New from the makers of "Fit the Job!":
The Professional Decoder Ring
Now you too can unlock the ancient secrets of corporate speak.

Suitable for all employed people
Keep what you're saying secret
Confuse your friends

I've been thinking a lot about the way we communicate in professional settings. Or... fail to.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped saying things plainly and started saying things like “leverage scalable ideation frameworks for synergistic alignment.” Which is, I think, corporate for “have an idea and make it work with other stuff.”

A lot of workplace language feels like it was cooked up by a parrot with a consulting job.

And the thing is: parrots are smart.
But when they talk, they’re just mimicking sounds.
They show real intelligence when they don’t talk, like when they pick the right color, unlock their cage, or figure out how to steal a Cheez-It off the desk.

We’ve created a culture where buzzwords, acronyms, and abbreviations don’t just clutter our communication—they gatekeep it.
They make people feel dumb for not knowing what someone won’t bother to explain.
(Worse, sometimes the person saying it doesn’t know either. But acronyms are great for disguising that.)

Honestly, humanity’s greatest strength has always been communication.
That’s how we’ve made it this far.
So why are we backsliding into a jargon jungle just when clear understanding is more critical than ever?

I love communicating with people in whatever form actually gets the point across. Gestures, analogies, bad drawings on napkins—whatever it takes.

Because I don’t believe people are unintelligent.
I think they’re just stuck behind bad translations.

We don’t need more buzzwords.
We need more clarity.
More inclusion.
And maybe fewer parrots.

Or at least better-trained ones.

New from the makers of "Fit the Job!":
The Professional Decoder Ring
Now you too can unlock the ancient secrets of corporate speak.

Suitable for all employed people
Keep what you're saying secret
Confuse your friends

I've been thinking a lot about the way we communicate in professional settings. Or... fail to.

Somewhere along the way, we stopped saying things plainly and started saying things like “leverage scalable ideation frameworks for synergistic alignment.” Which is, I think, corporate for “have an idea and make it work with other stuff.”

A lot of workplace language feels like it was cooked up by a parrot with a consulting job.

And the thing is: parrots are smart.
But when they talk, they’re just mimicking sounds.
They show real intelligence when they don’t talk, like when they pick the right color, unlock their cage, or figure out how to steal a Cheez-It off the desk.

We’ve created a culture where buzzwords, acronyms, and abbreviations don’t just clutter our communication—they gatekeep it.
They make people feel dumb for not knowing what someone won’t bother to explain.
(Worse, sometimes the person saying it doesn’t know either. But acronyms are great for disguising that.)

Honestly, humanity’s greatest strength has always been communication.
That’s how we’ve made it this far.
So why are we backsliding into a jargon jungle just when clear understanding is more critical than ever?

I love communicating with people in whatever form actually gets the point across. Gestures, analogies, bad drawings on napkins—whatever it takes.

Because I don’t believe people are unintelligent.
I think they’re just stuck behind bad translations.

We don’t need more buzzwords.
We need more clarity.
More inclusion.
And maybe fewer parrots.

Or at least better-trained ones.