Devil is in the Detail. Not in an Infographic

We all hate Corporate Drivel. And now we are submerged in Infographics for any message.

I am well aware that by posting this content as a #Fixit I will incur in the wrath of hundreds (thousands, hopefully) of Linkedin part-time marketeers. No issue with that.

The digital age has had an interesting effect on the way people communicate within company walls and to the outside world. The advent of Twitter, Fb and LinkedIn of course has presented an opportunity to share corporate content and information with great ease, and great speed. The side effect is that our audience is expected to consume content in a matter of seconds.

It is right and just to share immediate content on social media. That is what they are there for. What worries me is the actual dumbing down of information at a corporate level to appease colleagues and managers who do not have time to understand or listen to their teams.

The overuse of infographics is a consequence of 15 years of corporate drivel being pushed down our throats. The incredible amount of corporate bulls**t that gets passed on in internal or corpoate documents has been so high that the natural reaction was to get rid of it all (good idea) and simplify concepts to a point where nobody could argue against that (bad idea). We have thrown out the baby with the water.

Corporate drivel was born out of necessity, to appease shareholders, the general public (which by all means hates bad news and listening to the sad truth of risky business) and make employees feel that their workplace was a fuzzy and cozy place where to snuggle in a career of empowerment, networking, accountability, vision, etc.

Now that hard times have come along and corporate drivel is confined to press releases (yes, they still write that way) we have collectively resorted to explaining scenarios, defining possible actions and pushing for decisions by oversimplifying with pretty images. The trend is endemic. Actually, no presentation can be had in front of management without some form of simplification.

This has notable consequences:

• You will water down the overall message
• You are probably repeating the same concepts of the previous 8 quarters (or the guy before you)
• There is a convergence towards a no-debate meeting where facts are thrashed out less
• Less competent management will be inclined to make LESS questions instead of MORE (thus grasping less overall, at everybody's risk)

Pay attention to detail: this separates professionals from amateurs.

Detailed planning and preparation, facts and data are crucial to building a decision or enabling one. At the same time, they give credence to the listener that an actual process and vetting has been done beforehand. Opinions may differ, but at least the discussion is based on data from research or something solid.

Technical Memos and Case Studies seem to be the realm of technology companies and consultants. That should not be the case, every employee who is tasked with presenting or working on a shared issue should be be capable of analysis activity. I have seen this perspective in Italy: when the foreign bosses were coming over, directors were scrambling to middle managers for presentations, slides, graphs. Nothing could be longer that 3 bullet points (that apparently is the attention span of a senior executive). I contest that. It is lack of substance, and poses good question to read one of the thousands of Influencer posts on why you should resign.

Are you reposting this stuff? It says nothing about you.

My Linkedin timeline is full to the gills with reposts. Apparently we have become devoid of ideas and opinions. The "motivational phrase" images by famous dead people or great leaders will not change your life. Period. Reposting content from other companies, with no comment (even a "worth reading" adds enormous substance) seems like a random overactivity of your mouse. Have you EVER seen content that anyone could disagree on? I have not. Datasets apart, it is a subtle art form of corporate drivel. It works if there is comment, otherwise it is quite meaningless.

I realize how unpopular this may be to many of you. I hope some of you actually disagree. This said, be reminded that the decision makers, at every level, decide on facts, figures and it is in everyone's interest that we deliver detailed, confident and quality content whenever possible. Few people do that. It gives you authority, and it also gives you the blissful possibility of saying "I do not know" because there is no basis for a decision.

Edoardo is a Partner at Bell&Ruev, spends his time travelling between London and Milan, and is a professionally outspoken member of the disagreeing community towards politically correct thinking.

I do not have a personal website to link where I can sell you my webinars, books or merchandise and I am extremely sorry I cannot peddle any of the above in any form. Thank you for taking your time to read this post in full.