The secret weapon of the charlatan is the one they display the most: head-turning, hypnotising, inspiring, attention-grabbing, confidence covers up conniving motive. Hence, we should be especially wary of those who look the part: those who’ve got attractive figures and beautiful faces; who’re dressed to impress; who use all the big words, who speak fast, and speak lots; who boast, spread their legs, and are annoyingly loud. For it’s precisely these kind of people who’ve had to work the least hard get to where they are; their ascent up the corporate, social or financial ladder is more the result of their appearance and verbalistic talents, rather than competency. And competency is what matters, at least as far as you’re concerned. Let’s call these people Group A.
Group B contains those who’re dressed the worst, are the least compressible, are self-deprecating, ugly, and quite. These are the people more deserving of your trust than anyone, because they’ve had to overcome the most to get where to they are; instead of receiving free promotions, sympathy and undeserved attention, they’ve had to contend with prejudice, competition, and the unfair reality of preference continuously being given to smooth talkers wearing suits.
Group A have been pulled up the ladder. Group B have climbed the ladder; and they have done so in spite of those below them furiously hacking away at each leg and rung, rocket-fuelled by the most powerful motivator in the world: envy. In other words, they’ve had to be good — great, brilliant — at what they do, because they’ve received little-to-zero favours. They haven’t licked arse to get where they’ve got; they can’t lick arse, because no manager, owner, director or other higher-up has given them the opportunity, because they’re too ugly. They’ve had to work hard, build skills, gain experience, deal with douchebags, fight bullshitters, be disciplined, over and over. If they’re in a good position, your faith in them is more justified. You can never be too sure, of course — there’s plenty of positions, even industries, that do no good in the world, only harm — but you can at least edge your certainly needle a tad more clockwise for those who walk without the talk.
The super attractive talkers are generally the least deserving of your trust — the typical salesman, of course! He tries to sell you a Samsung Galaxy S9 whilst an iPhone 8 sits comfortably in his back pocket: he talked his way into a job that gives him a platform to talk others into buying products he wouldn’t buy himself. Not only have they been given the easiest ride up the hierarchy, but also, with their hypnotising words, convinced many — possibly hundreds, maybe thousands — of their ideas, products, abilities, potential. Contrast that with a fat, ugly, largely incomprehensible and certainly far less impressive salesman: whilst it’s not impossible that he could talk his way in to the job, it’s far, far more likely that he landed the job because of experience, skills and/or actual knowledge. I’d also put my money on there being an iPhone in his back pocket.
For yourself, strive not to be seen as such, but to be as such.
