It’s time to brag

“It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.”
—Muhammad Ali

Most of us have heard (and adhered to) the adage: “There is no ‘I’ in team,” but according to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, we all would be wise to be a little more like Muhammad Ali.

Whether you are up for a promotion, interviewing for a members-only club or wooing potential new clients, business advisers routinely say people are underplaying their self-worth for fear of not showing enough humility. But it’s humility that could stand in the way of the very things we want.

In the article, “Brag at Work Without Sounding Like a Jerk,” author Rachel Feintzeig writes: “In jobs where you have to win clients, they need reasons to choose you.”

So talk about the many great projects and community work your company has done—and don’t be shy to mention your charity work but avoid the humble brag like: “We gave $3 million worth of roofing materials away. It was so hard to turn people down.” (To read about charity work in the industry, see “Livin’ on the edge.”)

Feintzeig writes: “Faux humility usually fools no one. Research from Harvard Business School Professor Michael Norton and two co-authors found that humblebraggers were seen as less competent and likable than those who just straight-up boasted.”

There are other ways to improve how you tout yourself.

Litigation consultant Alexis Knutson told Feintzeig she scans emails she sends for the word “we” and considers whether it should be an “I.”

“Sometimes it was really just you,” she told The Wall Street Journal. “I was able to get this done for you.”

As Aliza Licht, author of the book On Brand, says: If you don’t tell your own story, “people will just make up their own version.”

AMBIKA PUNIANI REID is editor of Professional Roofing and NRCA’s vice president of communications.