I live down in the South. Some parts are still referred to as the “Bible Belt,” but where I live that mostly means old churches on nearly every corner of small towns and cities.
Most of them have little message boards with service times, but a few regularly post pithy little sayings:
- “Acting perfect in church is like dressing up for an X-ray”
- “The best vitamin for a Christian is B1”
- “Do you spend your time in God’s book or Facebook?”
Corporate people like their platitudes too. These get attributed to just about anyone from Simon Sinek to Oprah Winfrey.
- “What if we train people and they leave? What if we don’t and they stay?”
- “Culture eats strategy for lunch”
- “Work hard play hard”
- “You don’t hire for skills; you hire for attitude. You can always teach skills.” (not recommended for brain surgeons)
Finally, we all get “platituded” by well-meaning friends and family don’t we?
- “It will look better in the morning”
- “I know how you feel”
- “It’s always darkest before dawn”
- “You just have to have more faith”
And in each of the examples, it’s a Band-Aid for what should be a tourniquet. Most of the reasons for the platitudes have deeper roots. If you take your daily wisdom from the platitudes of a church sign, Facebookand LinkedIn, or your well-meaning friends, you might become intellectually and emotionally malnourished.
The problem with platitudes is they attempt to reduce complex problems into a simple, one sentence motivational fix.
Can’t seem to make a good hire? Just hire somebody who fits and train them (again, not recommended for brain surgeons or anyone else who needs to do more than operate simple processes or machines.
Worried that you won’t be able to pay your bills because your bank account is empty, and you don’t have a job? Just have a little more faith.
While it makes the person who says it feel like they’ve helped you, it really doesn’t make a difference in the grand scheme. Worse, it can frustrate the person on the receiving end of the platitude.
So, this week, maybe the best thing to say is NOTHING. Reach out and give someone a hand instead. Sometimes, maybe just a hug will do. I read somewhere that anyone can LOOK wise, it’s when they open their mouth that the truth comes out.
Where will your wisdom come from this week? How will you share it?
