Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide

Why Business People Speak Like Idiots: A Bullfighter's Guide

by Brian Fugere (Author), Chelsea Hardaway (Author), Jon Warshawsky (Author)

Synopsis

There is a fundamental disconnection between the way business people speak and real people communicate. From advertisers, big business and CEOs - the blather is coming at us in waves. The International Language of Business is no longer English - it's gobbledygook. The authors blindly discovered the enormity of the problem in June 2003 with the launch of Bullfighter, an anti-jargon software tool. But jargon is just one symptom in a larger problem afflicting corporate communications today: the wholesale inability to connect with an audience. In the form of admirably straight-talk, we discover how to avoid the 'obscurity trap', 'the anonymity trap', the 'hard-sell trap' and most importantly, 'the tedium trap'. In this witty and practical new book readers are given all the tools they need to fight the 'spin' and learn to speak like the rest of us.

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
Pages: 192
Edition: Illustrated
Publisher: Free Press
Published: 19 Sep 2005

ISBN 10: 0743269098
ISBN 13: 9780743269094

Media Reviews
This is a funny, entertaining, readable book about a serious, important, undervalued issue: communication. The way business people talk to each other -- and to the rest of us -- is often inauthentic, deceptive, opaque, and trivial. If you're us, this book will help you decode what they're talking about. If you're them, it will help you find a better, more effective way to get your message across.
-- Tony Schwartz, bestselling coauthor of The Power of Full Engagement and president of The Energy Project
Why Business People Speak Like Idiots...is one of the surprising ideas and trends that will change the way we work and live in 2005.
-- Fast Company
There are two reasons why business people refuse to speak in a way the rest of us can understand: fear and peer pressure. This book cuts through both excuses and makes it far more likely that work will actually get done. If you've ever written a memo, you need this book.
-- Seth Godin, bestselling author of Permission Marketing and Purple Cow
Why Business People Speak Like Idiots follows its own advice. It's blunt, lively and chocablock with personality.
The Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2005
Author Bio
Brian Fugere is a recovering jargonaholic. After authoring some of the worst jargon the consulting world has ever seen, he formally admitted his problem and entered a twelve-step program. He is currently in rehab and has been jargon-clean for the last two years. He is a partner at Deloitte Consulting and was formerly its chief marketing officer. Brian lives in Danville, California, with his wife, Gail, and their four children. Chelsea Hardaway is an authenticity nut. She can detect hogwash and spin from a country mile, and has spent her career helping companies trade in the usual corporate gibberish for more honest, human communications. She is the president of Hardaway Productions, a brand and communications consultancy that helps clients cut through the clutter. Previously, she was the global brand director at Deloitte Consulting. Chelsea lives in Half Moon Bay, California. Jon Warshawsky, a former eighth-grade spelling champion, is a manager at Deloitte Consulting and helped start the firm's e-Learning practice. In 2000, he founded Cappuccino, a newsletter covering organizational change and learning. In 2002, Mr. Warshawsky returned to his roots as a grammar curmudgeon and led the development of Bullfighter, the software that quantified idiocy in the world of business writing. He lives in San Diego.