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The Frauds in Our Lives
We’ve all probably enabled a con artist.
Few things feel as good as unmasking a fraud. Someone who bluffs and bullshits their way through life. Someone who talks a great game, but doesn’t know what they’re doing. At all.
It’s kind of like watching a solar eclipse.
The downfall of a bullshitter brings vindication. But it also matters for other reasons. People who fake qualifications and expertise do more than irritate us. They can cause real damage.
Every workplace suffers one of these types. Last spring, I watched someone finally go down in flames after years of conning everyone around him into his own grand narrative.
It’s not hard to spot a con artist. You just have to realize that some of them play for low stakes. And they’re not that good at fooling people.
Every conversation was about him. How great he was. How much better than everyone else. The things he deserved.
The books he was supposedly working on.
The people who’d wronged him. Or treated him unfairly.
He actually did fool some people into undying support. The rest of us simply played along. Even me. I’ve lost count…
