A Cure For Common B.S.
Newsweek, April, 2008
In “Beyond Bullsh*t,” Samuel Culbert, a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, tries to cure the scourge of cubicle culture: excessive b.s. He spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Tony Dokoupil:
Why did you write this book?
I wanted to explain why bulls––t has become the etiquette of choice in office life.
How do you define b.s.?
It’s telling people what you think they need to hear. It may involve finessing the truth or outright lying, but the purpose is always self-serving. And while I appreciate the role of some b.s. in keeping the corporate peace, it makes people feel beaten up, deceived— even dirty. When people talk straight at work, companies make out better because the best idea usually wins. In contrast, when people are bull-s––tting, they hide...
- 5 Rules for Immediate Annuities
- Death in the Family: 12 Things to Do Now
- Dumbest Things You Do With Your Money
- 6 Online Networking Mistakes to Avoid
- 401(k) Mistakes to Avoid
- 5 Economic Scenarios to Keep You Up at Night
- The Real ‘Best Places to Retire’
- Best Credit Cards for You
- 12 Tough Questions to Ask Your Parents
- The Real ‘Best Colleges’
- Home Buyer Tax Credit: How to Cash In
- Why You Shouldn't Bash Cash
- 8 Phony 'Bargains' and Better Alternatives
- Danger: 3 Debit Card Scams to Avoid
- 6 Myths About Gas Mileage
- 29 Fees We Hate Most
- Quick and Easy Ways to Boost Returns
- Best Stocks to Buy Now
- Lower Your Taxes: 10 Moves to Make Now
- New Jobs: 8 Lessons from Real-Life Career Switchers
- The New Job Market: Who Wins and Who Loses?
- Health Care Reform's Public Option: Everything You Need to Know
- Volunteer Work When Unemployed: Should You Work for Free?
- Whose Recovery Is This?
- Long-Term-Care Insurance: 4 Biggest Risks to Avoid
Most Recent Reference Articles
- Incumbent slayers
- Literary sleuthing
- Just wait to see what we have planned
- The earthquake spared nothing, from ordinary homes to the palace and the cathedral, and cost tens of thousands of lives
- Harry Reid, according to Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, authors of a new book on the 2008 election, was an early supporter of Barack Obama
Most Recent Reference Publications
Most Popular Reference Articles
- This is the title of this story, which is also found several times in the story itself - humor
- The Final Days of the Third Reich - parody
- 9 questions to ask your new lover: what you were afraid to ask, but always wanted to know
- Autumn Jackson found guilty in Bill Cosby extortion trial
- How Tyler Perry rose from homelessness to a $5 million mansion
