Introduction

"Let's circle back to touch base and leverage our synergies." If this sentence makes you want to scream, this book is for you. Linguist and corporate trainer Jessica Blunt dissects the strange dialect of the workplace in "Office Speak."

About the Book

Blunt argues that corporate jargon is not just annoying; it is a tool of obfuscation. Bad leaders use complex words to hide simple lack of ideas, to soften the blow of layoffs ("right-sizing"), or to feign action without doing anything. She analyzes the origins of terms like "low-hanging fruit,", "bandwidth,", and "paradigm shift."

What You Will Learn

The book is a plea for "Radical Clarity." Blunt teaches how to write emails that humans actually understand and how to spot when a company is using "values-speak" to mask a toxic culture. It is a hilarious yet serious guide to cutting through the fluff and communicating with impact in a world of empty suits.