Make It, Don’t Fake It – Leading with Authenticity for Real Business Success by Sabrina Horn is informative and entertaining. Using the familiar phrase “fake it till you make it” as a starting point, Horn builds a compelling case as to why this is a bad idea.

“Fake it till you make it” was born out of research by Alfred Adler who encouraged people to “act as if” to build confidence. Unfortunately, this concept morphed into “exaggerating, minimizing, or otherwise fabricating the truth at the expense of others.”

The Nature of Lying

Horn outlines three types of lies that aren’t necessarily evil in intent. The first is therapeutic lies, which we tell ourselves or “act as if” to overcome the imposter syndrome. The pretending is strictly between you and your imagination. No part of it is being done at the expense of another person.

The second is the useful lie, which falls into the category of white lies. We tell these to avoid hurting others. An example would be if someone asked you if you liked her new dress. You can tell the person likes it, and so even though you think it’s hideous, you answer, “Yes, I like it.” The problem with this type of lying Horn says is these lies “leave far too much to individual judgment.”

The third lie is the necessary lie, where your goal is to give someone hope or to help protect a person’s privacy. An example is when someone is very ill and you think they won’t recover, but you say things to encourage them as if you believe all will be well.

Things start to get murky when your fakery benefits you at another’s expense even if you aren’t acting with malice. Examples include tall tales, minimization, omission, and winging it. Maybe you’re overwhelmed and unintentionally avoiding problems. Or, you’re trying to rationalize something to shirk responsibility or blame. Or, you omit critical facts, which creates misconception to move something forward. In all of these, others are impacted.

Avoiding the Fakery

The majority of the book shows how a leader, in this case a CEO, can make it without faking it. Horn points out you don’t have to be a CEO to benefit from the book, and by reading it you may better understand your boss. I agree with this assessment.

Starting in Chapter Three, Horn builds her case. She says, “… there is a world of difference between doing your best and pretending that you are doing your best.” She then explains techniques and tools she’s used to be an authentic CEO. Horn says authentic CEOs are humble, know how to ask questions, protect and lead by managing, protect and lead the culture, live the values, and realize leadership is not about them.

Fake-free Leadership

Horn reminds readers of some basic leadership skills that successful CEOs use. Fake-free leaders create and execute strategic plans, help employees understand organizational values, have crisis management plans in place, and have a succession plan. If you’re a CEO, you need to prepare other people to assume leadership for when you decide to move on or a board of directors decides it’s time for you to move on.

She is quick to point out CEOs are not perfect. They will make mistakes, but the best leaders own their mistakes. Horn used post mortems to review mistakes and failures to determine how they occurred and how to avoid repeating those mistakes in the future. You may have heard this called after action reviews.

Final Thoughts

Horn uses many real-life examples from her own life and from the headlines and clearly shows how you can lead without faking it. And even if you’re not a CEO and don’t want to be one, you will enjoy this book. One word of caution – Horn uses some colorful language, so beware if you are put off by this.

You can find more reviews on my blog.