The problem with being a business guru (albeit self-appointed) is that people sometimes pay far too much attention to what I have to say. Not those around me, like the wife or the kids or the dog. They don't pay any attention at all. I'm talking about strangers, who don't know any better.

Granted nowadays, we all need to be able to seize every good idea we can from whomever we might be able to seize it. But far too frequently, far too much of what's getting seized is absolute first-class dreck.

Guess what? You don't need to know what you're talking about to get your face on TV or your words plastered across the pages of some magazine. You don't need to know what you're talking about to get yourself up on stage, attached to a microphone, pontificating at some convention. I do it all the time and, while I always give it my best shot, any claims I might make about even approaching infallibility would immediately be hooted down by the wife. Or the kids. Or the dog.

What counts nowadays isn't what you have to say. What counts is that you say it in an attention getting way.

And when it comes to getting attention, there's nothing as effective as well thought out, well crafted dreck. And I'm not just talking about business gurus. I don't want to get into politics here, so let's use an example that's non-political. Let's use Rush Limbaugh.