Help me not say "Transformation"
Transformation is an extremely useful word, but it has become overused. I found this out recently when I was told I couldn’t use it because too many other people already have.
I’m talking to leaders inside the Pentagon and across the federal government about the massive potential for data and digital technologies to transform the way they manage enterprise logistics. At LMI, we are discussing how to integrate advanced technologies such as internet of things sensors, artificial intelligence, and advanced simulation into their operations.
I want to say the past results and more importantly the future potential of this work is transformational. I want to say that I am in the business of helping government customers transform. I want to have business cards made that say “Director of Logistics Transformation” on them. I have been told that people will roll their eyes at me if I do so. Apparently, that word has been beaten into the ground. So, I have been searching for synonyms or replacements, for substitutes.
Change, alteration, and modification pop up as the first hits in Google’s thesaurus.
Not helpful.
Variation. Conversion. Revision.
I’m at a loss. These are not going to cut it either.
The world is changing rapidly, at an ever-accelerating pace, and it’s hard not to use the “t-word” when talking about what the government needs to do to prepare itself to defend and promote our nation’s interests. We don’t need a variation or a revision in the way we do business. What we need is more, well, transformational than that. So, I continue to search.
Restyling. Rejigging. Overhaul.
Nope. We’re getting further away. Transformation is so overused because it’s the only word that works. Which brings me to why I’m here on LinkedIn.
Tell me, network, if you were going to name a team of logistics experts, engineers, and data scientists that are focused on helping government customers leverage technology to make lasting and fundamental changes to their logistics operations, what would you call them?
I’ve already proposed Prince and the Logistics Revolution and been told that’s off the table.
What are your thoughts? Comment here or DM with suitable alternatives, please. Please.?
Systems Thinker. Supply Chain. Human-Centered Design.
3 年Logistics Landscape Architect
Financial Advisor at RBC Wealth Management
3 年Unmentioned synonym roots: transcend / adapt. But why not focus on the ends, not the means? Goal, not method? Your article, for example, speaks of “acceleration”; why not start there? “Dir of Accelerated Logistics.” Or enable, etc., e.g., “Dir of CPU-Enabled Logistics” + permutations of above, or more accurate terms. There is precedent with directors of sales becoming chief revenue officers. Sales is the method; revenue is the goal.
Program Director at Lockheed Martin
3 年Digital innovator, digital enthusiast...evolution is good
Corporate Affairs Director @ Gunvor Group Ltd | Strategic Communications
3 年Eye rolls derive from the fact that your customer knows you're just going to keep selling them "transformation" in a never-ending process. A caterpillar transforms into a butterfly. But that's where it ends. It doesn't then transform into a bird, and then a velociraptor (no matter how much money it wants to spend). The attribute of transformation does not apply to technology because evolution is inherent in its being. You're more like an Innovation Provider, or, my preference, a Change Janitor.
Senior Director Technology @ GE Aerospace | MBA | All Things Data
3 年And what is wrong with big changey things; seems simple enuf. If that isn’t consultant enough then try movement, revision, correction, improve.