Commitment

In my writing workshops and virtual programmes, I rail against ‘S.O.W.s’:??Severely Over-used Words. These are words that are so over-used they’ve lost their meaning and therefore their impact; to the reader, they’ve become white noise. They’re a carpet that’s been worn threadbare.?

The common offenders in business writing are: ‘key’, ‘focus’, ‘provide’, ‘reduce’, ‘strategic’ and ‘significant’. But the mother of all S.O.W.s is ‘commitment’ (and its poor cousin, ‘committed’).?

You know the style: ‘This proposal demonstrates our commitment to serving you as our most valued customer’. The formula is ‘commitment’ + cliché = client turn-off.?

If this writing style was an animal, you’d want to put it out of its misery, wouldn’t you?

Too often business writers bandy this word about, unable or unwilling to find a more interesting alternative, reaching lazily for it and other pre-fabricated, oven-ready, boilerplate words or phrases. Eyes glazed, the reader loses the will to live...and stops reading.

Let’s define our terms. What does ‘commitment’ mean??

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it comes from two Latin words:?com?meaning ‘with’ and?mittere, to ‘put’ or ‘send’. ‘Commitment’ has several usages, but one of the most common is the idea of pledging, binding or dedicating yourself to a cause or course of action. The concept of being inescapably roped, tethered or bound — as in ‘duty-bound’ — to a noble cause is powerful, and not to be taken lightly.?

Surely there’s no greater example of binding commitment than the duty, devotion and dedication shown by Queen Elizabeth II over her 70-year reign?

On her twenty-first birthday, 21 April 1947, Princess Elizabeth was with her parents and younger sister on a tour of South Africa. In a speech broadcast on the radio from Cape Town, the Princess dedicated her life to the service of the Commonwealth:

“I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family, to which we all belong.”

And, five years later, at her coronation in Westminster Abbey in June 1953, she cemented that commitment to God and to her subjects, witnessed by millions around the world:

“The things which I have here before promised, I will perform and keep. So help me God.”

A commitment she kept, day in, day out, for 70 years.

Now that’s true commitment. Not some flyaway, casual statement, but an unswerving, unstinting, unconditional promise that — in the Queen’s case — only death or revolution could free her from.?

So next time you’re tempted to type the ‘C’ word, ask yourself: ‘Is this really something I am prepared to commit to with my heart and soul?’ If not, then don’t cheapen both the word and its meaning by over-using it.?

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Come and hear me speak at The Business Show 2022 (12.30, Thursday 17 November), or come and say ‘Hello’ (stand B704).?Would be nice to see you!