25 Buzzwords That Make Smart People Look Stupid

At first, euphemisms surfaced in the workplace to help people deal with touchy subjects that were difficult to talk about. Before long, they morphed into corporate buzzwords that expanded and took over our vocabulary until our everyday conversations started sounding like they’re taking place on another planet:

"Listen Ray, I don’t have the bandwidth for it with everything that’s on my plate, but ping me anyway because at the end of the day it’s on my radar and I don’t want to be thrown under the bus because I didn’t circle back around on this no-brainer.”

I understand the temptation. These phrases are spicy and they make you feel clever (low hanging fruit?is a crutch of mine), but they also annoy the heck out of people.

If you think that you can use these phrases without consequence, you’re kidding yourself. Just pay close attention to how other people react to your using them, and you’ll see that these phrases don’t cast you in a favorable light.

After all, I tested the emotional intelligence of more than two million people for my new book, Emotional Intelligence Habits, and one of the biggest need areas for most people is social awareness. The reason? Most of us are so focused on what we’re saying and what we’re going to say next that we lose sight of how our words affect other people.

So give these words a read, think of how often you use some of them, and see if you can catch yourself?before?you use them again.

Have some fun with it, because at the end of the day if you don’t hit the ground running you can always go back to the drawing board and get the ball rolling…

Think outside the box

Thrown under the bus

Reinvent the wheel

Get the ball rolling

No brainer

Elephant in the room

Apples to apples

Win-win

Back to the drawing board

Hit the ground running

On my plate

At the end of the day

Low hanging fruit

Let’s touch base

Get my manager’s blessing

It's on my radar

Ping me

I don’t have the bandwidth

Par for the course

Bang for your buck

Synergy

Move the goal post

Circle back around

All hands on deck

Take this offline

Which phrases are your pet peeves? Please share them in the comments section below. Because, after all, I learn just as much from you as you do from me.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Dr. Travis Bradberry is the award-winning author of the #1 bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence Habits. His bestselling books have sold more than 3 million copies. Dr. Bradberry has written for, or been covered by,?Newsweek, TIME, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and?The Harvard Business Review.