Parroting buzzwords or mottos from articles and conferences won’t improve your business. You want people to think change is in the air but be honest, it’s all bullshit.

1. Startup Mentality

If you’re not an actual startup, this is bullshit. You’re not going to rally the troops with this catchphrase unless you back it up. A startup mentality means the CEO does grunt work too. Startups are lean teams with no barriers and a shared goal.

If you don’t know what each employee does and how to break them up into teams with focused goals — you’re bullshitting. Get back to making red tape and filing TPS reports.

2. People First

Notice anything odd?

If this is second on your company’s list of values, you’re serving an extra helping of bullshit. Just creating that kind of environment is as much work as running the business. Human resource departments exist to protect the company, not the people working in it.

“People First” means recognizing and growing potential superstars. It means caring about work-life balance. It’s fair evaluation of personal issues regardless of position.

If the VP of accounts brings in $5M a year, but harasses the executive assistants, don’t bullshit. You’ll get new EA’s (if there’s no chance of a lawsuit) — business comes first.

3. Open Door Policy

You’re running a business, not a high school. It doesn’t mean being impersonal, but you’re not in your office waiting for people to pop by for a chat, you’re working. You might even use this policy to weed out “whiners,” which makes you more of a jerk than a bullshitter.

If you don’t give equal time and consideration to the receptionist as you would an EVP, this is bullshit — everyone knows it.

4. Accountability

Are you Harry S. Truman? Don’t answer — you’re not. Taking responsibility for a screw-up means public embarrassment, loss of profit, and possible termination. Who wants that? Keep it 100.

This credo is the most difficult to uphold. You could almost get a pass on bullshitting this because this is so tough. It means everyone from the janitor to the CEO has to own their failures, otherwise you’re bullshitting people.

5. Bullshit-Free Zone

This is the most bullshit slogan of them all. We all bullshit people, sometimes it’s unintentional. Claiming that your company is free of bullshit is an oxymoron. You’re not going to tell people someone bought the company before the ink is dry. You’re not going to tell a concerned employee that the moron in accounting is the son of the president’s best friend.

We bullshit for all sorts of reasons, so don’t bullshit a bullshitter.

6. No Fear of Failure

This is bullshit because most businesses don’t tolerate failure. Many companies don’t consider their offices a learning environment. Sure, some people fail up but only because they know how to shift blame — that’s different.

Failing isn’t something a client or customer is cool with, so stop bullshitting. A better phrase is, “learn fast from your mistakes” and do so before anyone notices.

7. Entrepreneurial Spirit

This phrase implies, “We don’t know what we’re doing, but we want you to work late to figure it out for us.” Unless leadership has an entrepreneurial spirit and encourages it companywide, this doesn’t happen.

If you’re not ready to consider the intern’s well-planned, business-changing idea — you’re bullshitting. Change is scary, and that’s why it often happens outside of established companies.

Stop bullshitting yourself, and get back to work.