The Business Jargon Buster

Back from my lengthy travels this week I picked up the Economist's The World in 2008 again, a report I always look forward to reading as it is diverse in points of view and always packed with insight, in addition to being spiced up with the occasional slice of current affair humour thrown in for good measure.

Andrew Palmer's The Good Jargon guide is an excellent example of just such an article - close enough to remind all of us of the buzzwords we use, but witty enough to make us laugh at ourselves too. Some of my favourite witticisms from this articles is the references to globalisation. First everything was supposed to become the same (Coca-colonisation), then local differences made all the difference (localisation). Now some things are the same and others different (glocalisation) and because of Thomas Friedman's bestseller we are even debating 2D vs 3D - is the world flat or spiky? It will appear insightful in a business meeting to state that the world is round - but a 10-year old could have told you that.

Also the references to emerging markets by acronym means Brazil, Russia, India and China are a BRIC, China and India are Chindia and my favourite, Palmer is rooting for Spain and Latin America to be referred to collectively as SPLAT, I love it. Furthermore it's not about making heads or tails about stuff no more - instead it's the size of your tail that matters, apparently. The Long Tail is of course the theory of how niche audiences can be catered for through all of us being increasingly connected on-line and thus coupling supply and demand is easier than ever before. The thinking is that lots of niche products are more important than a few blockbusters, but then we have Fat and Heavy Tails where extreme events occur more frequently than theory predicts, but if you do away with tails altogether and go for a Black Swan, you are into territory that is wholly unexpected.

I also totally agree with the point of labelling anything 2.0 - yes we've heard about web 2.0, but do we really need books like The World is Flat 3.0, (making you think of infinite software upgrades where there's no discernible difference, but somehow you still have to pay for it) Lunch 2.0 (Silicon Valley canteens serving free lunches) or Government 2.0 (where citizens become more involved) - seems like we are creating a whole league of BS 2.0 too? Or what about Greenwash - the environmental version of whitewash, or forgetting marketing campaigns and going for 'poking' people instead. It's a ridiculous world out there and somehow we need to describe all these ideas, but it appears that there is an entire industry devoted to dreaming up silly names for things, massclusivity anyone?

Comments

[Susan Ashcroft]

I understand what you are saying. Esp about a ten yr old being able to say that the earth is round after all, but Friedman pronounces it with absolute awe that it is actually flat! Maybe earth doesn't revove round the sun after all too, maybe Copernicus was wrong when he proposed helocentric universe!

Recently I read a book which offers a counterperspective to Friedman's "The World is Flat". While Thomas Friedman's New York Times bestseller, The World is Flat, asserts that the international economic playing field is now more level than it has ever been. As popular as it may be, some reviewers assert that by what it leaves out, Friedman's book is dangerous . I just finished a great little book that challenges Friedman's idea of a 'flat' world. Here's a snippet from an interview with the authors:

"The world isn't flat as a result of globalization," say Ronald Aronica and Mtetwa Ramdoo, business analysts and authors of a critical analysis of Friedman's book. "Globalization is the greatest reorganization of the world since the Industrial Revolution," says Aronica. But by what Friedman's book ignores or glosses over, it misinforms people and policy makers alike.

Aronica and Ramdoo's concise monograph, The World is Flat?: A Critical Analysis of Thomas L. Friedman's New York Times Bestseller, brings clarity to many of Friedman's stories and explores nine key issues Friedman largely disregards or treats too lightly. To create a fair and balanced exploration of globalization, the authors cite the work of experts that Friedman fails to incorporate, including Nobel laureate and former Chief Economist at the World Bank, Dr. Joseph Stiglitz.

Refreshingly, you can now gain new insights into globalization without weeding through Friedman's almost 600 pages of tedious tome. "If you read Friedman's book, and were awed, you really should read more rigorous treatments of this vital subject," says Ramdoo.

I read Aronica and Ramdoo's 143 page book in one sitting!
Aronica and Ramdoo conclude by listing over twenty action items that point the way forward, and they provide a comprehensive, yet concise, framework for understanding the critical issues of globalization. They paint a clear and sometimes alarming picture of the early twenty-first century landscape, and present timely information needed by governments, businesses, and individuals everywhere.

And what I also like is that the authors provide a wealth of interesting information at the book's Web site:
www.mkpress.com/Flat

Also a thought-provoking 13 minute Overview on the Web:
www.mkpress.com/FlatOverview.html

And the recent interview: "Aronica and Ramdoo pummel Friedman's flat world back into a sphere,"
http://www.mkpress.com/AronicaRamdooInterview.html

Also a really interesting 6 min wake-up call: Shift Happens! www.mkpress.com/ShiftExtreme.html

There is also a companion book listed: Extreme Competition: Innovation and the Great 21st Century Business Reformation
www.mkpress.com/extreme
http://www.mkpress.com/Extreme11minWMV.html

So, if you want to know much more about globalization than what Friedman provides you, check out
www.mkpress.com/flat for concise and very interesting information.