Reading It

The Consultant announces he's here to help. Rollo asks: help with what? The Consultant starts with 'Industry best practice suggests...' and trails off. Rollo asks: suggests what? The sentence never finishes because there's nothing behind it. The Consultant's authority rests entirely on the phrase 'best practice,' which is a citation to nothing. You've sat through a consulting presentation that referenced 'leading frameworks' without naming a single one.

Deeper Read

Best practice is a phrase that sounds like evidence but functions as a spell. It works because nobody asks what's behind it.