A Guide to the Latest Batch Of Corporate Buzzwords

Don’t even talk about "rightsizing," "digitization" and the "war for talent." The new business buzzwords are "delayering," "Web 2.0" and "knowledge acquisition."

A new crop of buzzwords usually sprouts every three to five years, or about the same length of time many top executives have to prove themselves. Some can be useful in swiftly communicating, and spreading, new business concepts. Others are less useful, even devious. "Too often people use buzzwords to muddy or cover up what they’re actually saying," says Warren Bennis, management professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

It would be wise, then, if executives who want to be believed and understood, carefully select their language.

Delayering, for example, may evoke an image of a cake, but there is nothing sweet about it. In plain English, it means managers are being fired. It’s the latest manifestation of rightsizing and downsizing.

By Carol Hymowitz

From The Wall Street Journal Online

Full Story: http://www.careerjournal.com/columnists/inthelead/20060329-inthelead.html?cjcontent=mail