Business Buzzword Generator

Several years ago a British study showed workers often intentionally use business jargon in order to make them appear knowledgeable and up-to-date. For those who are not content to use the latest jargon, below is a business buzzword generator. Take any word from each of the three columns below and create your own important-sounding business jargon.

Column 1 Column 2 Column 3*

strategic cost-based core competency

interactive logistical alliance

responsive discretionary re-engineering

reciprocal empowering values

customer-oriented visionary benchmark

What is a responsive, logistical alliance? Strategic, visionary values sure sounds important. How about the alliteration “customer-oriented, cost-based, core competency?”

The fact is business people, consultants, and academics often repackage ideas using new business buzzwords to represent well-known business concepts. Customer and workers are sometimes confused, but other irreverent workers created a new game, business buzzword bingo where, a pre-determined list of buzzwords they expect their supervisor to use in a meeting or seminar is arranged in the form of bingo cards. Bored workers, forced to attend the meeting scratch their cards as the speaker uses the buzzwords with the winner announcing (if they dare) bingo when they connect the words on their card. A current U.S. television ad (I think for IBM) portrays business buzzword bingo.