The woolliest words in business

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When it comes to words such as “innovation”, “purpose” and “sustainability”, proceed with caution

Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskThese words are ubiquitous in part because they are so hard to argue against.

Woolliness also smothers debate about whether you can have too much of a good thing. Take “innovation”, for example. Too much innovation can be a turn-off for customers. A recent paper from Yingyue Luan and Yeun Joon Kim of the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge looks at the effect of perceived novelty on the response of audiences to films.

“Collaboration” is another word that repays closer scrutiny. It can be marvellous: boundaries dissolved, expertise and ideas flowing. But collaboration can also run wild. It often means having more and more people on every email thread and in every meeting. It can paralyse decision-making, as everyone and their dog gets to weigh in with their view.

 

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Same with 'environment', 'social', 'governance'.

...because oil companies will not stop preventing such words to become reality for power generation until every drop of oil is gone.

I pray my flight leaves tomorrow. I already started ripping my economist magazine.

Muchos seres humanos pecan y han pecado de avaricia desde hace miles de años. Pero desde la primera revolución industrial en el siglo XVIII las actividades humanas están teniendo un impacto negativo en casi todos los ecosistemas de este planeta.

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