"The more a document contains the term 'innovation', the less likely I am to take it seriously", tweeted Mike Beasley (via A Jangbrand).
Many words are only used when the ideas they represent are absent. When there is genuine trust or empowerment or creativity, you don't find people talking much about Trust and Empowerment and Creativity.
So we may sometimes infer the absence of the thing (real innovation) from the overuse of the word (the term "Innovation").
What other concepts does this apply to? Please add a comment below or tweet me.
Michael Pollan in his book, "In defense of food" makes a great statement along these lines. I have quoted from the introduction
ReplyDelete"If you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid products that make health claims. Why? Because a health claim on a food product is a strong indication it’s not really food, and food is what you want to eat"