Pants on Fire

I am listening to the unabridged audiobook autobiography “This Just In,” by CBS News interim anchorman Bob Schieffer and I find it fascinating. Firstly, he has pretty much been Dan Rather’s replacement at every step of his career at CBS. At the time his book was published he had figured that the 6pm news anchor job would be Rather’s for life and he would not get that particular job. Little did he know scandal would bring down Rather even when Kenneth’s frequency could not.

Mr. Schieffer, who has been a reporter for CBS news since 1969, has some fun stories to tell but what I find most interesting is one particular thread that ran through all of his early journalist jobs: He always overstated his experience and abilities to get a job, then he made it his main objective to live up to and surpass the high bar he had set for himself.

Perhaps Mr. Schieffer is just tooting his own horn about how bold he was or how clever he was to pull the wool over the eyes of his perspective employers. I’ll give him that right. It’s his story; he can tell it anyway he wants. And at 68 years old, he’s entitled to give himself credit where he thinks it is due.

But just how common is this? Other than the whole panic attack part of job interviewing, I can do a passable job of stating my worth. I do have an ego. But do most folks, during an interview, tell big fat lies? Having only had two real jobs in my life (one which lasted eight years, the other which is on it’s ninth year and still going), I cannot imagine breezing into an interview and saying, “oh yeah, I've spent a long time in nuclear reactors and I'm certain I'm just the man for the Core Maintenance manager job.” Okay I’ve been in a nuclear reactor exactly once, it was not powered up, and my main impression was “Wow, they use analog instruments because digital ones are not 100% reliable. Cool.”

Maybe a better analogy would be me applying for the directorship of the State’s Office of Emergency Management. Sure, I'm good under pressure. Sure, I'm good at planning for emergencies and training (I'm all about the training). But I don’t think I have the sheer gall to even apply.

Perhaps this is what separates me from the real go-getters. Perhaps the great ones bullshit their way to the bigtime and then shine where others might fail. It intrigues me. Should I take more chances? Apply for that OEM job? See if I can really fix a reactor?

Or maybe I should apply this lesson to other areas. Syndicate my blog even further, convinced that just because I think something is important with a small (i) that it must be Important with a big (I).

Hmmmm. Food for thought.

No carbs tho.

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