We all know it when we see it - or smell it... I'm talking about office bullshit. Those words/phrases/commitments that we know are barely worth the air used to speak them, let alone the paper used to disseminate them. As promotional workers, however, bullshit should be near the top of our list of problems to tackle.
"Uh oh, where are you going with this? Aren't we - the promo guys and gals - the purveyors of bullshit?"
If that is so, God help us.
The key to good promotion isn't who can tell the biggest lie, or who can sucker the most people in. Leave that for the hacks that write promos for the nightly entertainment mags... "J. Lo - on camera - kissing another man! What does Marc think?" Hey, Mary Hart! Marc doesn't care, 'cause she's kissing another guy for a movie she's shooting... Marc Anthony can see through your bullshit teases just like the rest of us can, so spare me!
Anyway, where was I? Oh, right...
Our job is not to make up the truth; it's to dig for the sexiest part of the truth and then tease that part of it. Sizzle, not steak - but the steak does have to exist.
If we are looking to tackle bullshit, why don't we start by gauging our perceived bullshit with an exercise I learned from one of my professors. Get a pencil and some scratch paper... Go ahead, I'll wait...
OK, now draw three horizontal lines through the sheet, essentially splitting the page into three equal portions.
Now, in each of the boxes, answer the following questions:
Thinking of your organization, what is
1. Your secret motto for success?
2. The phrase(s) / slogan(s) / mantra(s) that you know is a lie, but travels around the office like a bong at a frat party
3. The unspoken truth about your organization
(These questions are somewhat ambiguous. That's by design. Answer them as you understand them.)
What my professor found in his research is that people tend to answer the first question about themselves - literally "Your secret motto". Most people don't have a clue what the organization's motto is, in most cases. So, what you get is a sense of how people perceive they can build their future.
The 2nd & 3rd questions get answered in view of the office, without fail. Look at the answers you put down. Did you fill the sheet? Did you barely come up with anything? That should tell you something right there. Are you surprised by these answers? That should tell you something else, too. How about you? Have you said these things? Have you perpetuated the bullshit? What does that tell you?
... or how 'bout a game of "Buzzword Bingo"? That'd be a much more fun way to assess the bullshit around you.
Get some trusted colleagues together. Make up some custom "Buzzword Bingo" cards before your next big meeting. It's easy to do. You can make one here.
Once you've set up the cards, print 'em out and then go into your meeting. Listen for those buzzwords - or, in our case, bullshit words - and cross them off, discreetly, of course. To incentivise the players, promise the winner some free coffee. You get the data. Which words came up? How often?
OK, why should anybody care? Here's the thing about bullshit: Audiences can smell it, too. It's easy to separate nicely crafted phrases from ugly unspoken truths. Claim your station is community friendly, but you can't remember the last time your on-air talent engaged with the public? Claim you have the best weather equipment in town, but no one notices any bells and whistles? Talk about how interesting your on-air talent is, but it's clear nobody would willingly share a cup of coffee with them?
Audiences see through the bullshit. It's why we hate when they call and complain about promos that over-promised - 'cause we know they've figured us out.
So how can promotions personnel be positively motivated bullshit detectors - first, for the viewer, and, second, for your organization? (Again, you should know that I see promotions people as perfectly positioned to act as internal consultants and problem solvers. Few people in a station get around like we do. We are every bit the "Connectors" Malcolm Gladwell described in "The Tipping Point". So, I think we can be catalysts for positive change, from bullshit to honest communication in our organizations.)
Let's get this straight: The purpose isn't simply to have the satisfaction of calling bullshit. That can be very satisfying, but occasionally dangerous (read "Beware the Shadow Organization" in our Sept. 2007 archive). The purpose is to get bullshit out of the way to get to some real work.
Bullshit serves a lot of functions for the people who engage in it. These functions include:
- A crutch
- Distraction
- Smokescreen
- Avoidance
None of the aforementioned functions have a place in a healthy organization, however. Healthy organizations deal in facts, making their decisions based on what they know they know, and implementing real solutions. Healthy organizations don't suffer bullshit; they see it for the waste of time and resources it is. (For a better handle on how really extraordinary organizations deal with their environment, you can't do wrong with "Good to Great".)
Bullshit, however, can only be eliminated when people actively and effectively address it. To do that, we need to consider the audience, and tailor messages that work for them (didn't I tell you promo personnel are perfectly suited for this sort of thing?). Again, we have some basic questions to deal with:
- Who's got their B.S. in B.S.? Identify the major culprit(s). Is it a person of influence within the organization? Worse, is it a member of Senior Management? What can you do to steer this person clear of bullshit?
Sometimes you just have to resort to a time-honored trick of mothers - take it away from them. Find proof that refutes the bullshit. Steer management to accepting some new / additional measures of performance. Any tactic that forces a head-on collision with reality will help. (Mind you, this can be the long road. Depending on the person upholding the bullshit, you could find this turns into a test of wills. Facts are facts, but sometimes they can be manipulated. And, when the target sees you're out to take his/her bullshit away, he/she'll probably fight you.)
Depending on your ties to this person, maybe you can do some digging. Is there a way to extract the truth out of this person? Now, this is tricky. People lock themselves into bullshit sometimes for protective reasons. Trying to take it away is like ripping a safety blanket from a child - it has to be done just so or the kid will blow a gasket. But, if you can get to a place of honesty, maybe you can sway this person into believing it's possible to let go of bullshit. (This is the easier road. It lets the perpetrator save face if he/she drops the bullshit on his/her own.)
- Where'd this bullshit come from? Consider the root causes of the bullshit. Is it simply that no one is willing to point it out? Folks, if it's that simple, why wouldn't you be the brave soul? But, if it's more complicated, you need to know. Is it a way to cover up bigger problems? Is it the symptom of an ineffective manager or management team? Depending on how systemic the bullshit is, maybe you just need to know so you can save yourself...
- How do I stop encouraging the bullshit? Bullshit is a cycle. One person offers it, another chooses to accept it. The way to slow the proliferation of bullshit is simple - Don't play party to it. Be respectful, but make it clear that you don't want to be feeding the beast. Push a little harder for truthful selling points in your promotion. Ask more questions. Demand transparency.
The hard part here is the lack of easy rewards. It's easy to give in, fudge the promotion, and enjoy the easy score of ill-gotten ratings. But it's shortsighted. No one's paying you to build an audience for one night.... (Well... If they are, you need to get out of there. Managers who go for the cheap score are the kinds of people who eventually become Jeff Skilling. You don't need to be anywhere near that.) Dare to try harder.
Look, after all this, the ultimate point is that it's not okay to partake in bullshit in your work. That isn't your job as a promotions professional. You've got to find what's special about your organization. Once you've found it, it's on you to tell the world. You're a cheerleader. A noisemaker. A fan. And you GET PAID for it! To cheapen that by allowing bullshit in your work, or in your environment, is to ruin the simple nobility that is available to you in your position. And that's no bullshit....
Wanna know more about bullshit? Try Harry Frankfurt, and Lois Beckwith.
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