Stop Speaking in Jargon

Too often, business people communicate in jargon and buzzwords. They'd be more effective if they spoke in plain English

by Carmine Gallo

Inspiring business communicators speak in clear, understandable language. The language of motivation is free of meaningless gibberish. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way the wheels came off, and business professionals began speaking in vague terms that fail to connect with listeners. The other week I read a magazine interview with an analyst who had been asked about his forecast for technology spending in 2008. His reply: "Expect commoditized processes to be optimized and varying instances to be consolidated and standardized on middleware platforms." Words like "optimized," "commoditized," and "standards" are buzzwords that mean nothing to most listeners, but the use of such language does serve a purpose—to elevate a person in his own mind. Wikipedia says "buzzwords are typically intended to impress one's audience with the pretense of knowledge."

Anyone who thinks using buzzwords will make them sound intelligent is wrong. Clarity impresses. Buzzwords confuse.

Don't get me wrong. Some jargon serves a purpose. Intuit (INTU) founder Scott Cook once reminded me that using jargon isn't bad if it's understood by your audience. For example, if a chief financial officer is speaking to investors, then EPS (earnings per share) is acceptable jargon. It's "customer-preferred." But in most cases where persuasion must take place, like selling a product to a customer or an idea to your boss, a compelling discussion should be largely free of jargon. Your goal as the speaker is to help listeners follow your message, not to leave them more confused. Here are several ways to make sure you are understood.

Answer the No. 1 Question

On my first day of journalism school at Northwestern, I was taught to answer the one question on the minds of my readers: What's in it for me? Your pitch or presentation might have impressive data, eye-popping charts, and compelling case studies, but if it's not clear how your product or service improves the lives of your listeners, you will lose their attention and their business.

A recent Dilbert cartoon poked fun at the hot buzzword in technology these days, "server virtualization." It's comical to hear IT (information technology) professionals explain it. Dilbert creator Scott Adams does as a good a job as anyone. Dilbert's boss has read about virtualization in a magazine and instructs Dilbert to get right on it. In one strip, the boss is told, "there is no need to worry about the server virtualization project. In phase one, a team of blind monkeys will unplug unnecessary servers. In phase two, the monkeys will hurl software at whatever is left. Voilà!"

The actual definition is very confusing. Imagine trying to promote server virtualization throughout a company by saying, "Server virtualization is the masking of server resources, including the number and identity of individual physical servers, processors, and operating systems, from server users." That's a technically accurate definition but so full of jargon that it is meaningless to most people. Now imagine if an IT professional told the CEO, "I'd like to show you how we can save money on our energy bills by consolidating our sprawling server farms into fewer pieces of hardware." What's the difference? This version answers the question, What's in it for me? (in this case, for the CEO and the company). Answer the No. 1 question quickly and clearly.

Paint Verbal Pictures

WMware (VMW), a leading consulting company specializing in virtualization, has launched a Web site called Ain't That the Truth, which provides examples of how much money and energy a company can save by "virtualizing" their servers with VMware technology. With the help of a "savings calculator," the site offers a visual representation of the benefits.