Clichés and Your Success

It’s a paradigm shift, strategic innovation, win-win, let’s circle back, where the rubber meets the road, synergies, at the end of the day, blah, blah, blah.

Cliché are everywhere, and by their very nature over-used.  There’s actually a bigger problem with clichés in business though.  Let me preface this problem by stating that the truth I’m about to give you is both mean and completely truthful.

Those who use these types of business clichés are all talk, no action, full of crap and completely worthless to your team.  In fact, they are damaging your success.  

Clichés are an easy way to sound like you know what you are talking about. They give the appearance of professionalism, but that’s all it really is - an appearance.  The truth is, using clichés is an easy way to cover up lack of preparation, lack of understanding and lack of action.

Clichés are similar to using industry jargon.  They serve no purpose accept to fill in communication blanks.  Using them does not make you sound intelligent.  Quite the contrary.  If you have people on your team using them, you must demand clarification.

Ask them to explain further.  If they give another set of clichés, then you know for certain they don’t know what they are talking about and certainly not taking action.  You must keep drilling down until you get the specifics you’re after.  When you get them, then very definitively tell them those are the specifics you expect and to drop the superfluous language.

The most successful people you meet do not speak in clichés.  They drill everything down to its simplest form and convey those messages.  They don’t deal with ambiguities and neither should you.  Raise your communication expectations.  Your team will either become immediately more effective communicators and action takers, or they’ll help you weed them out.  

Using clichés does not make you sound competent and proactive.  They make you sound unproductive, and though you are a poor communicator.  Those traits serve no one. 

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