Staying humble isn’t pretending you’re bad at things. It’s remembering who helped you get good.

False modesty is a kind of dishonesty, and people can hear it. The useful version has nothing to do with playing down your ability; it is keeping an accurate account of how you got it, which always involves people who taught, covered, drove you places or waited. Holding that in view makes you both truthful about your skill and hard to turn insufferable. Accuracy is the whole trick.

Name your strengths plainly when it is relevant, without the shuffle. Then tell one person who helped you get there that they did. Be specific, since a general thank-you lands on nobody.