It is not done to call “bullshit”

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It is not done to call “bullshit”.

Is this the first principle, or the last word, in practical risk management?

Given, for all their pained protestations to the contrary, any commercial organisation is a self-perpetuating autocracy we should expect a great deal less licence to the free expression of uncomfortable opinions in every day practice than is virtue-signaled by the boss in his daily lectures on the telescreen.

Those who survive for a time in an organisation are shaped and enculturated by it. They do not so much learn not to call “bullshit”, but rather self-select for a disposition for it not to occur to them to call “bullshit”.

Such “brand ambassadors” in turn, are a crucial part of the recruitment process — almost everyone is part of the recruitment process, somehow — and so they select people who are a “good cultural fit” — that is, disinclined to call “bullshit”, or even notice it.

Now, “calling bullshit” might not be actively repressed in the organisation — to the contrary, the executive will implore their people to do so at every opportunity, and may even mean it. For people are not punished for calling bullshit: they just don’t. It is bred out of them. And for every well meant manager encouraging the frank exchange of views, there are three in HR who wish the world were a safe space were everyone was kind, all points of view respected, and those feeling fragile were free to lie down or have a cry.

Thus, organisations thrive and flourish despite, and not because of, their internal governance.

See also

• Consultation
• Otto’s razor: don’t assume malice where incompetence is an equally good explanation.
• Thought leader