Yes.............Corporate Lingo There is a New Religion in town, and I like to call it The Corporation. Every good Corporation has it's own "Bible", usually a manual on how to behave, how to dress, and of course how to speak The Corporate Language. Which is all fine and good, but now there is this whole sub-culture of people, non Corporate I might add, who use the "Lingo" to sound intelligent.
If you don't know what the Catch Phrase means, please do us all a favor and don't use them. As comical as it can be, used in the wrong context these Catch Phrases take on a whole new meaning in stupidity.
I had always felt early on that the use of catch phrases themselves was a way of making dumb shit sound important, which I still believe, but I have also come to know why Corporations do what they do, and use the "Lingo" that they do. Standardizing rules and regulations with numerous employees is essential to keeping the Machine working. Inspiring Happy Productive Workers is also key to making impossible deadlines, and the "bit extra" every single working person is not only asked to do, but expected to do without compensation.
Some of the "Kids" I talk to today almost sound like they are speaking Ebonics Corporate Lingo. They have learned the phrase, but have no idea what it means at all. They just figure it makes them sound like they know what they are doing, when in fact it has the opposite effect.
Some of my favorites I hear on almost a daily basis, and I don't work for a Corporation!
1. Team/Player/Effort
2. Motivated (The word has been destroyed with Corporate Use)
3. Inspired (gag!)
4. Pro-Active
5. Going Forward/ Together
6. Forward Planning
7. Touch Base
8. Brainstorm
9. Multi-Task er
10. Step up to the Plate
11. Outside The Box
12. Out of The Loop
13. My Door is Open on This
14. 360 degree Thinking
15. Leverage
16. Feeding it Back
17. Living The Values
18. 110%
19. Impact
20. Actioning
21. Action Item
22. Synergy
23. Deliverables
24. Value-Added
25. Incent/Incentivise
26. Integrated Solution
27. Challenges (Which used to be call Problems)
28. Conversate
29. From The Get Go
30. Pre-Prepare
31. I've Got You On My Radar!
32. Ducks In A Row
33. Win/Win
34. Delayering (Which means some Managers are getting Fired!)
35. Knowledge Acquisition (Hiring Smart People)
36. Skills Development (Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks, rather than hiring new Dogs! Usually with No New Pay!!)
37. FYI (The Phrase now makes me Cringe)
38. My All Time Favorite....Integrity
If you don't know what the Catch Phrase means, please do us all a favor and don't use them. As comical as it can be, used in the wrong context these Catch Phrases take on a whole new meaning in stupidity.
I had always felt early on that the use of catch phrases themselves was a way of making dumb shit sound important, which I still believe, but I have also come to know why Corporations do what they do, and use the "Lingo" that they do. Standardizing rules and regulations with numerous employees is essential to keeping the Machine working. Inspiring Happy Productive Workers is also key to making impossible deadlines, and the "bit extra" every single working person is not only asked to do, but expected to do without compensation.
Some of the "Kids" I talk to today almost sound like they are speaking Ebonics Corporate Lingo. They have learned the phrase, but have no idea what it means at all. They just figure it makes them sound like they know what they are doing, when in fact it has the opposite effect.
Some of my favorites I hear on almost a daily basis, and I don't work for a Corporation!
1. Team/Player/Effort
2. Motivated (The word has been destroyed with Corporate Use)
3. Inspired (gag!)
4. Pro-Active
5. Going Forward/ Together
6. Forward Planning
7. Touch Base
8. Brainstorm
9. Multi-Task er
10. Step up to the Plate
11. Outside The Box
12. Out of The Loop
13. My Door is Open on This
14. 360 degree Thinking
15. Leverage
16. Feeding it Back
17. Living The Values
18. 110%
19. Impact
20. Actioning
21. Action Item
22. Synergy
23. Deliverables
24. Value-Added
25. Incent/Incentivise
26. Integrated Solution
27. Challenges (Which used to be call Problems)
28. Conversate
29. From The Get Go
30. Pre-Prepare
31. I've Got You On My Radar!
32. Ducks In A Row
33. Win/Win
34. Delayering (Which means some Managers are getting Fired!)
35. Knowledge Acquisition (Hiring Smart People)
36. Skills Development (Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks, rather than hiring new Dogs! Usually with No New Pay!!)
37. FYI (The Phrase now makes me Cringe)
38. My All Time Favorite....Integrity
1 comment:
Hi Jessica,
Thanks for bringing this compendium of bullshit terms... to the plate. d-: Not only in the corporate world, but elsewhere in our society (another example salient in my mind is wannabe-gangstas, and those who add swear-words to their arguments to lend their ideas a perceived extra significance as well as to intimidate others), I think people attach overmuch importance to their jargon. It makes them feel big, and sadly does often seem to raise their status in the eyes of other (ubiquitous) jargon-slingers.
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