The power of words and conserving their value

Once, long ago I was a student of the brilliant anthropologist Dennis Tedlock.? It was through him that I was introduced to the concept of sacred words.? These are words that carried so much importance that they might only be spoken once or twice in a generation and then only when the specific occasion arose that required their use.

I would never claim that any word used in business is sacred. In fact, we now live in a time where words have been so devalued that when an important public figure strings together meaningless groups of non seculars it is called a speech.?

I suggest that at the beginning of a project, you identify words that have real workplace value and reserve them for use only at the most appropriate times.? Build definitions into your assumptions, goals and glossaries so everyone becomes familiar with them.?

Here is an example of what you want to avoid:? I had a project compatriot who frequently used the term “failure” when minor issues arose. Even though these would be addressed and resolved, she called them “failures”. I doubt she realized our management, struggling to overcome past project failures, imbued the term with such negative connotations that its use in meetings or on status reports caused a disproportionate level of anxiety. Maybe she just liked the churn and chaos using it caused, but “failure” became so worthless we had find other terms to use when we needed to talk about it.

The moral is always choose your words carefully and save the important ones for the correct occasions.