“Black Hole Words” and the power of asking stupid questions

When deciding at work, criteria that are ambiguous or jargon-laden lend themselves to endless debates as to their meaning. We assume that everyone has a shared understanding of what these words and phrases mean. They don’t. We assume that our own definitions won’t change. They might. What a word like “strategic” means to one

And so with every exchange, you have to acknowledge a reality where words like optionality and deliverable could be just as solid as blimp and pretzel. What happens if you ask a Megan or a Steph Korey or an Adam Neumann what they mean? I imagine a box with a series of false bottoms; you just keep falling deeper and deeper into gibberish. The meanin

I had a client that used the word "exposed" a lot and in a negative way. They wanted to make sure no one felt "exposed." This reluctant exposure is a symptom of low trust and vulnerability and high levels of judgment. They are doomed to mediocrity because they infantalized their employees and no one will risk a new idea. The key

1. How something appears to you may not be how it is.


2. What is said or shown may not be all there is.


3. What is true for me may not be true for you.


4. The same words may mean different things to different people.


5. What people say may not be what they mean. Because comms is lossy and language is me