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“You can’t talk about my sister—only I can talk about my sister!”
Same with my flaws. When I own them, it’s raw, real, and honest. When someone else points them out? It’s an attack, a low blow, or just plain rude.
This protective instinct about our own flaws gives us the opportunity to do something powerful: the opposite.
Snake Oil
Bryan Johnson, the billionaire anti-aging crusader, knows this well. When he launched his line of Blueprint supplements, critics called him a “snake oil salesman.”
So what did Johnson do? He beat them to the punch. His single source, cold-pressed, extra virgin olive oil is packed with over 400 milligrams of polyphenols — and he calls it Snake Oil.
With a wink and a smile, he defangs the critics before they can strike.
This is a transparency technique I call the B Rabbit Close, named after the film 8 Mile.
In the climactic scene, B Rabbit faces off against Papa Doc. Conventional wisdom says he should try to get the last word — the final argument. In sports, you want the ball last — score and go home.
But B Rabbit shows there’s a different path. If you go first, you can let the air out of the ball, leaving your opponent with no time and no path to victory.
When Papa Doc tells B Rabbit to go first, he falls right into the trap. Before Papa Doc can tear him down, B Rabbit flips the script. He lays it all bare — his trailer park roots, his dead-end job, his messy life.
“This guy ain’t no MC, I know everything he’s ‘bout to say against me,” B Rabbit starts in, showing complete self-awareness. He knows his flaws, and he owns them.
After stealing all Papa Doc’s thunder, he turns the mic on him. He knows his real name is Clarence. He knows he went to private school. And he knows he can’t improvise. His scripted attacks don’t work when B Rabbit beats him to the punch.
B Rabbit closes with “Here, tell these people something they don’t know about me,” and tosses Clarence the mic.
Disarmed and embarrassed, Clarence walks off the stage defeated.
Why It Works
Psychologist Sidney Jourard proved what B Rabbit knew instinctively: self-disclosure, sharing your flaws, makes people like and trust you more.
It works because of common humanity—we all have struggles, so when someone owns theirs, we connect. Who in that audience hasn’t felt less than, wanting to silence a critic?
That’s why Bryan Johnson’s Snake Oil works. By owning the criticism before anyone else can use it, he disarms the attack. It’s the B Rabbit Close—steal their thunder, own your flaws, and turn the audience into fans.
When we detect spin, when we hear excuses, when people dodge questions—these are red flags. People are wired to spot inauthenticity. Psychologists have a term for that too: bullshit.
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