“Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it.” …Salvador Dali

I’d like to start out this article with a joke that I oft use to illustrate this point:

Two campers are walking through the forest when they suddenly encounter a grizzly bear. The bear rears up on his hind legs and lets out a terrifying roar.

Both campers are frozen in their tracks.

The first camper whispers, "I'm sure glad I wore my running shoes today."

"It doesn't matter what kind of shoes you're wearing, you're not gonna outrun that bear," replies the second.

"I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun YOU," he answers.

Too often, we think we must achieve perfection in our careers in order to achieve political success. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. What is important is to achieve the illusion of perfection, as we know that perfection itself is not attainable.

Further, the illusion of perfection is relative. That is, if we simply appear to be better than everyone else around us, then we appear to be perfect. That’s all it takes. It doesn’t take perfect, it doesn’t even take being better than those around us. It just takes the ability to appear to be better than those around you.

Seven ways to appear to outrun your peers

1. Don’t say stupid things - By default people will give you the benefit of the doubt about being smart if they never hear you say stupid things.
2. Appear smart in small drabs - If you occasionally throw in the poignant questions or intelligent comments, even if only rarely, then people will see you as a thinking, a very smart person just waiting for the right opportunity to comment. This is how experts are born!
3. Don’t drop the ball – keep all of your projects and tasks moving forward, even if very slowly. Tell people when you need more time, have a handy reasonable excuse, prioritize your work and let your boss know, and never ever put yourself in a position to say “oops I forgot”
4. Advertise – Your success and accomplishments must be inflated and turned into advertising banners. Document them glowingly in status reports and especially meetings!
5. Reframe failures – when you fail, and you will, be prepared to reframe these failures into successes, or at least learning opportunities. Be clear that it was in no way your fault, but that you managed to salvage the best out of an impossible situation or project.
6. Always be friendly – Your peers judge you most on how much they like you, make them all like you. Learn to be happy and friendly, make social chit chat, and then in 6 months or so when you are their new boss, they won’t hate you quite as much!
7. Take on your bosses work – Find ways to help your boss do the things he needs to do, budgeting, time tracking, interviews, whatever it might be. The more of his actual work you can become involved with, the more respected by everyone you will be.
   

Remember, you don’t have to outrun the bear, just your peers!