Corporate buzzwords and communication

A recent survey for Glassdoor has come up with the 12 most annoying corporate buzzwords. 

  • Corporate jargon is getting worse rather than better
  • The finance industry is guilty of excessive use of jargon
  • Advisers are vitally important translators

I’m sure none of you would ever engage in blue-sky thinking, or run something up a flagpole, but there is an important point to be made communication and jargon.

Financial Times former columnist Lucy Kellaway has fought a long and brave campaign against corporate jargon, but has conceded defeat. She said in a recent column: “Not only has production (of jargon) risen in aggregate, the worst individual offenders have gone on surpassing themselves, oblivious to my attempts to shame them into stopping.”

"...one of your most important jobs is to take this complex world and put it into a language that clients can understand."

The finance industry continues to be one of the worst offenders. Imagine how it looks to your clients. From active and passive, through ‘aggressive’ funds, or ‘balanced mandates’ – none of this could possibly mean anything to a client who works as, say, an interior designer. The problem continues to get worse as new products come to market.

While there is nothing advisers can do to stop the rot, one of your most important jobs is to take this complex world and put it into a language that clients can understand. Never have clients been in greater need of this skill.

And those buzzwords?

  1. Touch base
    To meet in person and talk about a specific issue
  2. Blue Sky Thinking 
    Creative thinking that breaks away from confined, ordinary ideas
  3. We're On a Journey 
    Suggesting a team has not reached its mission but is on its way
  4. Game Changer 
    Something that dramatically changes assumptions about how things are done
  5. No-brainer 
    Something immediately obvious or irrefutably a good idea
  6. Thought Shower 
    A meeting to freely discuss new ideas in their early stages
  7. Run It Up The Flagpole 
    To trail or present an idea to see what kind of reaction it gets
  8. If You Don't Like It Get Off The Bus 
    Suggestion that someone should just leave a company if they're not happy
  9. Mission Statement 
    An assertion of values an motivations with regard to a company and its work
  10. Pick It Up And Run With It 
    Continuing with a project that was started by someone else
  11. Punch A Puppy 
    To do something horrible for the long-term good of the company
  12. Let's Get Our Ducks In A Row 
    To fix different interests, parties and priorities in preparation for an event