Your Inner CEO -- Humblebragging: "You don't like me! You really don't like me!"

Are you familiar with the term “humblebrag?” You may not have heard or used the word very often, but you’ve certainly seen humblebragging in action – and it’s becoming more widespread all the time.

Here’s a good definition of humblebragging from an article in the online edition of The Independent, a British newspaper:

A humblebrag occurs when someone, possibly unconsciously, manages to show off about something while simultaneously couching it in terms of self-deprecation.

In my opinion, we‘re living in a Golden Age of humblebragging and we’ve been there for some time. I believe this Golden Age began with Sally Field’s famous “you like me” Academy Award acceptance speech in 1985. Here’s a brief video clip of that iconic moment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl_NpdAy3WY

It’s quite perfect, isn’t it? A famous actress, at the greatest moment of her career, manages to capture the affection of millions of viewers by fronting vulnerability and insecurity. In fact, she’s actually bragging about that vulnerability and insecurity at the very moment that we (and she) know that she’s just won this big award. Yes, that was the birth of humblebragging in the modern age.

Even with the widespread use of humblebragging today, I was surprised to find the large amount of research that’s been done on the topic, even in serious academic journals. So here’s the bottom line on all that humblebragging research, which also surprised me: humblebragging doesn’t work.

Research shows that people see through humblebragging and regard it as insincere and manipulative. Yet humblebragging keeps growing. Not just at the Oscars telecast – although that is a very fertile field – but in all walks of life. Surely you’ve encountered it, and you may even have humblebragged yourself. I certainly have, and I sincerely regret it as one of my many flaws (that’s a humblebrag right there.)

Well, if humblebragging doesn’t work, but you still want to strut around the barnyard like a rooster without having to admit it, what are you supposed to do?

Here’s the solution. Get someone else to brag for you! Someone who will go into a meeting and say, “Pete would never tell you this, but he’s got an absolute genius for making huge amounts of money for anyone he works with.” Or, “Ashley doesn’t like to speak about this because she’s an ardent feminist who’s against the objectification of the female sex, but Ashley really is one of the most beautiful women in the world, if not THE most beautiful.”

I’m sure you can think of many other examples. Meanwhile, be alert for humblebragging in all its forms. Believe me, they’re out there!

Here’s a link to The Independent article about humblebragging:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/features/nobody-likes-a-show-off-the-excruciating-rise-of-the-humblebrag-2363207.html

And a paper from the Harvard Business School on the ineffectiveness of humblebragging:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2597626&download=yes