Say What?

As the comedian Steve Martin once said, "some people have a way with words and some people have not way." Increasingly, I am seeing information from companies, particularly in news releases, that "has not way."

It's time for clarity in the corporate world.

Several news releases have crossed my screen recently that made me wonder if perhaps a new secret language was being used and I didn't have the code. See what you think:

"Freely accessible by the entire OSS community, PatentCafe's Open Source Software Patent Search Engine adds significant value to IBM's contribution by accelerating the integration of IBM's patented technology into the marketplace, helping to foster worldwide interoperability standards."

"An integral part of Sun's ongoing effort to provide developers with robust Java application development support, Java BluePrints for Wireless is a collection of end-to-end best practices, guidelines and architectural recommendations that demonstrates how to best utilize the strengths of the J2EE(TM) and the J2ME(TM) platforms to build a distributed, transaction-oriented enterprise application using J2EE on the server and J2ME on the client."

With a little help, I'll bet you, too, could add significant value by leveraging your robust end-to-end technology and thus foster worldwide interoperability.

"Bull" has become the official language of business. I say that corporate speak is akin to what is happening in customer service: the humanity is being taken out of the equation.

Fight the "bull." When you are writing news releases, letters, or even emails, break through the clutter by putting candor and personality into them.

A touch of humanity wouldn't hurt either.

Harry Hoover is managing principal of Hoover ink PR. He has 26 years of experience in crafting and delivering bottom line messages that ensure success for serious businesses like Brent Dees Financial Planning, Focus Four, Levolor, New World Mortgage, North Carolina Tourism, TeamHeidi, Ty Boyd Executive Learning Systems, VELUX, and Verbatim.

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