The Cranky Middle Manager Show #53 Why Business People Talk Like Idiots- Jon Warshawsky
The Cranky Middle Manager Show #053 (MP3 10.9MB 31:50 Min)
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Welcome fellow bull fighters. Today we talk about corporate jargon and “Why Business People Speak Like Idiots” with author Jon Warshawsky.
Show Notes
0:00 Greetings all and welcome to the show. Today we salute those who speak plainly, starting with King Sennacherib who used plain speaking to conquer Jerusalem. Actually he used his second in command to do it but try to find HIS name anywhere. The way of the world gang. We need to get rid of the Corporate Aramaic and just speak Hebrew!
3:45 The quote of the week is one I disagree with, but a lot of people seem to live by… but would you expect honesty and plain speaking from Stendahl, who worked under a pseudonym?
5:30 Welcome Jon Warshawsky, author of “Why Business People Speak Like Idiots” and co-creator of the Bullfighter software….download it here and make yourself crazy, trying to write something that doesn’t set off it’s bull detector. Why do good people talk like morons?
8:19 Watch out for Zombie Words…. they don’t even mean anything any more.
10:30 We talk about spotting the buzzwords with their Bullfighter software and www.fightthebull.com. What’s your Bull Composite Index?
12:45 Some presentation tips to reduce the idiocy. What do you do when you’re not a rock star? There’s no federal law dictating use of PowerPoint…think before you use it.
16:06 The four traps include:
- The Insecurity Trap- trying to sound important, politically correct or just more corporate
- The Obscurity Trap- Why use a $10 word when a perfectly good word is available… and first we kill all the lawyers
- The Anonymity Trap- don’t be afraid to sound like you. We take another chance to talk about Tom Peters. We are still hunting him for the show…there’s a bounty on getting him to talk to us for those of you who know him.
- The Hard Sell Trap- it’s just obnoxious and it all sounds the same
28:00 Here’s the acid test…are you making the best use of people’s time when you speak to them???
29:45 Who’s he reading right now? It ain’t grammar books.
Jeff Bezos, Warren Buffet, Malcolm Gladwell are all straight talkers.
Don’t forget the Worldwide Work Survey. Take part in the survey, drop me a line and you’ll receive a free copy of the report when it comes out.
July 12th, 2006 at 2:22 pm
I listened to this podcast on my iPod. It was so good that before I even finished listening to it I stopped at a Border’s and bought Jon Warshawsky’s book. I am currently working on a large services proposal and I am sure it is bull-laden. I almost dread reading the book because it will cause me to re-write nearly 60 pages of evasive, jargon-filled, dry-as-dirt text (and it’s due next week). Thank you (I think).