I read a post from Dan Schawbel entitled Fake It Till You Make It? .
To quote the meet of his post:
The old saying is that you need to “fake it before you make it.” Do you believe this is even possible in the social media world? Between online and offline connections, don’t you think that people will end up revealing the real brand you anyways? First impressions, and how people are perceived in general, have changed so much in the past few years, that it’s harder to promote yourself as a confident person, when someone might video you or greet you in a public situation. If we’ve learned anything from Mark Zuckerberg, and Gen-Y, it’s that most people have acceptable the end of privacy on the web. People want their network, or fans, to know what they are doing at all times. We get excited at comments because it shows that people care about them and what they have to say. Not everyone has revealed their true identity though, out of fear, and certain insecurities.
The web is a harsh place and you will be judged and ridiculed, whether you like it or not. There are three major concepts you should understand, including paying dues, making it, and faking it till you make it
I think what the gen-Y mantra highlights is a desire to cut corners. I think it is fine if an artist or writer tells himself his work is important, that is an authentic depiction of who he feels he is. But too many people have “faked it till they made it” and that I feel is the reason the world economy is in the place it is.
It seems to me too many Gen-Y’s have faked it and made it, but never bothered to learn how to do the job. So many of the problems that I feel can be associated with today’s financial / economic crisis can be linked to Dan’s final example in his post:
You have to appear rich to mentally convince the customer that what you’re selling them will make them rich as well. Is this honest? No, but when you’re first starting out, it might be the only way to brand yourself in certain fields.
These “masters of universe” (to make a reference to Bonfire of the Vanities) convinced too many people they could and should get rich, including themselves. But as the current state of the world economy shows, they never developed any real skills other than the ability to convince others they know what they are doing. It is unfortunate that this type of personality seems to have clustered within the financial industry (where the money is) where there maybe no one left who actually is not “faking it till they make it” anymore.
I would hate to have a doctor who was “faking it till they make it” . How about an engineer designing a bridge, let’s let him/her “faking it till they make it” after all self confidence is everything. How about the life guard at the neighborhood pool watching over your kids? Should they just need to look fit or maybe we should need to see them prove it through actual credentials?
Society seems to allow people in sales or soft services to “fake it till they make it” , but as we have learned through the devastation of all our retirement savings, this has done no one other than the faker any good.
We need more people to pay their dues and learn their job from seasoned professionals who pass on the experience and allow the young to mature and grow into authentic professionals. Gen-Y has an entitlement about them that is fundamental to this mantra they live by. “I think I can, so I can.” We may have let this generation Y read the “The little engine that could” one too many times.
photo credit: cambodia4kidsorg
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