The other week, I had coffee with someone who works at a big consulting firm. She spent 20 minutes explaining her role to me. Not because it was complex, but because she was trying to convince herself it existed. “I facilitate stakeholder alignment across cross-functional workstreams,” she said. Then laughed. “I genuinely don’t know what that means anymore.”
She’s not alone. I keep meeting people who describe their jobs using words they’d never use in normal conversation. They attend meetings about meetings. They create PowerPoints that no one reads, which get shared in emails no one opens, which generate tasks that don’t need doing.
The strangest part: Everyone knows. Walk through the financial districts of any major city at 8 a.m. and you’ll see thousands of people who look purposeful. Sharp suits, coffee in hand, calls already starting. The whole thing looks impressively important.
