Do buzzwords fizzle out your curiosity?

“The first man who compared a woman to a rose was a poet, the second, an imbecile” – French Poet, Gérard de Nerval.

Desire to look smarter

We all have a desire to look and feel smarter than we actually are. Doing a bing search for the phrase “Look smarter than you are” will yield close to 3 MM results. I am not certain as to why we crave this dopamine rush to look or feel smarter. If you have not fallen into this trap at some time or the other, kudos to you.

Most of us have experienced this about buzzwords or clichés. When we hear one that clicks or clashes with us, we will immediately stop listening to everything else that is being said and fall into one of the two traps.

1. We are enamored with it and quickly focus on getting it into our repertoire rather than trying to understand.

2. We are annoyed with it and let our minds wander with ill-formed opinions. We may even be rolling our eyes with “Here we go again”

Vulnerability

I am no exception to this behavior. I have used the buzz phrase “People, Process, & Technology” for a couple of decades. I am sure you have heard this, especially if you are even remotely associated with information technology. Lately, I have been contemplating on this buzz phrase...Where and when did this phrase originate?, Is it still a relevant framework?, and Does a typical buzzword/buzz phrase have a life cycle?

With minimum effort, the first question can be answered. People have attributed this to ITIL with no merits, Management consulting companies in the 80’s and to the Leavitt’s “diamond model” from 1964 that may have the most merit.

On the second question of relevance, the information explosion has driven some people to think that the three-legged stool has become obsolete and now requires the fourth leg with Information being the 4th, leading to a new trap, i.e. a new buzz phrase, “People, Process, Information, & Technology”.

We are all vulnerable to this kind of thinking. The buzzwords or cliché’s causes a tremendous problem with communication, as it may be perceived in a way it was not meant to be, and can drive our focus on the wrong things, resulting in not being able to achieve the desired results. How do we go about addressing this?

Deal with it

It is easy to forget the purpose of communication. Communication is about being clear and not clever.

Habit number 5 from Covey’s “The 7 habits of highly effective people” – “Seek first to understand, then to be understood” resonates with me. I am going to do everything to stop with the clicks and clashes of the buzzwords, cliché’s and start engaging in the conversation by listening, asking questions, and learning.

We all need to become curious to make the world a better place. Let us start with this one habit, only then you will be able to expand your horizons, only then you will be able to recognize misinformation, only then you will not propagate alternative facts, only then you will have a civil discourse.

Celebrate

Though it took me some time to get here, I have made a lot of progress with asking questions and in a constant mode of learning. I hope you will join me in this process of becoming curious. I have taken the time to look back and reflect on this profound intellectual disability in my journey, and hope I am at place celebrating my curiosity by trying to be a Poet.

Are you celebrating yours and how?