Corporate Slogans: What They Say vs. What They Mean
They’re usually a word-salad of management jargon. But do you know what management was actually thinking?
Through my twenty years of working in large and small organisations, I’ve come across a plethora of corporate slogans and declarations that made me feel really good when I first heard them. Filled me with warmth, energy, hope and faith in life.
Cue a few months, and I found myself throwing up a little in my mouth every time someone said them.
The only things more odious and infuriating than jargon-filled slogans are management slogans that state the obvious. The purpose of any enterprise in any industry is to deliver a product or service to a customer, while keeping your workforce happy and motivated. Therefore, you don’t need to say, for example, “We care for our people.” You’re supposed to care for your people! You shouldn’t have to say that, and you don’t get a prize for doing it.
It’s like saying “I love my children”. It’s a given. No one is needed to say it. No one feels the need to say it. And you can be sure something’s wrong when someone keeps saying it.
Which is why I find it both repulsive and suspicious when organisation leaderships coin “mantras” that simply affirm the…
