I can’t remember when or where I learned about this idea, but I find it interesting and amusing. Let me set the scene.
You work in a corporation that leans pretty conservative, banking or financial management or the sort. It has been rough lately. Some of that may be your fault, but most of it isn’t. You have to present some bad news to upper management and you just know you will get your butt chewed about it. So what do you do?
You could lie, but you’ve got a pretty sweet gig and you don’t want to lose it over something silly like that. You could put lots of pretty graphs in the presentation to try to distract from the bad stuff, but you’re smarter than that.
Actually, you’ve been working towards this moment your entire career.
The tactic you use is monotony. And big words. And endless droning on about things that no one could possibly care about, but it is all relevant. You make your job look like the most boring thing ever. You use that boredom to hide any bad news – it is all at the end and no one cares about anything but getting out of the room at that point.
Now this isn’t a tactic I’ve ever used – it isn’t my style. But I find it extremely interesting because I’ve always had negative connotations about people who give boring presentations. But now I always wonder, are they just dull people, or are they just putting on an act?