Swagger

Swagger is the scarlet letter of mediocrity.

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'Mediocrity' includes competence.

The culture has lost firm hold of the term, because mediocrity is the goal and baseline (which, as I explained here, doesn't work because it creates a downward spiral). So I need to clarify that I'm not saying swaggering people are screw-ups.

Swaggering mediocrities get things done. In fact, that's why they swagger! They know they can get things done, which is hard, and makes them people who do hard things. As I explained at that last link, competence requires great effort, which is why so many non-remarkable people feel like kings and queens. And I won't even condemn them for it.

However, I've known some remarkable people, none of whom of acted like kings and queens. They lacked spare time for maintaining a facade, or even a self-image, because all effort went voraciously into doing The Thing. This leaves no assets leftover for seeming like a Thing-Doer. Striking the pose is a whole other gig.

Remarkable people rarely swagger. John Thorne, Bill Monk, Major Holley, Arnie Lawrence, David Lerner, Arnie Lawrence, Stewart Sharpless, Les Blank, or The Sainted Arepa Lady...none of them ever swaggered a bit. They were just people, though, in every case, world class.