“PowerPoint Makes Us Stupid”

The title is a direct quote from General James Mattis of the Marine Corps on the source of considerable debate in the military. In a New York Times article, General Stanley McChrystal, leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, is also quoted as saying, after looking at an incomprehensible PowerPoint slide last summer: “When we understand that slide, we’ll have won the war.” Notwithstanding these anti-PowerPoint sentiments (and others, see Execupundit and Cultural Offering), most military leaders believe that “death by PowerPoint” will prevail.

It’s apparently as deeply ingrained in military culture as in corporate culture. The Times piece makes some observations that should, however, spell the death “of,” not “by” PowerPoint. It’s like a creeping, obsessive insurgency. It creates an illusion of understanding. It stifles discussion, critical thinking, and thoughtful decision-making. It relieves the presenter of the need to polish writing to convey an analytic, persuasive position. One thing not said in the article is that PowerPoint is destroying the art of public speaking.

One of the most important bits of information passed along by the military and the Times is the inordinate amount of time people spend putting together PowerPoint presentations. A lot of employees spend a high percentage of their time every day working on PowerPoint presentations. How they do it is a great mystery, but no more of one than how millions of workers routinely sit in rooms all across the country in PowerPoint agony.

But if the military can’t or won’t stop it, who will? We often talk about the smoking gun email and how emails are what lawyers look for in prosecuting an employment lawsuit. They’re also looking for PowerPoint slides. Most of them contain useless, mind-numbing information. But almost always, there’s a red-hot bullet point that makes the employer’s defense look stupid.