Yes, there really is more to this post than my wanting to put as many “B” words in a title… (Though that clearly was part of the fun.)
Anyway, here’s the game.
When someone, especially a consultant who is trying to take your money, explains what they are going to do using a buzzword, tell them to explain it again. But without the buzzword.
When I first started doing this, I added on: “…and do it in one sentence.”
Problem was, they’d end up giving me a 97-word sentence.
So, nowadays, I just ask the question and wait.
Ever play the game “Operation” as a kid? Where you yank someone’s heart out with a pair of tweezers, but if you touch the side a buzzer scares everyone in the house and your patient dies?
The game works like that.
If they say the buzzword after you told them not to, you make a loud and obnoxious buzzing noise and tell ‘em to get out of your office.
If they can’t clearly explain it in one sentence, they don’t know what they are talking about. And they get no money.
But wait, you say, surely someone can not have an alternate explanation readily available. To which I say: BULL. An expert, to be an expert, will have put the time and thought into going beyond the buzzword. Into what it means, how it is accomplished, and alternate explanations.
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