9 Business Cliches to Avoid
By Aaron Nielsenshultz
Something seems to be happening in businesses across the country: Rather than taking the time to explore the beautiful nuance at the heart of our language, many business people fall back on the same tired clichés. While clichés allow us to speak in the most cutting-edge vernacular, they also prevent us from meaning what we think. Have a look through these—if you’ve used one or two, we forgive you.
Utilize
Speaking of nuance! Utilize has a fantastic meaning: it means to find a profitable and practical use for something. Utilize this word by using it correctly.
Individual
When did we stop being people? Somehow it’s become better to be an individual, despite the fact that individual has now come to identify all members of the faceless masses. Grant the topics of your conversation their personhood once more, and call them people.
Step up to the plate
There is exactly one context in which this phrase should be used, and it’s not the office. Instead of relying on sports clichés to get your point across, praise the person in question with specifics. Rather than writing, “Lydia really stepped up to the plate for us,” state exactly what Lydia did!
Bring to the table
This phrase used to make us think of lunch—or of international treaty deliberations. Again, avoid this generalization and speak directly to specifics.
Take it to the next level
Isn’t this what parents say to kids who are being too loud on the main floor? What, exactly, does the next level imply? Rather than leaving it unclear, express what you mean: “Dylan creates a safe, encouraging environment that enables his clients to establish strong goals and clear paths to those goals” communicates a lot more than does, “Dylan really takes life coaching to the next level.”
Mission critical
If something is so important that it is, indeed, critical to the success of a venture, it deserves something better than a well-worn cliché. Often using the term critical will suffice by itself, but be careful—too much “critical” makes for a rather shrill voice.
Outside the box
This phrase, which originally implied a creative take on an issue, has become the new box to be within. What’s wrong with saying, “We need to approach this problem creatively”?
To be perfectly honest
Beside the fact that this cliché implies that everything else being said ISN’T perfectly honest, it adds nothing of value to your conversations.
Value added
Speaking of terrible implications, value-added suggests that otherwise, the product or service has no value. Surely it’s not so!
© 2006 Red Pepper Writing
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Yara and Aaron Nielsenshultz, the Writing "Peppers" and founders of Red Pepper Writing, teach ambitious Coaches, Consultants, and other Solopreneurs how to use powerful writing to get more clients and make more money. For FREE weekly writing tips, visit http://www.redpepperwriting.com.
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