Smart Ideas Die In Boring Words

Boring words are everywhere.

They strut across boardrooms, decks, job ads, testimonials and websites dressed as brilliance.

But they’re not.

They make you sound like everyone else.

Your message deserves better.

It deserves clarity with teeth.

Words that cut sharp, spark trust and make people feel something.

So here’s the fix.

Write a blacklist of corpse words.

Keep it close.

And every time one of those zombies crawls into your comms — kill it.

One by one.

Clean cut.

No mercy.

Fake Boldness 

Best — If you have to claim it, you’re not it.

Better — Better than what? Than soup? Empty flex.

Best-in-class — Whose class? Kindergarten? MBA? Meaningless.

Brave — Real bravery is shown, not shouted.

Disrupt — Real disruption doesn’t announce itself. Uber didn’t brag, “we’re disruptive.” They just nuked taxis.

Exceptional — By definition, not everyone can be. Yet everyone says it.

Excellent — Belongs on a school report card, useless in business.

Groundbreaking — Everyone says it. Nobody believes it.

Industry-leading — Translation: “We paid for a sponsored award.”

Innovative — The word startups shout when they’ve got no idea what they actually do.

Pioneering — Unless you’re crossing the Rockies in a wagon, stop.

Revolutionary — Revolutions don’t announce themselves with a press release.

Superior — Makes you sound like a dictator in a bad uniform.

Trailblazing — So overused the trail’s a highway. Nothing left to blaze.

Unrivalled — If you have rivals, you’re lying. If you don’t, why say it?

Fake Smarts 

Actionable Insights — Fancy way of saying “we learned something.”

Agile — If you’re so agile, why do your sprints crawl?

AI-driven — Just code for “we bolted ChatGPT onto it.”

All-in-One — The Swiss Army knife nobody asked for.

Cutting-edge — Used so often, it’s blunt.

Digital-First — Congrats, it’s 2025. Everything is digital by default.

Effective — If it wasn’t, why would it exist?

Empower — If you need to tell me you’re giving me power, you’re not.

Enterprise-Grade — Means “too bloated for normal humans.”

Future-Proof — Nothing is. Ask Blockbuster.

Improved — Compared to your old junk? Low bar.

Intelligent — Intelligence is shown, never declared.

Next-Gen — Supposedly from the future, runs like the past.

Optimise — Polite jargon for “patch the screw-ups.”

Paradigm Shift — A pompous way of saying “change.”

Pivot — Glam word for panic. Means “we guessed wrong and now we’re scrambling.”

Robust — Describe wine, not software.

Scalable — Grows in slides, not in reality.

Smart — The word companies use when “functional” feels too honest.

Synergise — When bullshit multiplies by bullshit and calls it progress.

Transformational — Nine times out of ten, it’s not.

Utilisation — The ugly cousin of “use.” Always makes you sound robotic.

Fake Fixes

Automate — Code for “we fired people and hope the bot doesn’t crash.”

Cloud-native — Unless you live in the sky, say “it runs online.”

End-to-End — Unless you’re a rope, drop it.

Holistic — Copy that smells like yoga mats and herbal tea.

Integrate — The polite lie for “we smashed two clunky systems together and pray they don’t crash.”

Leverage — A suit’s way of saying “use.” It makes you sound like a tool pretending to be a lever.

Synergise — When two weak ideas hold hands and pretend they’re strong.

Low-Hanging Fruit — Translation: “We’re lazy, let’s pick the obvious stuff.”

Move the Needle — Unless you’re a nurse, drop it.

Multichannel — Just means “we can’t decide where to focus.”

Seamless Integration — If you need to tell me it’s seamless, it won’t be.

Streamline — Corporate spin for “we fired people and cut corners.”

Value-Add — If you didn’t add value, why are you here?

Best Practices — Lazy shorthand for “copy everyone else.”

Exciting — “We have exciting news”? No, you don’t. And no, we’re not.

Quality — Breathing air is quality. Don’t brag about the minimum.

You’ve got one shot to say it right.

Say what you mean.

Make it stick.

And sell like hell.

PS. If you don’t know jewellery, know your jeweller. That’s Buffett’s rule. It’s the same with messaging. Smart ideas die in boring words. If you don’t know the game, find a partner who does, because your reputation is on the line. I help thinkers, rebels, and disruptors say what they mean and make it stick.  Step up. Bring your message. I’ll bring the punch. You’ve got one shot to say it right. I’ll help you take it.