The idea behind ‘fake it until you make it’ is that you know you’re not quite ready, but you have no reason to wait. Put yourself out like an ‘expert,’ and do whatever you can to not get proven wrong.
Eventually, one of two things will happen. You could be proven to be a fake, and have no instant recourse to suggest otherwise. Maybe you lose business. Maybe you get embarrassed. Maybe you just play it off until the commotion dies down, rebrand, and relaunch as a new ‘expert.’ Maybe you go back to your desk in Accounts Receivables and pick up where you left off making calls on the collections list.
Either that or you become an expert. You don’t become the go-to name in the industry or an over-booked member of the speaker circuit. You do know enough about your industry to be a viable member of those having coherent conversations about it and can pick up on a few of the big names leading the mass discussion on hot topics.
The goal of ‘fake it until you make it’ as a tactic should be to eventually make it, not perpetually fake it.
The best part? You get to define when you are an expert, and knowing what you don’t know about your industry becomes an odd but crucial tool in deflecting the naysayers who would love to prove you to be a fake.