Corporate "happy talk"

The following observations aren't mine (wish I could articulate as well as this!) - but have been harvested from somewhere in the gapingvoid site (http://www.gapingvoid.com) I've reproduced (and slightly tweaked) them here because they sum up how I feel about most VC funded American Software Corporations that I've had experience of - not that I think these are specifically American or indeed software corporation traits, but in my experience that particular combination seem to bring these characteristics out oh so well.

• Most companies ignore their ability to deliver genuine knowledge and value, opting instead to crank out sterile happytalk that insults the intelligence of markets that are becoming literally too smart to buy it.

• Most corporations only know how to talk in the soothing, humourless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal. Same old tone, same old lies. No wonder networked markets have no respect for companies unable or unwilling to speak as candidly as they do.

• Companies that speak in the language of the pitch, the dog-and-pony show, are no longer speaking to anyone.

• Companies that assume online markets are the same markets that used to watch their ads on television are kidding themselves.

• Most marketing programs are based on the fear that the market might see what's really going on inside the company.

Over the years I have worked for several such organisations and all have had all of these annoyances (and many more), interestingly most have been really financially successful (what does that say about their markets?) These days I'm very glad to be out of "sterile happy talk" hell, I do however feel slightly hypocritical, the money I made from these essentially "stupid" companies has enabled me to recently create and fund my own software company, so, I get the chance to do it "my way"; let's hope I don't end up eating my own words, we shall see.