[shrikant]

> I get the impression there's a certain group of people who read lists like these online or in a book somewhere and go about mimicking them without understanding the underlying prerequisites.

As a somewhat of an aside, I notice this disturbing tendency a lot in rookie salespeople. One of the bits of sales advice everyone appears to have read in some list somewhere is something about mirroring and first names.

It would creep me out (and trip the "douchebag alert!" signal) every time I spoke to a salesperson who would poorly imitate my mannerisms and keep jamming in my first name between their words.

[sukoto]

Fake it till you make it?