On Big Talkers

There’s a special breed of people you’ll run into in almost any business or social circle. Two or three degrees, dozens of certificates, members of business clubs, communities and associations. Their life is nonstop learning, personal growth, an endless list of hobbies and passions. Their calendars are wall-to-wall meetings, calls, conferences and negotiations — sometimes in the unlikeliest places, from cafés and restaurants to hookah lounges and bathhouses.

It’s easy to lose your footing around them. They’ll tell you about mega-projects, grand plans and impressive wins so convincingly that you feel you’re talking to a genius who’s outgrown this world. But look a little closer — lots of projects, no focus. And no large-scale, measurable results either. Ask directly: “Where’s your priority? What’s the concrete result in numbers, and where do you rank against your competitors?” — and the answer, as a rule, turns out to be as vague as that truth that’s always supposedly “somewhere out there.”

When I lived in Dubai, I worried about my social life at first and threw myself into meeting people. At some point I started to feel like the least successful person on earth — until I began checking everything my new acquaintances told me against the facts. Open data on company revenue and profit. Where they actually lived: the neighborhood, the building, the square footage, owned or rented, mortgaged or not. The car — financed or bought outright. Which bank they used and what tier of service. And so on. The picture cleared up fast, and my spirits lifted again. I suddenly remembered: bullsh*tting isn’t the same as hauling sacks!

Often these people aren’t even lying — they sincerely believe their own words. And maybe there’s value in that: you do need to believe in yourself. But it’s better when that belief is backed by systematic work and tangible results, not by a permanent state of “fake it till you make it.”

In the end, the business world runs on facts and numbers. Everything else is illusion. The sooner we start looking at reality squarely, the sooner we get down to the actual work.

We’re all big talkers and dreamers to some degree, and it seems these are fundamental traits of human nature. It’s a question of balance. At least once a month I put myself through a mental stress test — to separate my fantasies from the facts and give myself a kick to go and actually do something.

Here’s to seeing both others and ourselves clearly! 😎