"What you do thunders above your head so loudly, I cannot hear the words you speak" - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Okay, I have to warn you up front that this week's blog entry is going to be brutally honest and a little negative.  My patience for corporate buzzwords run amok finally ran out this week and its about time someone put their proverbial foot down. 

Earlier in the week, I attended a meeting so laden with buzzwords that I finally couldn't take it anymore and just got up and left the meeting.  Here's just a snippet, one of far too many, from the meeting: "Okay...so let's go through some pluses and deltas, where pluses are good things and deltas are things that aren't so good."  What?!?!  If you have to define what you just said, its crap to begin with.

What ever happened to just saying what you mean?  Why do people feel it necessary to use this ridiculous vernacular?  Is it to make you feel inadequate?  Probably.  Is it to avoid having the appearance of being insensitive?  Getting closer.  Is it to make them sound important?  Most definitely. 

These are the buzzwords that were brought forward during the meeting last week (yes...I wrote them down before leaving).  I am sure many of you can add some other ridiculous examples:

• "Low Hanging Fruit" = Meant to represent things that are easily achievable; Actually represents things that should have been taken care of already.
• "Peel Back The Onion" = To look deeper or find the root cause; Actually represents the layers of bureaucracy one is required to plow through to get anything done
• "Deltas" and "Opportunities" = An impressive word that is used as a substitute for "minus," "difference" or "weakness"; Actually represents the ridiculous amount of political correctness we have come to accept
• "Out of Pocket" = Means that someone will be unavailable for a period of time; Actually means that whatever you are doing isn't important enough to attend
• "Quick Wins" = <SEE LOW HANGING FRUIT>
• "Table Stakes" = An amount required to "get in the game"; Actually means the bare minimum that you can get away with before someone complains
• "Goal Set" = The collection of goals you are asked to create and work towards; Actually the collection of your goals that will be changed by management throughout the year to screw you out of your performance bonus
  
• "Calibration" = Meant to represent alignment; Actually represents the method by which your "goal set" will be changed
  

I don't know about you, but I am not willing to tolerate this anymore.  I am sick of "Seagull Management" where the corporate leadership swoops in, squawks a bunch of buzzwords, craps all over everything, and then flies away, leaving everyone in their wake trying to figure out what they were talking about and to clean up the confusing mess they left behind.  Instead, let's focus on having our actions speak louder than their words.  Let's rise above the crap and just go about our business of turning dreams and ideas into reality.

Again, sorry for the negative tone of this week's blog entry...but enough was enough.  Its time to "rage against the machine" and bring everyone back to reality.  Thanks for letting me vent, and I promise something more focused on creativity and innovation next week.

Have A Great Week!!!