Whether due to economic uncertainty or the spectre of AI replacing jobs, competition in the workplace appears to have grown especially stiff in recent years. It feels like we almost have to project an inflated version of ourselves if we want any chance of getting a new job or finally securing that promotion.

This week, Mohanbir Sawhney, a Kellogg clinical professor and director of the Center for Research in Technology & Innovation, offers us a way to avoid this “self-puffery”—and grow while we’re at it.

Plus, a lesson about customer loyalty for businesses.

Taller than our shadow

It’s often necessary to cast ourselves in a favorable light on social media, in resumes, in job interviews, and even on first dates.

“But in doing so, sometimes we end up creating a shadow of ourselves that looks taller than who we really are,” Sawhney says in a video on humility.

When this projection stretches beyond the bounds of reality, we can start to feel disconnected from ourselves, from others, and from opportunities to grow.

That’s not to say that we shouldn’t promote ourselves or polish our brand. Rather, Sawhney suggests we do so, but with humility—by standing tall quietly, without fanfare or drama, and by being confident, but in an understated way.

This approach is certainly easier said than done. Fortunately, Sawhney describes some practical steps we can take now to help us get there.

“Let others discover your strengths rather than declare them [yourself]. Speak about your present work rather than your past accomplishments. Be open to learning and to criticism. Promote others more often than you promote yourself.”

“It’s not about hiding your light,” he adds. “It’s about alignment between who you say you are and who you actually are.”

Watch more on LinkedIn.

Sound business decisions

When U.S. grocery retailers like Walmart and Kroger announced in 2024 that they would start using electronic shelf labels (or digital price labels) in their stores, it naturally raised alarm bells for regulators and policymakers.

This new technology would, in theory, give retailers the means to suddenly raise prices during peak shopping hours.

“Some people might say that the fact that these stores are willing to pour so much money into installing these electronic shelf labels is prima facie evidence that they plan to surge prices, because there’s no reason to install them otherwise,” says Robert Bray, a Kellogg associate professor of operations.

But when Bray and his colleagues examined hundreds of millions of product transactions at a major retailer’s grocery stores across the U.S. over a five-year period, they found virtually no signs of surge pricing. Despite having access to a technology that they could potentially use to boost their profits, large retailers have largely refrained from doing so. And this ultimately helped them retain customer loyalty.

The decision may offer a critical lesson for other businesses and business leaders as well.

“Now we see that keeping prices relatively stable was not a technological limitation; it was a sound business decision,” Bray says. “Other businesses can look at what this company did, and at what supermarket retailers have done for the past hundred years, and realize, ‘Hey, you know what? Keeping prices stable and not trying to extract every single penny from every single transaction might actually be good for business in the long run.”

Read more on Kellogg Insight.