Should You “Fake It Until You Make It?”
“Fake it until you make it” is one of those phrases people throw around as if it was an immutable by-law of startups. A quick search of LinkedIn, Reddit, or the dumpster fire that is Twitter are awash in pontificators promoting “fake it until you make it” stories. While these wisdom dispensers are quick to name Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, or Warren Buffet as examples of successful fakers, they are much quieter when it comes to fakers like Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes.
Faking it until you make it is more complex and nuanced than pithy social media posts can possibly express. It is a risky strategy that has as much potential to move you ahead as it does destroy you.
Many years ago, I faced my own “fake it until you make it” (FIUYMI) reckoning. I was meeting with a group of executives at my company to discuss product and service delivery. One executive was frustrated with me for making promises to customers to perform services he felt we were not ready to perform. As I recall, the conversation went something like this:
“You cannot sell these services to customers. We cannot do this work,” the executive complained.
“Why not? What do we need?” I shot back.
“We do not have the people or the expertise,” he replied.
“Then let’s learn and hire some people who can do it,” I replied.
“It does not work like that. We cannot just make up new expertise,” said the annoyed executive.
“Why not?” I responded. “How else are we going to learn how to do this? It is not like this is wildly different from what we already do.”
While I was posturing to be Jobs, this executive saw Holmes. I was confident we could acquire the capability; my executive wanted the capability first before he could be confident. We both had valid points of view, but we were missing the real issue. The ethicality of FIUYMI is not whether you are confident or capable. It is about commitment, failure, and risk.
Commitment
My executive did not want to commit to learning a new capability while also delivering it to a customer. He wanted to learn it first, under more comfortable conditions, then sell it to customers. He felt I was being dishonest with the customer.
Conversely, I felt that committing to a new challenge was the only way we could acquire the new capability. We did not have the time to setup a development effort. Customers were demanding we do the work now. Moreover, I did not see this as deceptive, since I was willing to commit to the customer we would learn it and deliver it.
I was willing to make the commitment, the executive was not. This is the fundamental component that makes FIUYMI work. Faking it must be backed with a strong, unwavering commitment to deliver what you promised. If you (or your team) cannot commit, then stop faking. Faking without commitment is fraud. This is where Holmes went wrong. She kept faking competence while her company was incapable of meeting commitments.
This uncovers another critical aspect of FIUYMI.
Failure
Holmes also illustrates another important aspect of FIUYMI, managing failure. Boasting about skills or experiences you may not fully possess is relatively harmless. Holmes, Gates, Jobs, and every other startup CEO does that. However, actively hiding failures is where FIUYMI crosses the line.
Without the resources of a large company, which can invest in lengthy research and development, startups must push themselves to try new things. These efforts are not always successful or profitable, but they can be educational. I can think of numerous times where I tried new things, only to fail and learn some valuable lessons. I was honest with myself, the team, and the customer when those failures happened. I was clear what we had learned, and committed to use that learning to complete the commitment that was made.
Holmes was not honest about her company’s failures. She covered them up and tried to overcompensate with optimism and idealism. If Holmes had stopped Theranos after the first few failures and admitted to her investors that things were not working, she may have been able to pivot the company into a more successful, derivative effort.
Risk
However, Jobs and Holmes were also not playing on the same risk field. Jobs made plenty of mistakes as well (such as Apple Lisa or NeXT.) These were merely products that failed to find a market. Apple lost money, some customers got subpar products — not life and death risks. Ultimately, Jobs turned some of those failures into successes.
Holmes on the other hand was faking with peoples’ lives. Blood tests were giving people inaccurate information which could have killed people. Those stakes are as high as it gets.
FIUYMI only works when the risks are acceptable and reasonable to those affected. This means you must be honest with yourself and those impacted to the risks and potential for failure. All the affected parties must accept that risk. Most people are not willing to gamble with their lives to evaluate new technologies.
The Bottom Line
Should you fake it until you make it?
Yes, if…
- You are willing to accept the commitment and do what it takes to fulfill a promise.
- You have the integrity to admit failures and correct them.
- You can handle the discomfort, uncertainty, and stress.
- You have a growth mindset.
- The risk is reasonable to all parties involved.
No, if…
- You value comfort, certainty, or consistency.
- You are unable to commit to deliver on the promises made.
- You are unable or unwilling to admit to failure and correct mistakes.
- The risk is too high for the affected parties.
Faking it until you make it is a delicate, risky thing to do. It is easy to lionize those who made it work while ignoring those who failed. However, not everybody is cut out for faking it until they make it. You must have the strength of character, integrity, and fortitude to make and keep commitments. You cannot back out of a FIUYMI situation, blame others, and act like a victim. You must see the commitment through.
Moreover, while you may comfortable taking on risk, the people around you, who must do the actual work, may not share your risk appetite. This is where I clashed with my executive. I needed to reassure him that the commitment could be met and that I would support him. Without his commitment, I needed to step back and reformulate my strategy. I was unsympathetic he was overly cautious. Somewhere between those two places was the right place to be.
In conclusion, faking it until you make it is not something to be taken lightly. It is a big commitment that impacts everybody around you. You might think you are on the path of Jobs and Gates, only to discover you are Holmes.
What do you think? I would love to hear your thoughts about this topic either here on Medium or email me at andrew.plato@zenaciti.com.
