Do you have a nose like Pinocchio?
Gosh, that was popular. I’m referring to the FREE Executive Presence eBook that I shared with you last week. [now updated]. Help yourself if you haven’t already. Simply click here and scroll down to get your updated copy.
Recently, a client asked, before we’d met if I actually looked like my photo. You know, the one you see above. His concern was that I was doing what some allegedly do on those dating sites. When the person you meet is, at best, an older version of their online selves. At worst, they’re nothing like their online photo at all. They’re way less attractive.
Yes, we all lie, normally just a little white kind of lie. And research has found that we all lie in those little white lie ways about twice a day. You know how when someone asks “how are you?”, and you say “I’m good” when you’re not? That kind of thing.
Well, rest assured, my name is not Michelle Pfeiffer. I do look like my photo. Two exceptions, my hair is currently longer and my glasses are different.
Still, I get it. You do want to put your best foot forward. But, how far do you go?
Jeff Hancock, a psychologist and founding director of the Stanford Social Media Lab, looked at the impact of technology on our tendency to lie. While it’s easy to lie online, you want to remember that you’re leaving a permanent record. Check out his TedX talk here.
Jeff suggests that the question to ask is not if you’re lying, but are you’re being true to yourself. Why? Because you want to think about the kind of record that you want to leave.
And if you’re really curious, check out Way Back Machine. It’s an Internet Archive, with the mission of providing Universal Access to All Knowledge. They have over 380 billion web pages saved over time, so far.
So, how do you feel about the online record you’re leaving? And, how often do you see people doing more than a white lie online? Is their LinkedIn profile the real deal? No names, but let me know in the Leave a Reply comments section.
Photo by jackmac34 on Pixabay
