The Subtle Scent of Bullshit – Why This Blog Exists.
I’m Tom Kite. Not a guru, not a motivational speaker, not someone with all the answers — mostly just a bloke with a decent nose for smelling shite. And that’s how this blog started: noticing the smell of shite everywhere — in myself, in other people, and in the absurd situations life keeps throwing at you.
I spent years in marketing agencies, where the daily routine was either talking shite or smelling it. Sitting in client meetings, false-laughing at nonsense, stroking egos, closing deals I didn’t believe in, pretending expertise I didn’t always have — all just to survive. Clients who thought they knew everything, art-directing work before senior stakeholders, then throwing you under the bus when it inevitably fell flat. Colleagues who thought they were brilliant because of their glasses, cravats, or Red Wing shoes, while real creativity — curiosity, care, knowing what you’re talking about — got ignored. And me? I did my bit, playing along, laughing at my own shite, trying not to lose my lunch.
But this absurdity isn’t limited to agency life. Life, work, ambition, sports, society — we’re all full of it. Some days we’re talking shite, some days we’re smelling it, and most days it’s both. Imposter syndrome isn’t a bug; it’s the baseline.
A Smell Shite exists because someone had to write about it. Not just to mock, not just to vent, but to observe, catalogue, and occasionally revel in the absurdity of being human. To notice the nonsense, admit when we’re full of shite, recognize it in others, and maybe laugh at it along the way.
Expect reflections on growing up(ish), navigating careers, everyday absurdities, and the madness of the world around us. Sometimes funny, sometimes stinging, always honest — wry, unapologetic, and human.
The subtle scent of bullshit is everywhere — the trick is noticing it, breathing through it, laughing at it, and maybe, just maybe, writing about it.
— Tom Kite.
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Everyone’s talking shite. I’m just breathing it in. 