Business buzzwords are the basis of a unique language spoken by CEOs and managers, but it drives the rest of us crazy. Catch up on the latest jargon.
The way business leaders talk is apparently driving many people to distraction because there are a lot of people policing our language. Geoffrey James suggests 7 Buzzwords to Immediately Remove From Your Business Vocabulary in an article at Inc. Kamara Toffolo at The Muse offers 19 Things You Need to Stop Saying in 2016 (Because You Sound Like a Corporate Robot). At Small Business Trends, Annie Pilon offers 30 Business Buzzwords You Should Stop Using. Thompson Writing & Editing has a giant list-to-end-all-lists of Overused Business Buzzwords, and we’ve previously pointed to the MBA Jargon Index. Business buzzword speak is apparently a global problem because even the Queen’s English is under assault – see this list compiled by British employment group Reed: Business bunkum: the 64 worst bits of office jargon (and what they really mean).
But why focus on this low-hanging fruit when we could preserve our intellectual capital for mission critical issues? You might as well get on the bus and go with the flow. We found a fun little video – Horrible jargon we got used to – which shows that today’s bleeding edge terminology is nothing new. Business blamestormers of yesteryear were also policing innovative corporate speak, but at the end of the day, it turns out that yesterday’s jargon is today’s everyday usage. So go forward and actualize to your heart’s content!
While on this topic, we’d be remiss if we didn’t re-post an old favorite: Mission Statement, “Weird Al” Yankovic’s wonderful homage to corporate jargon