Buzzwords aren’t all bad, but they can be vague, pretentious,
and lazy. Maybe they’re called buzzwords
because they’re like mosquitoes:
annoying, hard to get rid of, and they’ll make you itch. We’ve all heard
them, and most of us use them, but, like mosquitoes, they’re generally just
irritating and useless.
Empower: Seriously, I hate this. It implies that someone else has to give us
permission to have power. It’s condescending too. And demoralizing. The opposite of power.
Ideate: It just means “think.” Say “think.” “Ideate” makes you sound like
you think too highly of
yourself.
Bleeding
Edge: Gross. Cutting edge will suffice, if you must, and doesn’t
make me flinch.
Bandwidth: It’s trendy to use this word to identify a
person’s or team’s capabilities, as in, “we don’t have the bandwidth to
complete this project on time.” But as
someone who works in telecommunications, I prefer you use bandwidth the way it
was intended: the range of frequencies
for transmitting a signal.
Best
Practice: Something either
works or it doesn’t. If one technique is
more effective than the rest, why are there even any other options?
Outside
the box: I admit to using
this one, although I think it’s been beaten to death. I can come up with a different phrase, but
not a more effective one.
Silo: Trendy representation of a market “vertical,”
which is a buzzword in its own right.
It’s graphic, but then why don’t we use “skyscraper,” or even “elevator
shaft?” Anything that goes up and down,
as opposed to side-to-side, will do.
Synergy: an unnecessary way of saying
cooperation.
Anything
that’s been “ized”
- weaponize, incentivize, Google-ize, Simpson-ize, Putin-ize. Ugh.
Millennial:
Although I’m old enough have earned the right to say “in my day,” I don’t like
lumping people into such ambiguous groups.
A label for a cohort tends to be limiting, dismissive, and frequently
derogatory. Kids these days, am I right?
Hit
the ground running: just overused filler. I have faith that you can be more creative.
Culture – I
believe strongly in a company having a clear mission – it’s unifying and allows
for effective autonomy. But “corporate culture,”
is gobbledygook, misleading, and has come to mean “perk.” Free trail mix and a Foosball table in the
break room do not a culture make.
Core
Competency: Embracing
your fundamental strengths is not what “competency” means, and I’d rather do
business with a company that strives for exceptional than one that encourages
mediocrity.
Open
the kimono. Creepy, just creepy.
I’m not totally opposed to buzzwords, though, and there
are some I don’t hate. Although they can
be confusing and sometimes misleading, jargon can also act as useful shorthand,
making it easier for people in the same industry to communicate.
Disruptive: I’m torn on this one – I don’t like it, it’s
jarring and negative, overused, misused, and abused. It’s also an effective, if annoying, way to
say “significant change to the status quo.”
So, points for efficiency. Plus, it’s more interesting than “game changer.”
Move
the needle: Makes
me think of a speedometer, which is meaningful imagery for a powerful
performance indicator.
Leverage: It’s a diplomatic way to say “manipulate,” and
I’m all about diplomacy.
Ecosystem: I find this to be a lovely metaphor to
describe the inter-connectedness of your niche (or silo, if you prefer), your
competitors, your suppliers, and your customers. So many corporate buzzwords are violent, but
this one makes me feel peaceful and calm.
Or is that just me?
Sustainable: When
used correctly, I’m all for it. As in: Can we manufacture and sell our products, using
natural resources without stripping them from the planet? But not: “…the sustainable development
strategy makes it necessary to ensure close dovetailing with other community
policies[1].”
Can I get a collective, “huh?”
At this point, I could say the bottom line is that
buzzwords are low hanging fruit, and you would broaden the buy-in if your
vocabulary were new and improved. But I
hope what I bring to the table is more impactful than that. My pain point is that I don’t have an
actionable exit strategy. In an attempt to sum up, though, your takeaway should
be that going forward, you can grow your added value by compellingly drilling
down to a measurable metric. If you achieve
this, you will deliver a groundbreaking, best of breed outcome.
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