After greenwashing & innovation washing, now come GDPR-washing & future-of-work-washing
You’re probably familiar with the concept of “greenwashing” which is a form of spin to convince your customers that you are “green” even when you’re not. If you’re in the business of selling plastic bottles, don’t convince me you’re green because you’re also planting trees on the side.
“Innovation washing” is a bit the same with tech: it’s when large established corporations pretend they’re ‘disruptive’ and ‘cool’ because they have an incubator or a foosball table. But if you’re the incumbent, you’re the disrupted, not the disruptor! And pretending to be what you’re not makes you even less appealing! (I know all you’re trying to do is improve your employer brand…but it’s usually a big fail). Plus, the word “disrupted” has been used soooo much that people are tired of it, so just drop it.
Though you may not be so familiar with the concept of “GDPR-washing”, if you are a European, you’ve certainly experienced the pain of it in your email inbox. Literally hundreds of emails from companies you don’t give a shit about who write things like “your privacy is our utmost concern… blah blah blah… GDPR… blah blah blah… May 25”. Not to mention the fact that most of these emails are actually illegal. I won’t even bother taking screenshots of actual GDPR-washing emails. Just look in your inbox. There’s something deeply disturbing about it all. The whole idea is to protect privacy. But the first result is utter aggression. Zero privacy.
The only word I can find to describe the whole thing is cognitive dissonance, i.e. the mental discomfort and psychological stress experienced by a person who is simultaneously given two contradictory ideas: protection and harassment, privacy and the lack of it, etc.
Last but not least, I’m now beginning to feel weary of a new form of cognitive dissonance or misalignment of values, which I will call “future-of-work-washing”. Naturally I’m partly to blame, given that I’ve been using the phrase and making a living out of it for three years. But somehow, now, it’s EVERYWHERE!!! Future of work this, future of work that, “embrace the future of work”, “be part of the future of work”… often coming from established corporations that have extremely old-fashioned management models, companies where the reality of work is anything but fulfilling. In general, the more bullshit a company’s jobs really are, the more it will speak about the “future of work”.
Let me finish this little rant with some advice.
- Remember your Simon Sinek and make sure your HOW, your WHAT and your WHY are aligned.
- SHOW, DON’T TELL!
- Keep it simple. Often silence is gold.
- Don’t be a sheep. If you see something everywhere. Do something different.
