Faking It Till You Make It -- isn't it helpful?
...that change a room and our ability to do our best work
Before your next team meeting, try this.
When you don’t know something, say so. Out loud. In the room. Three words: I don’t know.
That’s it. That’s the whole move.
Sounds simple. But it runs directly against the invisible operating system most of us work inside — the one that rewards certainty over curiosity, performance over competence, and confident nodding over honest not-knowing.
I gave a talk recently that names this system and challenges one of its most normalized rules: fake it till you make it. I make a distinction in it that I think will stick with you — the difference between imitation and faking. They look alike from the outside. But they start from opposite beliefs about whether you have something worth contributing.
One builds on what came before. The other hides that you don’t think you belong.
Watch the talk here — it’s about 20 minutes — and see what shifts when you walk into your next meeting carrying that distinction instead of a performance.
Faking it until you make it is an approach used in riding horses. When it isn't perfect, you pretend it is and keep going. Retaining the focus on where you are going is key. Drop focus and you drop concentration. Some have interpreted faking it until you make it as faking it AND you'll make it. Definitely some confusion there and not the meaning. Wondering if you've come across various interpretations.