The Rise and Fall of Buzzwords

Here's the thing.

Buzzwords are powerful ideas made hollow by overuse.

What phrase makes you roll your eyes? ”New Normal”, “Paradigm Shift”, “Circle Back”. What about our old favourite “Synergy”.

You can’t walk into a boardroom, attend a conference, or scroll through LinkedIn without hearing a mix of buzzwords tossed around like confetti at a corporate wedding.

So why do we keep using them, long after they’ve become meaningless clichés?

Well, buzzwords don’t start as fluff. Most start with something real. A genuine shift in how we think about business or how businesses operate. But, as with anything overused and removed from the original context, they lose meaning.

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The Birth of a Buzzword

Take “synergy,” for example. The concept of synergy came from biology and physics, referring to the idea that the combined effect of different elements working together could be greater than the sum of their parts. Applied to business, it was supposed to mean that teams or departments working collaboratively could achieve more together than they could individually.

This was an important idea in the 80s and 90s as a wave of mergers and acquisitions swept the world. Synergy became the go-to rationale for why buying up companies would make both parties more efficient and profitable. Because nothing says 'synergy' like a clash of corporate cultures.

But like many things in business, it quickly became a catch-all phrase. Suddenly, “synergy” was everywhere, but it stopped meaning anything specific. It became an excuse, rather than a strategy—slapped on PowerPoint slides to justify everything from “mandatory-fun” team-building exercises to questionable business deals.

And so, “synergy” became a joke. Not because it wasn’t a good idea, but because it became hollow. You could slap it on a bad idea and voila, now it’s a ‘synergy’ problem, not a ‘poor planning’ problem.

The Rise of a Buzzword

Buzzwords generally follow a predictable pattern. They start as fresh and exciting ideas—new ways of understanding the changing landscape of business. They catch on because they offer clarity in complex times.

Take “disruption.” Disruption originally described something specific: the way companies like Uber, Netflix, and Airbnb shook up entire industries by introducing radically different business models. Disruption is real. These companies changed the rules of the game, and traditional businesses had to adapt or get left behind.

But, just like synergy, the term quickly spread beyond its useful boundaries. Suddenly, every company, regardless of its size or market, was talking about “disrupting” their industry—despite doing nothing more than selling slightly different versions of the same product. Selling socks? Disrupting footwear. Opening a coffee shop? Disrupting the latte. Launching a consulting firm? Disrupting disruption itself.

“Disruption” no longer meant “radical change” and so became hollow.

It’s a predictable cycle. A new term captures the imagination, and everyone jumps on it. The idea gets stretched and watered down. Until eventually, the word loses its meaning, and we move on to the next one.

The Danger of a Buzzword

The problem with buzzwords isn’t just that they become annoying or cliché. The real danger is that they start to replace clear thinking.

Take “the New Normal.” This one had a legitimate reason to exist—after all, the pandemic forced massive changes to the way we work and live. But before long, it was slapped on everything to avoid dealing with it. Remote work? The new normal. Supply chain disruptions? The new normal. Running out of oat milk at your local café? You guessed it—new normal. It didn’t take long for “the new normal” to become just another way of saying, “Things are different now, and we’re not sure what to do about it.”

And once a term like “synergy”, “disruption”, or “new normal” becomes overused, it stops meaning anything concrete. Instead of explaining exactly what we mean—whether it’s cross-departmental collaboration or disrupting a long-established industry—we use the buzzword as a shortcut. It allows us to sound like we’re saying something important, without actually saying much of anything at all.

With the illusion of clarity, we obscure the details. And details matter.

What are we circling back to? When is later? And who even started this conversation?

It’s not enough to say, “We need to be more agile.” What does that actually mean for your team, your product, your customer? What actions will you take?

When we rely on buzzwords, we risk overlooking or oversimplifying the real work that needs to be done.

The Fall of a Buzzword

Buzzwords don’t die easily. They hang on far longer than they should because people are afraid to admit that the emperor has no clothes. After all, if you’re the CEO who introduced “synergy” into your corporate vocabulary, no matter how legitimately, it’s hard to walk it back once everyone’s started using it.

But eventually, the jig is up. Buzzwords fall out of favour when people stop believing in them. It usually starts with a backlash—articles, blog posts, and LinkedIn rants mocking the overuse of terms like “disruption” or “new normal.” And once the ridicule begins, the word is officially on the way out.

And those who remember the original meaning, become language hipsters; “I used that phrase before it was cool”.

But by this time, it’s already lost credibility and a new buzzword is waiting in the wings, ready to start the cycle all over again.

But, here’s the thing.

Buzzwords are inevitable. We’re always going to need new language to describe new concepts. And some of those new terms will catch on. But we need to be aware of how quickly these words can lose their meaning.

So, instead of relying on the latest buzzword, focus on being specific about what you actually mean. If you’re talking about collaboration, say collaboration. If you’re trying to innovate, explain exactly how you’re doing it.

And maybe, just maybe, we can have fewer meetings where someone says, “Let’s circle back on this.” Because honestly, even your PowerPoint slides are rolling their eyes at this point.

So, be clear in what you’re trying to say. Buzzwords can be effective shorthand, but if we’re not careful, we’ll be stuck in an endless cycle of meaningless jargon; saying a lot, but meaning nothing.

~ Evan Leybourn / Melbourne, Australia

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