CEO reputation pro Leslie Gaines-Ross reports on her blog ReputationXchange about a conference she attended last week.
Joining the panel was Ray Jordan, corporate VP of public affairs and corporate communications at Johnson & Johnson.
He began his presentation on the importance of reputation in this ever
changing world and talking about how he was convinced that reputation
is not a noun but a verb—something that is done. The three steps to
reputating are to make sure people understand who you are, second to do
the right thing and third get caught doing the right things.
Reputating?
Not on my watch!
Reputating?!?! Ugh! Gosh, I hope – I really, REALLY hope, that this was not something he thought about in detail, and that it just spontaneously came out of his mouth, because it’s horrible.
Yuck!!!
We can’t be too careful. Refutate reputate!
Reputating is not a verb. Regurgitating is.
Sigh…once again, a communicator proves to be the profession’s own worst enemy.
Memo to Mr. Jordan:
There are lots of quite effective words already in any English dictionary. Considering that most of those who profess to be communicators still have trouble with that vast supply current available to them, it is really not helpful for you to go off making up silly new ones like reputate. (Mind you, I think reputate actually already is a verb in Italian – second person plural of reputare if I’m not mistaken. But I’m sure you knew that.)
In doing so, you should be aware that from the point of view of other communicators you have broken your own second rule by doing the wrong thing. Moreover, you have also broken what should probably be the fourth rule: don’t get caught doing the wrong thing.
You know, they have to say SOMETHING when they get up on stage for those fancy speeches for which they get paid mega honoraria. I don’t defend it – I HATE it – but for some weird reason, people LUUUUUUUUUUUUUVE buzz words. I wish I knew why. As Reuben points out, we have this wonderfully rich language that has lots of great words in it ALREADY. Why do people have to make frankenwords? Maybe it’s because they’re unable to express themselves clearly and a buzz word can be assigned just about any meaning. Are buzzwords are the crutch of the verbally lazy?
I think perhaps buzzwords are the equivalent to secret passwords in backyard treehouses. We just want to feel like we have a special language all to ourselves. Stupid, I know, but that’s how i see it.
I recently was talking to a networking group of unemployed people from various professions about how to market themselves. One of my bits of advice was to avoid the use of jargon in their communication.
Afterward a tax accountant came up to me and challenged me on that point. He said if he didn’t use jargon, nobody in his profession would understand what he was saying. Kind of like that code language Eileen refers to.
I can halfway buy that. If there is a common understanding of certain buzzwords within an industry or profession, and using those words helps everyone understand and get on the same page, go for it.
But I can think of no good excuse for making up words like “reputate.” That’s just wrong.
The more technical the field, the more jargon is necessary–precise terms that can mean only one thing.
(An engineer can’t tell a supervisor that he tightened the bolt “real tight”; he needs to come up with a term for tightness and use it so the supervisor knows precisely what he means.)
Our business–if you don’t count the technological aspects of it, from picas to RSS feeds–just isn’t that terribly technical.
“Back up a minute. Did you say he was managing his reputation, or did you say he was reputating. WHICH IS IT, I HAVE TO KNOW!”
Here’s what I think about jargon and buzzwords created by consultants: It’s like somebody who puts on perfume to cover up body odor. They hope the only thing anyone will smell is the perfume. But the body odor still comes through and the perfume is just obnoxious.