Spin Doctors

So I'm going to skip the requisite "I promise to write in here more often" statement.

I think we're past that point now. We'll just play it by ear from here on in.

Anyhow, read something hilarious in the Globe and Mail's "Report on Business" today. Something that made me question the very nature of my business pursuits.

Here's the lead-up: Rafael Nadal is a famous Spanish tennis player, won the men's title at Wimbledon, won Gold in the Olympics, but looks a bit sleazy with long dirty hair and his ever-present sleeveless shirts and quite long shorts.

So recently Nike's marketing machine said they were going to give the poor boy a "makeover". Cut his hair. Give him actual shorts. They were even going to make him wear a T-SHIRT with sleeves! He was supposed to premiere his "New Look" at the U.S. Open in New York.

It didn't happen. He was wearing the usual old stuff. Nike's explanation is bloody hilarious, and I quote:

“Given the condensed time-frame leading up to New York, with Nadal just coming off the Olympics, there has not been adequate time for Nadal to fully transition to the new apparel, which introduces a fundamentally different silhouette in both short and shirt,” a spokeswoman said in an e-mailed statement.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?

He didn't like wearing the new shorts and shirt! What the hell does this "silhouette" thing even mean?!? This kind of spin drives me nuts, and apparently it's not restricted to politics anymore.

Is this what being successful in business is all about? Knowing how to spout garbage and make it sound like a Shakespearean soliloquy?

My comfort comes from the fact that I am both a Business Major and an Arts Major. I always felt I was learning the ways of business to "work on it from the inside": make it do some good things, and maybe even to prove that it is possible to be successful without outright deception. We're all people here, can't we just act and talk like normal human beings, even in business interactions?

I certainly hope so.