We’ve all heard this popular advice: just fake it ‘til you make it! But is this the best way to realize career or business success? According to our latest guest, Sabrina Horn, faking it ‘til you make it can be a recipe for disaster, even if you’ve got the best intentions. In this episode of the Transform Your Workplace podcast, Sabrina provides an alternative to this popular method and walks us through what it means to lead with authenticity in today’s unpredictable business world.
GUEST AT A GLANCE
Sabrina Horn is a communications advisor, founder of Horn Group, a public relations firm, and the author of Make It, Don’t Fake It: Leading with Authenticity for Real Business Success. She is passionate about helping leaders implement “straight talk” to convey authenticity and reach business success.
A QUICK GLIMPSE INTO OUR PODCAST
🔊 Podcast: Transform Your Workplace, sponsored by Xenium HR
🎙️ Host: Brandon Laws
📋 In his own words: “The Transform Your Workplace podcast is your go-to source for the latest workplace trends, big ideas, and time-tested methods straight from the mouths of industry experts and respected thought-leaders.”
BAD BUSINESS ADVICE
“I think the phrase ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ is the worst business advice ever,” Sabrina explained. “And it started quite innocently actually. I should say that there are some origins in cognitive behavioral therapy for the phrase — acting as if you want to exude certain behaviors and practicing them, […] and there’s nothing wrong with that.” However, according to Sabrina, the idea of faking until we “make it” has mutated through social media and pop culture, and it’s “become an excuse to behave badly.”
Here’s the bottom line. Faking it is just not sustainable. “It may take a day, a week, a month, a couple of years, but the truth always comes out.” For some of us, the idea of faking it ‘til we make it is probably harmless. But could this method snowball into flat-out lies? Is there a better way to go about self-improvement? According to Sabrina Horn’s new book, Make It, Don’t Fake It: Leading with Authenticity for Real Business Success, the answer is yes.
PODCAST EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
What You Need
“It’s important to have mentors — people that you trust, who’ve been in your shoes, who want to see you succeed. These are the people who can give it to you straight and tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. And I would also say you need to have a really strong system — a backbone of core values that you always go back to — so that when you feel like maybe you need to fake it a little bit — to lie in that job interview or exaggerate the truth to like win a sale or something — you can stay grounded and avoid that temptation.”
When You Cross That Line
“When I was writing my book, I was thinking about the different ways that people fake it — from the innocent little white lie to when you cross the line and you say and do things at other people’s expense for personal gain. […] You’re distorting the facts, you’re minimizing the reality of a situation, you’re exaggerating the truth. Selective truth-telling is another form of faking it. It’s where you’re actually telling the truth but leaving out certain important facts. ”
Why We Lie
“Sometimes people fake it because they’re just completely overwhelmed. You know, you’re in a crisis situation and you just flat out don’t know what to do. And so you just pretend it doesn’t exist and hope it goes away. That’s faking it too.”
Honesty: A Rarity
“Unfortunately, honesty is a novelty in the times that we live in. Wouldn’t you rather admit a mistake, take your lumps where you need to, and make corrections as needed than be caught in a lie? Sure, neither of those two options are great, but you’ll recover in a much better fashion and maintain your integrity — and the integrity of your employees, your company, and your customers. And when you admit the truth, people stop poking at you because they’re satisfied.”
Always Striving
“You should never stop learning. I often used to tell my team ‘the day you think you’ve made it is the day you should quit your job.’ Because you’re always making it. You’re always striving for the next thing and learning something new to stay relevant, right? Otherwise, you stagnate and you lose your edge and, frankly, you become fairly boring.”
It’s Got To Be Authentic
“Here’s the thing: you can’t strap on authenticity. If you aren’t authentic, you can’t suddenly decide you’re going to have an empathetic culture and have it not be a veneer. It has to be visceral within your culture and your business processes. That’s what it means to be authentic — that it’s in your blood. […] The bottom line is if your leadership team isn’t authentic, you can’t just say a few things and expect people to believe it. The true self always comes out.”
LEARN MORE
Find Sabrina and learn more about her book, Make It, Don’t Fake It, on her website www.sabrinahorn.com. You can also check her out on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram @sabrinahorn.