Day 11

New York Day 11

Staff meetings I feel, are the bane of corporate existence. The only purpose they seem to serve is for people to say important sounding banal things just to sound important and knowledgeable. It is amazing to me the kind of BS that goes on in the name of STRATEGY meetings.

I just came out of a marathon meeting, and I guess my frustration is showing. If you were to quiz me on the discussion, trust me you will draw a blank. Just in case you think I am the only lackey in the vicinity, rest assured even the CEO, were she to be honest, would accept as much.

Truth of the matter however is that by the time you reach the upper echelons of management, you become a pro in using high-falutin, jargonistic words. I think it almost becomes a language in its own, which its frequent users understand very well. I am complaining now, but I guess that is where I aspire to be, eventually.

I also wonder whether this has more to do with kind of occupation you are in. Marketing for instance, can be in many cases an intangible exercise. Here, one is dealing with deliverables like memory recall, brand placement, brand image etc, which are terms abstract to an extent that we may attempt to measure them, but cannot really measure them truly. Sales is a different question, you either did or did not make those numbers. It’s a fixed quarterly, bi-annual, annual measurement. Not so in marketing. Guess what I am trying to say is that the amount of pointless bullshit you can get away with is determined, by your profession. Unfortunately for me, I am in one with the highest possible BS scope… Oh well, all of us have to justify that salary we draw…