4th February 2012 Saturday 
Consultant Speak
On 23rd April, 2008 | Wednesday
Every profession has its own jargon, but we consultants are probably more guilty than most when it comes to making communication harder than it needs to be. I just saw a hilarious article on ragan.com about consultant speak. Here’s a sample:
Socialize. This is my personal favorite. I actually had a fellow consultant on a project look me in the eye with grave concern and pose this question:“Have you socialized that idea?”
I was dumbstruck and quickly tried to recover. “Uh, do you mean, did I take it out for drinks and show it a good time?” I asked.
Click here to read the whole article.
Comments
Leave a Comment
I had to laugh because I’m fairly certain that I’ve asked that exact question or a version of it myself. I think there’s almost an expectation that we use “consultant speak” and it becomes self-reinforcing. I do a lot of subcontracting and was just asked to do a small job for one of my clients because they felt that my writing was more polished than their internal resources. In reading between the lines, I think what they were looking for was someone with a large vocabulary of “consultant speak.” This article is an important reminder that language can get in the way of communication.