Language reveals a great deal about a person. The words you choose, how you choose to say them and to whom you say them gives clues about your level of education, your comfort level, even your outlook on life.
One of the worst language mistakes you can make in a business setting is using buzzwords the wrong way or after they’ve already “jumped the shark.” People who try to sound smart may leave the impression that they either don’t know enough about the topic or are insecure about addressing it. Here are some buzzwords and overly used terms you should think twice about using:
“Pivot”
A business pivot is a change in business strategy in response to new opportunities or a failure in its current approach. Pivoting is a good thing, and many successful companies have done it. The problem is that now everybody wants to pivot everything: When someone changes her mind in a meeting, she is “pivoting from A to B,” or your IT person might announce your company “is pivoting from using Microsoft Word to Google Docs.” No, my friends, you are simply changing your mind and switching from Microsoft to Google.
“It Is What It Is”
How insightful. That is almost as brilliant as “it’s not what’s it not” or “it can be what it can be.” This is an example of a circular definition, which, as we learned in grade school, should never be used. If you want to tell me something about “it,” please make sure that it’s something valuable, insightful and worth my time.
“Results-Oriented”
How many resumes, LinkedIn profiles and sales documents include this phrase? Too many! If you think you need to tell people that you’re “results-oriented,” it gives the impression that you think this is a big deal. Being results-oriented in business is like being “alive” for a human; it’s a given. People who are not results-oriented wouldn’t bother trying to sell themselves to begin with, so relax and just tell people exactly what the results are that you can offer.
