Why faking it til you make it doesnt have to be fake

Why faking it til you make it doesnt have to be fakeWhy faking it til you make it doesnt have to be fakeJack Nasheris currently the Professor for Leadership Organization at Munich Business School, and is on the faculty of Stanford University. He is an expert on reading and influencing human behavior, and the author of the new bookConvinced How to Prove Your Competence Win People Over. He recently spoke withMarc Effron - management consultant and author of8 Steps to High Performance- about hislatest research, and how to (really) fake it til you make it.Marc Do we all have a problem with identifying perceived versus actual competence? Where do you binnensee perceived competence getting in the way of actual competence?Jack Convinced is a book on perceived competence, based on research that finds actual competence has very little to do with perceived competence.You can be fantastic at what you do, but nobody will know. Sometimes people who are very good at their job, especially peopl e who say, I dont want to focus on just showing my competence because I want to do a good job. Thats what Im paid to do. But the problem is that you can do that, but people have a very hard time judging your actual competence. Because they dont know.We think we know so much about people. If I asked someone why they like their favorite hairdresser, they say, Well, shes very nice. Or Well, its a very clean place. So? That doesnt have anything to do with real competence. We have no idea what to base our judgment on. Theres something that I call perceived competence. How youre perceived is, in my opinion, much mora important for your success. Im not saying that you should fake it. I am saying that whatever it is you can do - what you worked on all your life - you have to focus on actually displaying that competence. Because if you dont, other people - who are probably much worse than you - will be more successful.Marc So, you suggest that the old saying great work speaks for itself is not true.Jack Unfortunately not. Especially as the world is becoming more complex, we have to have people we rely upon, and we perceive them based on their results. Something either works out, or something doesnt work out. With a doctor, youre healed or youre not. You perceive your doctor as good or bad. But do you really know if he or she did everything that any doctor in the world could have done?You have to understand the difference between actual and perceived, and once you understand, there are some ways to enhance your perceived competence. Thats what I have researched for the last ten years, building on decades of research by hundreds of researchers.My job now is to synthesize it and make it accessible. My expertise is reading and influencing people. So its usually social psychological studies that I work on and bring to the business context, mostly with negotiations because Im a negotiation advisor.This is part of negotiation - you dont have to negotiate about price if p eople think youre the best. You dont have to haggle because people are willing to pay premium prices for people they think are the best. And yet, it has nothing to do with your actual competence. It is kind of sad thats the case, but thats the way the world is.Marc Well, I would assume at some point, your actual competence is going to show through. You could probably fake it for a while, but at some point someone else is going to come along whos more competent. Its going to show through.Jack By all means. Some people fake it and they get away with it to a surprising extent. In the long term, though, people will find out.But if youre pretty good at your job, it doesnt actually hurt to be perceived as a bit more competent than you are. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If people think youre a loser, they will treat you like a loser, and you will actually become one. Youll make more mistakes because youre scared.When you have a very friendly, encouraging environment because people think youre great, you may actually become great. Thats a self-fulfilling prophecy. If youre perceived as being a little more competent, you actually become better at what you do.Marc In the book, do you offer strategies for showing greater competence?Jack The whole book is like a manual, looking at verbal communication, non-verbal communication, how you speak about yourself, and how you display signs of competence. Even the way you stand, for instance, has an effect on the perception of your competence. A certain angle makes you look more competent, slightly tilted away from view.The whole book is packed with the findings of decades of research. For instance, in verbal communication, while speaking, to be perceived as more competent, people should speak a little louder, a little faster. Talking fast is associated with intelligence, which is associated, of course, with higher competence.Even if you dont want to use any of the techniques in the book, you really understand what is go ing on in the world around you. If you look at political rallies, if you look at CEOs speaking, you can identify these techniques.Marc You talk about projecting competence, I call it sometimes faking it. You have to sometimes put on that actors mask, pretend you are someone else in a situation where you might not feel comfortable. And what I hear sometimes is, Well thats not the genuine me. I need to be the genuine, authentic me to be successful. For many people, its difficult to convince them that youre never always the genuine you. Youre always showing a slightly different face to people.Theres nothing wrong with doing that at work, as long as youre not lying or being unethical or immoral. Theres nothing wrong with projecting some additional competence.Jack I absolutely agree - authenticity is very important. Many of the techniques, I dont use, because theyre just not me. So I always suggest to use whatever is suitable for your character. Thats the great thing about most of the t echniques - you dont have to change your personality. Once you understand these things, you already will just change your behavior because you intuitively understand the mechanism.Authenticity really is important. People will notice if you fake something, but you should frame whatever it is you have in the optimal way.This article was originally published on Heleo.