… or “career advice” from people who’ve never actually worked!
I recently attended a conference—you know, one of those corporate sermons where you’re promised a spiritual alignment with your professional chakras. The speaker, a sector disruption expert, spent 45 minutes explaining how to “think outside the box.” His résumé? Three TEDx talks, a premium LinkedIn account, and most importantly… not a single day spent in a real company.
This is the elegance of emptiness: a world where people sell compasses without ever having stepped outside. Speakers who coach you on team management without having survived a single Thursday team lunch. Authors who pontificate on corporate politics with all the insight of a boy scout suddenly dropped into the court of Louis XIV.
And then there are the rising stars: a 23-year-old prodigy, former HR intern at a fermented yogurt startup, now teaching you post-burnout resilience after 84 grueling days battling Google Calendar. His book? Roaring in hostile environments: leadership and cold-pressed juice. A masterpiece eagerly purchased… by his mother and two Amazon bots.
We’ve entered this strange era where competence is no longer a requirement, but a decorative option. Speech is confused with experience, as if reciting a first-aid manual made you immune to drowning. “I’ve never swum, but I’ve seen people do it on YouTube. Dive in with confidence.”
The grand finale? These same gurus, with intense gazes, solemnly proclaim: “Nothing replaces experience.” Beautiful. Truly. It’s like selling you a fighter pilot manual… while playing on my PlayStation flight simulator.
One day, who knows, maybe authenticity will come back into style. Maybe a speaker will finally get on stage and say:
“Hello, I know nothing, but I’ve read all of Wikipedia. My true talent is in Canva, and weaving emptiness onto a pastel background.“
That day, we’d clap. Not for their expertise, but for their refreshingly brutal honesty.
Wouldn’t that be… refreshing?
Until then, let’s stay alert. Because in this jungle of PowerPoint and pseudo-wisdom, the real danger isn’t failure. It’s believing that those who’ve never tried somehow know better than you how it’s done.
#PowerPointFromTheCouch #GurusWithoutGround #LeadershipAndYogurt