YVONNE'S TAKE: New York walk of fame

How did we prove we were working? How did our bosses know we were busy? How did governments account for what they had actually done? How did we survive without the all-important photograph?

Because these days, if it didn't make it to LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook or X... did it even happen?

Our leaders travel abroad and, suddenly, we are treated to a tour of their walking skills.

Presumably, something was discussed somewhere along the way.

And then there is the presentation. You know the one. Camera at just the right angle. Slides in the background. Hand gestures. Serious face. Occasional nodding. Evidence, it would seem, that work is being done.

And I have to wonder: Does the videographer get instructions?

“Wait, wait. Don't start filming yet. Let me walk in again.” “No, from this side.”“Hold on. Let me fix my hair. “Okay. Now we're working.”

Now, there is nothing wrong with communicating what you are doing. Public institutions should communicate. Businesses should communicate. People should communicate. But somewhere along the way, we seem to have confused communication with accountability.

A photograph of a meeting is not the outcome of the meeting. A video of a presentation is not the result of the presentation. A post saying “fruitful discussions” does not tell us what was agreed. And “happy to announce” is not, by itself, an achievement.

Whatever did we do before the mobile phone? Oh, I remember. We had performance reports. We had targets. We had deliverables. And those deliverables went beyond the number of hashtags delivered during one's tenure. We had results. And someone actually had to sit down and explain and show what had actually been achieved.

We are all doing it. The professional who posts the photograph of the five-hour strategy meeting. The entrepreneur who is “excited to announce” something that will apparently be announced in six months. The executive who is “honoured to have engaged” everyone from everywhere.

We have become very good at documenting the appearance of a life. But documenting the work is not the same as doing the work. Perhaps we need to rediscover a very old-fashioned idea.

You can still post the picture. Just don't mistake the picture for the performance. 

Because in the end, accountability is not a social media post. It is what happens when we ask: