Today is official "Blah, Blah, Blah Day."  So let me ask you this: Is too much blah, blah, blah at work giving you the blahs? 

 

According to studies referenced in the book, Why Business People Speak Like Idiots, leaders who use overly-complicated words and bafflegab are less respected and trusted than leaders who speak in good old plain, simple English. 

 

Of course, blah-ese doesn't just creep into management presentations and "bored-rooms." It slithers into websites, customer service policies and instruction manuals. It oozes into those coma-inducing corporate-sounding apologies: "We regret any inconvenience. . .blah blah blah." Seriously? Who speaks like this? When you apologize to your friend for arriving late do you say, "I regret any inconvenience this may have caused you and look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship in the future?" Or at home do you talk about how you're going to "incentivize your kids' domestic-focused outcomes?"  

 

As organizations compete for the best and brightest talent, here's another area of blah-ese that drives me bonkers. If I'm a hotshot ambitious employee who has the luxury of being able to choose from half a dozen different jobs and I cruise by your website to get inspired about my career with you, just how inspired will I be? Does your vision and mission statement sound like they were written by a committee of bureaucrats or does it use language and imagery that truly inspires and ignites the imagination?  Do you get a clear sense of what your culture is really like, or do you have the same cookie cutter blah blah blah value statements that play it safe and sound like every other place to work?