Let’s be real—business speak can be a buzzkill.
Synergy. Optimization. Alignment. Leverage. You know the list. These words may sound smart, but they don’t stick. They don’t stir. They don’t make your audience sit up straighter, blink back a tear, or say, “Damn… I needed to hear that.” And that’s the difference between business jargon and inspirational messaging—one fills slides, the other fills souls.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-corporate language. I’m anti-numbing. I believe every strategy deserves a story. Every goal deserves gravity. Every mission deserves meaning. That’s why I’ve spent my career helping leaders, speakers, and brands translate their brilliance into language that actually lands.
Turning jargon into inspiration starts with this: speak like a human being. Not a brochure. Not a policy doc. A real, breathing, feeling person. When I work with executives in my Stage Might storytelling training, the first thing I do is strip away the fluff. I ask, “What are you really trying to say?” Because once you know that, once you get to the heart, the language starts to rise up naturally—and with power.
Take something like “We’re leveraging cross-functional synergies.” Translation? “We’re finally working together, and it’s making us stronger.” That’s what people want to hear. That’s what they’ll remember. That’s what makes them care. Strip it down. Build it back up with purpose.
And here’s another secret: metaphor is your best friend. As a spoken word poet, I use metaphor to transform the mundane into the meaningful. Don’t just say you’re scaling—say you’re climbing a mountain and learning to breathe at higher altitudes. Don’t just say you’re pivoting—say you’re dancing with the unexpected and finding your new rhythm. That’s how you turn insight into impact.
But it’s not just about words—it’s about voice. When your delivery has energy, when your message has heart, even simple language becomes sacred. You don’t need to impress people—you need to move them. Your messaging should wake people up, not lull them into a jargon-induced nap.
So here’s my challenge to every leader, every communicator, every changemaker out there: the next time you write that speech, that memo, that strategy doc—read it out loud. If it doesn’t sound like something that could change a life, rewrite it. Because your message deserves more than buzzwords. It deserves to breathe. It deserves to belong to the people you’re leading.
When you turn jargon into inspiration, you’re not just a communicator—you’re a catalyst. And in this world of noise, that makes you a voice worth listening to.
