Ever have one of those days when you are sitting in a brainstorm meeting and suddenly a thought or phrase jumps at you (but you can’t always say it out loud)?
Well, the phrase that jumped out at me was “believe in your own b.s.”
Confidence reigns at work, and Steve Carrell in “Office” shows how a charmingly self-centered boss can be in a leadership position because he falls within this category. It’s Dilbert. It’s J. Peterman (from Seinfeld).
We all have leadership abilities, and some of us have more confidence than others when managing or rallying a team. The unfortunate thing is that a few people are so clouded by their own reality that they actually believe in their exaggerated truths. Example: I had dinner with well known illustrator and children’s author Sandra Boynton and her husband. My husband and I chose to sit at the community table of the Herb Farm restaurant and they were among two other couples who were at our table. We all had a marvelous time, and connected on a very personal level. This is a true story. The exaggerated truth? Sandra Boynton is a friend of mine. I guarantee you, she doesn’t remember my name, or my husband’s name. She might remember the evening but it’s probably as blurry for her as the names of the other couples at that table are for me. Even her husband’s name escapes me.
So when I was glazing over in our brainstorm session, my jaw dropped as my co-worker was rattling off all of the important people he’d met. And here’s the thing – it was effective b.s. It made me feel like he was extremely powerful given his connections to these famous people and it elevated his status as expert, even knowing that it was only partially true. And I know it will work in our strategy meeting with the client. They will be just as “wowed”.
Moral of this story?
1. Believe in your own b.s. and it could give you that surge of “can do”, reaping great benefits.
2. Watch out for the b.s. factor, and it might bring even more confidence knowing that it’s only a game of trusting yourself. Truths or half-truths.
Have you ever encountered this type of situation? How did it make you feel?
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