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When Jack Welch was
Chairman of GE, he would say to his division heads, “Let’s pretend
we’re in high school. Take me through the basics.”
Welch liked simple
explanations. He hated jargon. To be a great communicator, you
should learn to hate it too. Jargon undermines your connection
with the audience. It can also subject you to ridicule from IBM.
IBM mocks jargon
junkies in a fun new
advertisement. In the ad,
employees play “Buzzword BINGO”. Employees fill out
BINGO cards as you hear corporate buzzwords like “synergy”, “outside
the box” and “new paradigm.”
Click here for the Speechworks Buzzword
BINGO cards.
More importantly,
jargon undermines your connection with the audience. Many listeners
don’t understand jargon. In a study, small business owners said that confusing
technical jargon has led at least a quarter of them to make wrong
purchasing decisions. Another study found that jargon irritated 40
percent of listeners.
Ridding your speech
of jargon is hard. For help with written documents and PowerPoint
slides, try
Bullfighter, a computer program that can be
downloaded for free. The software puts a “Bullfighter”
button on your word processor’s toolbar. Click on the button when
your document is done. The software scores your document by
looking for buzzwords.
Of course, no
software can filter the words that you say. That takes focus and a
determination.
At Speechworks we
help our clients learn how to communicate in a way that connects and
persuades. If you’re interested in becoming a great communicator
give us a call at 404-266-0888 or check out our website at
www.speechworks.net.
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