocking voice whispers:...