Fun with 2020 Business Buzzwords
Typically I concentrate my articles on leadership-driven messages and ideas that can help people be the best leader they can be and someone who others choose to follow, but today, I wanted to share something less formal. Our retail world, like most other businesses, is full of buzzwords that sound great and rarely mean a lot on their own. In a year full of change and challenges it is also overflowing with buzzwords and urgency to adapt to the evolving situations.
Raise your hand if this paragraph resonates (growing buzzword) with you:
Our business and customers are changing. We are making a pivot in our business to adjust to the changing trends. We must be the one to disrupt the environment. Our strategy is be to more nimble and agile to adapt to the fluid situation where find ourselves in. A Zoom call will be set up to ideate and brainstorm for an innovative approach to our urgent mission.
How many buzzwords did you count in that sixty-seven word paragraph? And, what does it actually say?
Here is a list of some of the most common buzzwords for 2020. Many of these I hear on a regular basis in my own daily conversations. I am guilty of using some myself. The rest I have pulled from various sources - just Google 2020 buzzwords. I have eliminated most COVID-19 and coronavirus references as buzzwords since those are obvious and are part of the cause of this crazy year.
2020 Buzzwords (so far)
Pivot
Agile
Flexible
Nimble
Ideate
Fluid Situation
Disrupt
Social unrest
Social discord
You’re on mute
Do a Zoom Call
Teams me
Unprecedented
Curated
New normal
Circle back
Reach out
COVID Era
Solution-driven
Cross-functional
Synergize
Resource constrained
Some of these have been on a buzzword list for a while, but it seems like 2020 has been a multiplier to them as it has for many other things.
One last paragraph I found -
Others disagreed, and piled buzzword on top of buzzword to call their efficient communication into question. “This is the kind of client-focused, solution-driven content that stakeholders want,” John Boudet wrote. Nathan Freehling took perhaps the deepest dive into corporate lingo: “Gotta tactically evaluate this strategic initiative from 40,000 feet before proving out whether it’s going to upcycle productivity or negatively impact the cross-functional team members that are coordinating the multi-pronged approach to synergizing the year-over-year growth strategy,” he wrote. 1
Some things for fun
The Video Call in Real life is actually an ad for Zoom - I am not advocating for any brand, but I did think this was both funny (a little too close to home), but also very clever marketing on Zoom’s part. It is a play on a previous skit from the same comedy troupe from several years ago.
Download this Buzzword Bingo to play during your next long conference call
I am not sure if these will all make you smile, laugh, or make you cry a little, but in a year when finding a little fun and things to make you chuckle is important, I thought I’d share a small piece this week.
What are your most cringe-worthy buzzwords from this year so far?
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