Your Competence Is a Liability. Here’s Why Smart People Pretend to Be Average.

You know the feeling. You finish a project early, so your boss gives you two more. You solve a crisis no one else could, and suddenly you’re the designated fixer for every dumpster fire in the department. You do good work, and your reward is… more work. Same paycheck. Same title. Just a heavier load and a bigger target on your back.

This is the Mimeng Principle in action: companies systematically turn ability into a liability. The very behavior they claim to want — high performance — becomes a punishment. And the smartest people in the room? They’re already three steps ahead, hiding their light under a bushel.

“When the system rewards mediocrity and punishes excellence, the rational employee chooses mediocrity every time.”

Let’s call it what it is: the “able person does more work” trap. In theory, it should come with “more pay.” In practice, managers love the first half and forget the second. They’ll heap tasks on the capable employee because they’re safe — reliable, efficient, cheap. Raise? Promotion? Maybe later. Right now, there’s a fire to put out.

You’ve probably seen this play out: The colleague who coasts with minimal effort gets the same bonus as the one who burns midnight oil. The quiet quitter leaves at 5 p.m. while the star performer stays until 9. The organization talks about valuing talent, but its incentive structure screams: don’t be too good, or you’ll be too useful.

There are three specific risks that make hiding your abilities the most rational survival strategy in most companies. First, the “more work, more mistakes” trap. When you’re the go-to person, every assignment is a chance to fail. One high-profile screw-up (or a project that bombs through no fault of your own) and suddenly your reputation is damaged. The safer path is to fly under the radar, keep your output average, and never volunteer for anything.

Second, the “whip the fast ox” syndrome. Managers who find a high performer will ride that horse until it collapses. They don’t protect your work-life balance; they exploit it. Meanwhile, the less capable colleagues enjoy leisure and freedom because they’ve established low expectations. The injustice stings — and it pushes the able worker to either leave or join the low-expectation club.

Third, the “internal competition” backlash. When one person raises the bar, others feel threatened. Colleagues resent you for making them look bad. You become the unwitting standard that management uses to pressure everyone else. The result? You’re isolated, mocked, or even sabotaged. The survival move is to dumb yourself down.

“In a culture that rewards conformity, excellence is a social disease.”

So what does the smart employee do? They adapt. They stop saying “yes” to every request. They intentionally lower their output to match the team average. They let some fires burn — because if they always put them out, the system never learns. They practice what the Chinese call “playing the pig to eat the tiger”: hiding real competence behind a mask of mediocrity.

Is this cynical? Maybe. But it’s also logical. When the company doesn’t link effort to reward, the employee who works harder is a sucker. The system has failed, and individuals are just optimizing for survival.

I’ve seen this firsthand. A friend in sales crushed every quota. His reward? A higher quota and no commission increase. He learned to slow down, hit 80% of target, and spend the extra energy on side projects. The company lost the value he could have created — all because they refused to pay for it.

The solution isn’t for employees to keep pretending. It’s for leaders to redesign incentives. “The only cure for the ‘able person’ trap is to make ability profitable.” That means: clear career paths for high performers, bonuses tied to output, failure-tolerant environments, and a culture that celebrates contributions rather than punishing them with extra work.

Until that happens, don’t blame the quiet quitter. Blame the system that taught them hiding is safer than shining. Your competence is an asset — but only if the company treats it like one. Otherwise, keep your head down, collect your paycheck, and save your best work for a place that deserves it.