In most organizations, nonsense doesn't just exist. It flourishes. It's wrapped in jargon, hidden in dashboards and celebrated in LinkedIn posts, and it has a pull of its own. Call it magnetic nonsense: activity that looks like progress and quietly draws attention away from the real job, which is making better decisions and helping people do better work.
Most of it isn't malicious. It's good intentions without follow-through, or systems built for appearances instead of outcomes. But over time it breeds cynicism and learned helplessness. People stop believing that effort changes anything.
Here's a simple diagnostic to find where it's building up. Answer each question yes or no, honestly.
Strategy and leadership
- Can your strategy be explained in two sentences, without jargon?
- Are you executing the transformation, or mostly talking about it?
- Do your initiatives change what people actually do, or just the slide deck?
HR and talent
- Do your people practices help employees, or mainly protect processes?
- Is performance management a living feedback loop, or an annual ritual?
- Are your hiring and promotion tools validated, or chosen because they sound good?
Data and metrics
- Do your metrics drive decisions, or just fill dashboards?
- Do people trust the data enough to act on it?
- Could you name one decision your last report changed?
Culture and communication
- Can employees challenge leadership without fear?
- Are your values lived, or laminated?
- Is psychological safety a reality, or a buzzword?
Consultants and advisors
- Are your consultants solving your problems, or selling you their frameworks?
- Do your internal teams understand and use the recommendations?
- Is your team more capable after the engagement, or more dependent?
Scoring
- 12 or more yeses: you're mostly doing real work. Protect it.
- 7 to 11: there's drag in the system. Look at the sections where the noes cluster.
- 6 or fewer: much of your organization's energy is going into performing work rather than doing it.
What to do with your noes
Pick the one "no" that costs you the most and trace it back. Usually it leads to one of three causes: nobody defined what success looks like, nobody measures it, or nobody is accountable for acting on the measure. Fix the cause, not the symptom. A new dashboard won't help if no one is accountable for acting on it.
And yes, question 13 applies to us too. A good advisor should leave you clearer and more capable, not more reliant. If you're ready to clear out the nonsense and get back to real work, reach out.