We have all met individuals who acted like they knew everything and had it all under control when in reality they were clueless. But sometimes in doing so, they manage to get to the top. Does faking it till you make it really work? Let’s take a Deep Dive.

🙌 A little ego puffing to compensate for competence can be understandable or even applauded.

😏 But many people felt a touch of schadenfreude (pleasure felt by someone from another person’s misfortune) when they saw how fake heiress Anna Delvey had pulled the wool over so many elite eyes, even when they knew it was wrong.

❗ While faking it till you make it may seem like a joke to some, it can be dangerous. In the context of Elizabeth Holmes, the disgraced founder of Theranos, people’s lives were ruined by her lies about her abilities.

94% In a study from 2009, it was found that the person acting the most dominant in a group was seen as the most competent 94 percent of the time, even if completely incompetent.

50% During a 2013 study, fake job interviews were conducted and fakery of the interviewee’s abilities was only detected about 50 percent of the time.

11% In a 2020 study, it was found that only 11 percent of hiring fails were related to a lack of technical ability, with 89 percent being related to attitude.

The term ‘conman’ originated with the phrase ‘confidence man’, referring to someone who gains people’s confidence with their behaviour. Who was the original inspiration for the term?

A. Charles Ponzi
B. False Dmitry
C. William Thompson

Scroll to the bottom for the answer.

“Delulu is the solulu” is the current mantra for Gen Z workers. What it means: Being delusional is the solution; an extension of faking it where you become delusional and trick yourself into believing it too.

😼 Be a copycat. Adopting the movements of the person you’re speaking to will engender trust, even if you have not earned it.

😁 Why so serious? Smile and you’ll feel happier. Smiling can trick your brain into feeling positive.

☠️ Faking can doom you. If you are constantly faking, you may start to think of yourself as a fake and actually hurt your competence and self-esteem. 

Social psychologist Amy Cuddy gives an overview during her Ted Talk of how to use non-verbal power signals to project dominance and confidence.

People with the most knowledge and least knowledge often display the most confidence. If you’re in the Valley of Despair, you can at least feel good you’re not cresting Mount Stupid, the early phase when confidence tends to outpace competence.

Don’t worry about looking like you don’t know anything. Acting extremely dumb is what turned one American POW into a hero during the Vietnam War.

The answer to the quiz is C (William Thompson).