Here's The Truth Behind Some Of Those 'I'm A Risk Taker' Humblebrags

At some point in your career you've said it. You've either been asked "would you call yourself a risk taker?" in an interview or you've called it out. I sure as hell have. I've taken risks. They were risky risks and they paid off. But they just as easily might not have. There have been other risky choices that I've made that didn't pay off. But they weren't stupid risks, they were mistakes and ones I've learned from. And there's the difference. Some people make their stupid mistakes sound like they've taken risks... in a positive way.

Don't do that.

Whether you're a high C-level executive or a lowly intern, you've taken a risk and you've probably talked about it and you've probably spun it into a positive. But some of us know, we know the truth. 

Here's a few handy examples to help interpret bullshit risk taker humblebrags. 

The Moving Abroad Risk Taker

"Hold on a sec, I'm texting mom that I'm working on paying off my college debt."

"I moved abroad after I graduated college because I wanted to experience the world (wasn't ready to work). I spent 6 amazing months in Paris learning the language (I don't speak any French), getting to know the local culture (I partied at the clubs every night and had more sex than I could get at home), and traveling around Europe (I went to London one time). Had I not stepped out of my comfort zone I wouldn't have learned so much (what my alcohol tolerance really is) about myself. I'm now ready (not really, no) to take on my career." 

The Failed Startup Risk Taker

"When everybody was talking about Facebook I was blazing a new trail with a product that was ahead of its time (RE: Product failed. Terrible, terrible idea) and was early (again, it was a dumb idea) to market. Because of the risk we took in getting X startup off the ground (it never got funding) I was able to transition this into the next step in my career, freelance consulting (I couldn't find full time work). 

The C-Level Executive Risk Taker

"They call me 'Risk Taker Randy."

"During my tenure at Major Corporation X, I navigated the bureaucracy of a massive multimillion dollar acquisition which I (stupidly) initiated based on data and analytics (not really, somebody does my data for me) that showed despite the risk, there was a high upside to acquiring Company B (there was no upside, we dissolved them after a month). Because of my decision to acquire Company B based on this data I was promoted (demoted) internally and transferred (shipped off) to India to lead (be ignored) our overseas Asia operation."

The Young Journalist Risk Taker

"I spent my graduation money on this Mac to do journalism thingies on it. I'm going to change the world."

"I graduated last year with honors (in culinary arts). I disobeyed my editor's direction because I had a story was too important to ignore (actually followed editor's direction but they didn't publish my story because it was factually incorrect). I quit (was fired) and brought my story to Publisher C because they saw the value (they had no editorial standards and I didn't charge them for it) and I was brought on full time (my dad is important). Because of my taking a risk to bring this story to the public's attention (it got under 10k unique views) it sparked an industry-wide shift in how donuts are produced (some poor schmuck got fired for not updating labels with correct sugar amounts)."

The Social Media Manager Risk Taker

"I grew the Facebook page from 8,000 Likes to 80,000 (bought them, no skill involved) by myself (nope) when I decided that our company needed to have a more comprehensive social media strategy. I was able to accomplish this in only a year (sad) because I took a risk of putting my reputation on the line internally to push through the importance of using social media to reach our target audience (had no reputation, was an intern). Because of this "go get em'" attitude, I posted a story that went viral (accidentally insulted women aged 18 - 45) that achieved over 70,000 engagements! (most of them angry faces, comments and hate messages.) "

If you've taken genuine risks that have paid off, highlight them. By all means! Scream them from the mountaintop. If you've made mistakes and learned from them, mention those too. If you don't know what it means to take a risk, be careful, because somebody might call your bullshit.