Mismanagement and Ethics

I was checking through my email today when I come across a newsletter sent by SIM. There was an invitation to attend the seminar of a certain management expert. I thought that it's not a bad idea to attend the seminar for some inspiration. There was an introduction video. Checked the link:

The expert started talking about about use of Internet in the recent age, and how businesses should make full use of the Internet to drive their business, like "how effectively porn distributes online". Epic failure on 2 points... Firstly, IT is already not a new technology that was born a few years back, but about two decades already. An opening speech like this is either belittling the audience, or that perhaps he's incredibly outdated. On a sidenote, he's an old geezer... Secondly, porn is not an appropriate example, not because of it's obscene nature. Many businesses, especially in the earlier days were particularly inspired by the effectiveness of porn distribution on the Internet and hoped to imitate the success by doing advertising in the same way. It eventually leads to the use of pop-ups, banners and even tracker cookies. I'm not exactly sure of the effectiveness of such, but the younger generation of the Internet users find them to be a nuisance. Even if consumers could remember the name and product due to intense repetition from looking at the pop-ups and banners, it's usually only negative reinforcement.

The expert then went on to bring up the point on privacy, and advises all parents and consumers to adjust their facebook privacy settings. Make sense. We are revealing too much information without being aware of it. But the rationale he suggested... "You might not be able to get your dream job because of something inappropriate on your facebook, such as pictures of how you had fun at a party when you were 17, and that's not the real you". Is it good management practice to recruit people based on some facebook profiles, rather than on solid working experiences and expertise? How superficial can a management guru gets?

So who's gonna benefit from a speech like these? Spyware/Adware makers who help consumers block out unwanted ads and cookies; Internet advertising firms which continues to send out the propaganda unethical Internet advertising techniques are effective; The expert guru himself who charges a high price for people attending his seminars. Frankly speaking, I might be hasty to judge the guru based on a 5mins introduction video of him, but I decided that my money is safer with me when I'm lacking information to make better evaluation of the effectiveness of his seminars.