Beware of false prophets: Quick Rant

There comes a time where we truly need to consider who we really are within the tech community. Over the last few years, there has been this wave of a cult-like following of business idols which is shaping our narrative in the most superficial of ways. The Gary Vaynerchuk, “art of the hustle” style narrative sounds attractive and edgy, yet carries a sense of emptiness and impracticality when you gaze a bit closer. Of course, the majority of his “advice” comes with quite a healthy price tag and potentially a small follow up pitch to meet privately or purchase a book (not ‘hating’ get your money Gary Vee). However, have we really asked ourselves, “what are we really getting here?” A large marketing Budget and an anti-establishment demeanor can be enticing, but where are the actual steps to reach his level of “success”? 

Really buddy????!!!??!...

Inspirational talks are excellent when they are meant for inspiration and not designed to create a superficial following. We all love the Tony Robbins and Jack Mah video clips talking about their rags to riches, yet how many construct templates on how YOU actually get there? So far, the advice has simply been, “work hard, challenge the norm and have faith in your ideas”. However, is that really a profound message? Sounds a bit like “Move fast and Break things” to me… Thanks Steve. 

We are becoming a Podcast culture. A group of people aimlessly following sound bites and buzzwords polluting our presentation decks. We have reduced ourselves to what sounds normal versus truly bringing innovation into our concepts. This is impacting how we develop products and is making us produce new technologies as add-ons instead of creating something completely new. You can’t “disrupt” an industry if your product depends on the existence of another company. (I.e. you have not brought innovation when your product is reliant on Facebook or Google to function.) I am hoping that this trend does not take our industry to a place of being led by followers, but I am losing hope.