Rid your business writing of these 10 bits of jargon

Results-oriented, rock-star communicators can see a paradigm shift by thinking outside the box and taking their messaging to the next level. Of course, you could just write like a human being.

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Business-speak. Corporate jargon is annoying, but that’s the least of its problems.

If there’s one trait that business writing ought to have, it’s clarity—which is the trait most business jargon phrases lack. They’re neither precise nor informative; they’re not even professional. They’re just vague, even though some might sound powerful or trendy.

We communications pros, however, should know better than to use the following phrases in business writing:

Paradigm shift

Paradigms are widely accepted models of how certain things are. Flat Earth was a paradigm. When paradigms shift, the consequences are substantial-on the scale of humans accepting that the heavens do not revolve around us. The introduction of quantum mechanics was a paradigm shift.

Unless a business produces changes on par with those cosmic events, we should avoid using the phrase “paradigm shift,” and use “major change” or “significant change” instead.

Moving forward

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