It is easy for others, but not for you, to detect the asymmetry between what you gain and what you give by doing, writing or saying.

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COMMENT ON THE ASYMMETRY: The most convincing statements are those in which you stand to lose (maximal skin in the game); the most unconvincing ones are those in which you patently (but unknowingly) try to enhance your status without contribution (like the great majority of academic papers that say nothing and take no risks); but it doesn’t have to be that way. As long as the substance and gain for others exceeds the showoff content, you are OK. Stay human, take as much as you can, under the condition you give more than you take.

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EARLIER APHORISM: Anything people do, write, or say to enhance their status or distinction shows like a mark on their foreheads, more visible to others than it is to them.

(modified)

via It is easy for others, but not for you, to… – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.