I’ve spent a decade talking about and helping people to become their own credential. Understanding what signals are and the role they play in opening up opportunity is useful to life success. But too much signaling with too little substance can hurt in the long term.
If no one knows about your ability to create value you will never capture much of it. But on the flip side , if there are no accomplishments or abilities that you have that people don’t know about, you’re overexposed, and over-signaling.
Ever see one of those awful resumes (all resumes are awful, but these are even worse) that are several pages long and list every single little thing a person has ever done, no matter how unimportant? Over-signaling. It quickly becomes a negative signal.
There is a subconscious expectation that people are more than their signals. It is assumed that, as people get to know and work with you, they’ll uncover layers of value, experience, and interestingness that weren’t part of the initial signal that caused them to interact with you in the first place. If it turns out your signal was comprehensive – or worse yet, exaggerated – the growth of that relationship comes to an abrupt and disappointing halt.
Leave a few tricks in the bag.