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7 most overused business phrases

June 5, 2008 by Shane Borer
Posted in: "Seemed like a good idea at the time", "Would you want this person in Finance?", In this week's e-newsletter, Latest news & views

Forget going back for that MBA: With this phrase-by-phrase breakdown, you’ll be talking like you taught at an Ivy-league school in no time.

  1. Bandwidth. “We don’t have enough bandwidth to get the project done.”
    Translation: “Since we’re basically breathing computers, we can’t be productive without an Internet connection.”
  2. Proactive. “We’re encouraging more employees to be proactive with their responsibilities.”
    Translation: “For Pete’s sake, will someone please do something?!”
  3. Spinning our wheels. “Maybe it’s time for a break — I feel like we’re spinning our wheels at this point.”
    Translation: “This discussion has been a complete waste of time.”
  4. Let’s not reinvent the wheel. “Think outside-of-the-box, but you don’t need to reinvent the wheel or anything.”
    Translation: “To make sure we don’t end up ’spinning our wheels,’ let’s just steal someone else’s work.”
  5. Self-starter. “This team needs a real self-starter to get things moving.”
    Translation: “I hope you know what the %$@# you’re doing, because we’re clueless.”
  6. Work-life balance. “When searching for the right people to fit our Finance department, we strive to choose those with a strong work-life balance.”
    Translation: “If you’ve got kids, we won’t fire you.”
  7. Hit the ground running. “Tom, you really hit the ground running on that Acme report.”
    Translation: “Good thing you’re competent, because we had absolutely no time to train you.”

And these are only the beginning. If you could banish business speak from your company, what phrases would get the ax first? Sound off in the comments section below.

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21 Responses to “7 most overused business phrases”

  1. Suzanne Says:

    Enable. “The team’s mission is to enable our sales department.”

  2. David Says:

    Customer-centric. “We have to align our resources to be a more customer-centric organization.”

  3. Cheryl Says:

    Down size or right size

    Translation: You are fired.

  4. Jenn Says:

    I’d like to BANISH the phrase “touch base” forever! It annoys me very much when I hear it anywhere…not just at work!

  5. MFP Says:

    I’m with Jenn. I’ve seen companies that have formalized the use of “touch base” in their policy manuals to describe a specific type of meeting. One employee will schedule a “touch base” with another.

  6. Mike Says:

    LOL - When I hear “We don’t want to reinvent the wheel” again, It will be hard to keep from breaking out laughing!

  7. Arencia Says:

    I am tired of the phrase “Think out of the box.” It is so old and overused.

  8. MFP Says:

    How about “granularity”? That one kills me.

  9. Julie Power Says:

    I’ve always liked buzzwhack.com, a site that lists the latest business jargon.

    Editor John Walston included this great seasonal one recently:

    staycation: A stay-at-home vacation. Thanks to high gas prices and the sluggish economy, that’s all most of us can afford.

  10. Barb Says:

    I’m tired of hearing the word “phenominal” applied to everything from sales to customer response.

  11. Tracy H Says:

    At the End of the Day. “At the end of the Day, we all have to ask ourselves - what is the risk?” Yeah really, At the End of the Day? What about ‘First thing in the Morning’? or ‘Next week Sometime.’ Works better for me. Once that phrase is used in a meeting, it’s all over for me. . . :)

  12. Violet Says:

    The one that gets my “hackles up” is “Work Smarter, Not Harder” If I knew how to work smarter, would I be working here?

  13. Jill M Says:

    “It Is What It Is”. When I was a kid, this phrase was “Like it or Lump it”

    Maybe it depends on what the meaning of “Is” is. lol

  14. DjM Says:

    I worked for a company that often used the phrase, “Just do the best you can.” It became the company mantra for a while. ME: “I’ll need more staff to complete this on time.” VP, Dir, ect: “Well, we can’t accommodate that. Just do the best you can.” ME: “We don’t even have the software to do this. Will you approve this purchase.” Them: “No. Just do the best you can.” (That one probably included a “Think outside the box.” along with it.) It wasn’t just me, you would actually hear it on conference calls.

  15. DMK Says:

    “In a timely manner” I despise that experession.

  16. DMK Says:

    “In a timely manner”, I don’t like that expression! How else would you do it?

  17. Suzn Says:

    I hate the ” Let me run the numbers” In other words, “I don’t know yet but I am going to drown you in details”

  18. Jean Says:

    State of the art

    Thinking outside the box

    Give a “shout out”….sounds like high school from the 90’s

    pro-active

  19. Eric Says:

    “Share” as in I’ve got some information that’s useful to our discussion, but you’re too low on the totem pole to know this, but in an act of great benevolence I’m going to let you know it. And you should be very grateful, you ignorant peon.

    “At thirty thousand feet” You know what you see at 30,000 feet? Clouds, nothing but clouds!

  20. Amy Says:

    Feedback…reminds me of a feedbag!

  21. R A Mick Says:

    When someone says that “Everything is Copesthetic,” you know it isn’t! It drives me crazy!

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