Monday, September 17, 2007

Gobbledygook. Anyone else had enough of meaningless gibberish in business documents?

Leverage...
Cutting edge...
Scalable...
...and the list goes on.

When did our business communication stop being authentic and start being a frantic race to leverage robust world-class business intel that offers flexible, yet scalable, capabilities to help achieve (I really wanted to say "leverage" again) potential and future stakeholder value?

Um, I feel a little bit better. Can you tell I've been reading some deadly emails today...and casting a jaundiced eye to some that I've recently written as well?

What is your least favorite gobbledygook business term or phrase? Bonus points if you're willing to write it on a 3x5 card, set it on fire and never use it again.

Chime in on the discussion here or here.

2 comments:

Scott Forgey said...

Wow.

I have heard so much of this. My favorite thing to do when people use this sort of pseudo-intellectual speaking is ask them to define it and watch as horror spreads across their faces.

This word proliferation masks the fact that no one is thinking.

Lalita said...

Scott, not only are people not listening, they're not really saying anything meaningful, either.