When you get to the office today, don’t forget to push the envelope toward a paradigm shift that will serve as a disruptive sea change that produces alignment with your exit strategy.
If you’re a businessperson, that’s got to make you chuckle a little bit. Or if you use those terms often, it may make you blush. (Stick with this post; there’s a hilarious video at the end.)
Merriam-Webster defines “buzzword” as: an important-sounding, usually technical, word or phrase often of little meaning used chiefly to impress laymen.
Sadly, we’re all guilty of using them in our content far too often. (Yes, that includes us here at 30dps.) Buzzwords have become so pervasive it’s hard not to slip into using them. Plus, they do add a bit of color to the often boring business lexicon.
But, when used too frequently, they begin to erode your credibility. Their typically vague nature can also leave listeners unsure of exactly what you are suggesting or requesting, causing serious communication issues.
So, how do you eliminate buzzwords from your vocabulary, or at least minimize them? The first step in any rehab process is, of course, to admit you have a problem. Take a look at the list of buzzwords/phrases below (thank you, Wikipedia) and see how many of them you’ve used (especially repeatedly) in the last week.
- Alignment
- At the End of the Day
- Break Through the Clutter
- Bring to the Table
- Buzzword
- Clear Goal
- Disruptive Innovation
- Diversity
- Empowerment
- Exit Strategy
- Face Time
- Generation X — Or simplified, "Gen X."
- Globalization
- Going/Moving Forward — Instead of, "In the future."
- Grow — As in, "Grow the business."
- Headlights — To gain visibility into.
- Holistic Approach
- Impact — Instead of, "Effect."
- Leverage — Used as a verb to mean magnify, multiply, augment, or increase.
- Moving Forward
- New Normal
- On the Runway
- Organic Growth
- Outside the Box
- Paradigm
- Paradigm Shift
- Proactive
- Push the Envelope
- Reach Out — As in, "I'll reach out to sales to get the latest figures."
- Sea Change
- Sisterhood
- Spin-up
- Strategic Communication — Or, if you want to get fancy,"Stratcom."
- Streamline
- Survival Strategy
- Sustainability
- Synergy
- Unpack — As in, "Let me unpack that statement."
- Wellness
- Wheelhouse — As in, "That's in my wheelhouse."
- Win-Win
Have you used way more than you want to admit? Yeah, me too. Let’s make a pact: I’ll cut back if you will. That’d be a real win-win ;-)
Check out this video from Avaya titled, "Stuff Business People Say." (I LOL'd repeatedly.)
