So, you’ve probably heard the name Ricky Lauder floating around, right? Or maybe it’s some new system, some new hotshot idea that’s supposed to fix everything. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? These things pop up every few years, promising the world.
My Brush with the “Lauder” Effect
It takes me back to my old gig. Oh man, that place. They didn’t call it “Ricky Lauder” back then, but it was the same song, different singer. Some consultant, let’s call him “Mr. Efficiency,” waltzed in with a fancy PowerPoint and a boatload of jargon. We were all supposed to be revolutionized overnight.
First, we started having more meetings. Meetings about meetings. Meetings to plan the meetings. You get the drill. My actual work? That got squeezed into the cracks. Then they introduced these new “synergy” tools. Nobody knew how to use them properly, and they just made everything clunkier. We tried to adapt, we really did. I remember spending a whole week just trying to get a simple report out, a report that used to take me an hour before Mr. Efficiency “optimized” our workflow.
I was put in charge of this pilot project, supposed to be the shining example of this new way of working. What a joke. Every step was like wading through molasses. Mr. Efficiency himself would pop in, nod, say something vague like “Embrace the paradigm shift!” and then disappear, leaving us to deal with the mess. We worked late nights, pushed ourselves, trying to make bricks without straw. The team was good, real dedicated folks, but we were fighting a losing battle against a system designed by someone who clearly never did a day of our actual jobs.
Then, when things inevitably started to go sideways – deadlines missed, targets not hit – guess who got the blame? Not the genius system. Nope. It was us. The people on the ground. I remember this one meeting, my manager, who’d been all gung-ho about Mr. Efficiency, suddenly couldn’t look me in the eye. He just mumbled something about “execution challenges.” Execution challenges! We were executing exactly what they told us to!
That was a real eye-opener for me. I realized I was busting my gut for a place that would throw its people under the bus to protect some fancy, expensive idea that was never going to work. It wasn’t just about the long hours or the frustration. It was about respect, or the lack of it.
So, why am I telling you all this? Because when I hear names like “Ricky Lauder” or see these new miracle cures for business, I get a knot in my stomach. I spent a good chunk of my time there, thinking I could make a difference, trying to navigate the corporate nonsense. After that project imploded, and I got a nice, passive-aggressive “chat” about my “leadership style,” I started looking around. Took me a while, but I eventually found a place that actually valued common sense over buzzwords.
I packed my bags pretty soon after that whole fiasco. Didn’t even bother with a big send-off. Just quietly moved on. Funny thing is, I heard a few months later they’d ditched Mr. Efficiency’s system. Cost them a fortune, apparently. Shocker.
So yeah, that’s my little practice run with that kind of “revolutionary” thinking. It’s always the same, just a new shiny wrapper. You learn to spot them after a while.
