1. Frank Roche posted a couple of weeks back about this NY Times interview with George Cloutier. Frank’s post is entitled, “Worst HR and Business Advice Ever.”
Frank doesn’t actually say “bullshit,” but he does use the superlative “worst,” which counts. Frank, you’ve owed me a phone call for like 3 months, but as long as you keep posting stuff like this, we’re cool.
BTW, for those interested in the science of management, George’s management style is what’s known as “active management by exception.” It’s the 3rd most primitive form of management, after “passive management by exception” and “dead.”
2. The following missive came to me from Winston Wolf, who for all I know could actually be Harvey Keitel. I liked it, so I’m sharing it. Warning: he swears worse than I do.
You know what’s bullshit? Focus groups. A dozen people get paid a ham sandwich and diet coke to sit in a conference room to tell you what they think you want to hear. And then the marketing people come back and say “This ad tested great with focus groups.” Bullshit! Sell some fuckin’ product! Talk to some real consumers who are standing in the cereal aisle with a cranky three year old. Talk to people who are about to spend $20,000+ on a new car and see what matters to them. Talk to your co-worker who can’t link to your presentation on his smartphone to see how he likes the new app.
You know what also “tested great?” Communism! But not too many people are buying it these days…
3. Another reader of mine describes narrowly avoiding a well-done spam scam:
I’ve been receiving e-mails the last week for a brand new program that is “free”, to be launched on saturday. [The email sender] builds it up nice, and sends pretty good videos that more-or-less motivate me. Great! I get the e-mail, go to the site, and after seeing the very big “BUY” links after every paragraph, I decide to click on the “subscriber agreement” link. scrolling through it, i see that the program is free for 14 days; “after that you will be charged $97 per month automatic renewal and we reserve the right to change any fees and add on any additional fees. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING ANY EXPENSES AND CHARGES INCURRED ON YOUR CREDIT CARD BY ANY THIRD PARTY COMPANY’S THAT CHARGE YOU FOR SERVICES AND PRODUCTS.” (it’s in caps too…)
What?! you’re almost admitting that you’re a scam artist.
Whaddya mean, “almost”?
4. And now I just heard that liberal atheists are smarter than religious conservatives and I can already sense the oncoming tsunami of The Bell Curve-sized bullshit emotional backlash.
It’s a big, fat world out there, folks, filled with big fatheads looking to get bigger and fatter by confusing good people like you and—when I’m not being a fathead myself—me.
Of course, it’s all bullshit, so if you’ve got something you’d like to call out, give it a try.
I’d love to hear.
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Jason know how to get attention. LOL. Now I’m gonna have to call you every day.
So I was standing in line at a convenient store to pay for a gallon of milk and a bag of chips. The guy in front of me commented on my “nutritious” selection, heavy on the sarcasm. And so I peeked at what he was buying: two cases of Red Bull. Nothing else. Now that’s BS.