one of my favorite content creators of the 2020s is Lisa Beasley, and specifically her character, Corporate Erin. Corporate Erin Embodies the ridiculous nature of the corporate language. Lisa Beasley has mastered the art of what I would call Dry comedy, what makes corporate erin such a great comedy character is that she doesn’t look like an act. If you’ve worked a corporate job, you’ve heard her voice before. She is funny because she is someone you’ve heard before, yet have no idea who she is.
Corporate Erin is the Managerial logistics manager for management at MCmanagment. Or if you don’t speak corporate, she manages the management system, and makes about 8500 every 2 weeks, but don’t worry after taxes she’s just like you, struggling. She highlights how over the top and ridiculous corporate managers can be. She also highlights the corporate dry gulp, the ridiculous accent or verbiage. I don’t know about you the reader but I for one don’t see why I should have to say the words Cohesion, Synergy or Equity in any setting not relating to a fictional story. I also couldn’t fathom the phrase core competencies being real. This is all to highlight the ridiculous nature of Corporate America, but these people don’t realize how ridiculous they sound. The vast Majority of Corporate Erin skits are on Lisa Beasley’s Tiktok, but some are on youtube, and one of the most fascinating corporate erin content I have seen was a video between her and Ginny Clarke. It is ultimately a skit but it does highlight the problematic nature of these individuals. Corporate Erin sends thousands of emails a day, and has many ‘pivotal’ one on ones day as well, but what happens when she get’s a 1-1 and is put on a PIP (performance improvement plan). Ginny masterfully highlights the difference between Leading vs Managing, and how she has good intentions but lacks empathy for others. Corporate Erin is a great reminder of what happens when people in leadership positions are put in those positions prematurely. They believe they are doing good, but who wants to be bombarded with emails, or have one one ones at 9pm, or even 5am. This is what makes Corporate Erin such a gem of a comedy character, she’s parodying someone out there right now, sitting in an office.
Alex McHenry
The dread I felt whilst listening to her rattle off corporate jargon is a real testament to how accurately she can portray the soulless corporate types.. I agree that the ridiculously sterile language and overuse of emails and meetings provide nothing of real value—but I would argue these tactics are more malicious than they initially lead on. As a former Amazon “associate” (wage-slave would be a more accurate term in my opinion) corporate speech was used so often to obfuscate and soften the rather unethical practices they would employ. Rather than being well intentioned but misguided, I think a lot of it stems from lower-level managers’ want to disassociate themselves from the dehumanizing practices they are pressured employ by those higher up in Corporate America.
Prof L
Nice post and response! I wonder if Corporate Erin is the real enemy or if (as Alex suggests) we should look higher up in the “structurrrrre” for the ultimate source of what we dislike about the corporate environment…