What’s the difference between a liar and a bullshitter? The liar at least knows the truth. The bullshitter doesn’t even have that — and that’s precisely what makes them perfect for the modern corporate world.
Where the liar manipulates reality, the bullshitter lives entirely detached from it — blissfully unaware of what’s true, false, useful, or coherent. The only goal is to look smart while extracting some kind of advantage.
I have a soft spot for bullshitters. They’re genuine curiosities: fluent in a language that technically resembles English, yet functionally operating as automatic generators of empty words.
Pure, industrial-grade waffle. The kind that makes your eyes glaze over mid-sentence.
The Bullshitter in the Boardroom
Behold the bullshitter in their natural habitat — the boardroom — solemnly declaring: “We need to create a cross-functional synergy oriented toward impact, because what this organisation really requires is a more agile, data-driven vision capable of activating our strategic mindset at scale.”
Translation: nobody understood a damn word, but everyone nods along — because nobody wants to be the idiot who asks what any of it actually means.
The System Rewards Bullshitters
And the system rewards them. Rightly so!
Because real competence is slow. It demands depth, commitment, results, accountability, and patience. How tedious.
Good on companies for rewarding bullshitters instead — at least they generate nonsense that sells, and they generate it fast!
Three cheers for the bullshitters, who have single-handedly built a new market where appearing competent has become more profitable than being competent.
Better this way, isn’t it? While the people actually building useful things are grinding away in obscurity, it’s far more sensible to let the hollow ones do the talking and spend their time cultivating their personal brand.
The bullshitters are right. We should thank them.
A Final Invitation
Not a bullshitter yet? Get out. I don’t want you here. From now on, I’m surrounding myself exclusively with people who feed me the kind of useless drivel that makes me feel clever — not with competent, boring, dusty people who actually know things.
Now that you understand the distinction: don’t you feel an overwhelming urge to become a bullshitter yourself?
Tell me in the comments.