Fake it til you make it
I disagree that one should 'get real'. After all one IS real, even when faking it. That's part of the person. As for showing your warts, well, heck man if that were a good thing I wouldn't pluck the hairs that insist on growing out of my chin ever since I hit 60 and it hit back.
Everyone is real and Everyone is faking it til they make it. Get used to it. It's not like when I started programming in 1960 at the age of 12 (high school grad / legally emancipated / working for big blue). Things didn't change as fast as they do now and were not as buggy (we only had 'real bugs' to worry about and that damned 'ctrl-z'.
I have my leads and managers practice facilitating meetings, and I have the newer folks send emails to me so I can review them before sending them to the stakeholders. If I teach these jr ppl mgrs how to display their (and their teams) best side, you'd call that lying or being a fake, huh.
I call it keeping the energy and positive spirit 'up'.
If you go around NOT blowing your own horn, you lose out on the better world there is out there. If you have to play a cd of trumpet songs until you can really play your own, so be it. Frankly I've know this all my life: the world is mediocre during its best times. It doesn't take much to be successful in this world. So FAKE IT TILL YA MAKE IT.
BELIEVE in yourself. Don't lie to anyone. If they ask you 'can you do this' you say 'yes', and I'll get back to you when I'm ready to prove that.... give a deadline you can meet (you know yourself after all) and then MEET IT.
