We should probably explain ourselves.
Lapels Club is a collection of stories and observations, sometimes serious, mostly ridiculous, from inside the world of business. If you stick around, there’s even a chance you might learn something.
It’s written by someone who’s spent enough time in companies, meetings, pitches, projects and conference rooms to notice that the way business is described and the way business actually happens are often two very different things.
This is about the second one.
So, who are we?
“We” is admittedly doing quite a lot of work here. Lapels Club is written by me, an experienced professional, who’s spent a significant amount of time working with businesses and the people inside them.
Exactly who I am isn’t particularly important. In fact, anonymity allows me to talk about my experiences in a way that doesn’t get back to the people I have worked with. After all, most of the worst offenders likely lack the self-awareness to actually recognise themselves in my stories.
So things will remain anonymous. Names will be changed, details obscured, and stories may be adapted, combined, or mercifully shortened. The core experiences, however, will probably be familiar to anyone who’s spent enough (or too much) time in an office.
This isn't an anti-business blog
Quite the opposite. Businesses are utterly fascinating. They’re groups of people attempting to make (sometimes simple, sometimes complicated) things happen while dealing with customers, competitors, money, technology, deadlines and, worst of all, each other.
When it works, it’s impressive. When it doesn’t, someone usually schedules a meeting.
The point isn’t to sneer at people trying to run businesses. Nor is it to pretend that every manager is an idiot, that every consultant is a fraud, or that every single meeting should have been an email. Some meetings absolutely should have been emails though.
The interesting bit is understanding why apparently sensible people and organisations repeatedly do things that don’t make much sense. That’s where most of the stories live.
Occasionally, there may even be a point.
Underneath the questionable anecdotes and unnecessary remarks about PowerPoint, Lapels Club is intended to be useful. We’ll talk about management, strategy, marketing, clients, workplace culture, technology and whatever else happens to wander into the meeting room. We’ll take familiar business advice apart and see what’s underneath it. And sometimes, we’ll conclude that conventional wisdom is wrong.
But there may also be times when we’ll (reluctantly) admit that it’s right.
And sometimes, just now and then, the answer will be the deeply unsatisfying phrase beloved by consultants everywhere: It depends.
One final thing.
The objective here isn’t to expose particular companies or embarrass particular people. Names and identifying details are changed or removed where appropriate. Some stories may combine experiences from different places or times. If you’re reading something and thinking: “I’m sure I’ve worked with that person.” You probably have. Just not necessarily the same one.
Welcome to Lapels Club. Try to look busy.