Thought Leader. Coopetition. Game-Changer. Best of Breed. What do they have in common? If you guessed, “Caitie loathes them,” then you would be right. The Priority team debates business buzzwords, from the dangerous and misleading to the merely vapid. “But what’s the big deal?” asks our enterprise-grade audience. Maybe we have ideated a few too many buzzwords, but so what? Isn’t leveling-up our jargon the way we demonstrate expertise and belonging? These paradigm shifts don’t grow on trees, after all! Perhaps we can debate the merits of corporatese terms like “onboarding,” but much of this language is used to obfuscate and sanitize our work life. We “reorganize” instead of conducting layoffs and claim to be “growth hackers” rather than do anything to produce growth. Jargon has its place, but watch your language―or Max will wash your mouth out . . . with business.