Mantra overload (5)

David J. Brailer, chairman of Health Evolution Partners, is a former politician. Like most politicians, he speaks in mantras. Here are a few examples from an interview that appeared in The Wall Street Journal on March 23, 2009.

(Boldface added.)

“The reason we avoided federal spending on this is once the federal government weighs in…”

What does he mean by “weigh in”? We assume he means it metaphorically, not literally, because the federal government is not a boxer, a jockey, or a greyhound. By the metaphorical “weigh in,” does Mr. Brailer mean “to announce an intention”? Or “to enter a contest”? Or something else? Why doesn’t he just say what he means, instead of forcing his listeners and readers to guess?

“… make it almost impossible for investors to make money in the long run in this space.”

What does he mean by “space”? For example, does he mean a market, a market segment, an industry, or an industry segment? Or something else?

“I think it completely changes the health IT market to much more of a government-driven marketplace…. We’re investing in an alternative economy in health care… and the financial crisis, the stimulus bill and the health reform language are incredibly powerful drivers of that alternative health care economy, just like high oil prices drove wind and solar… I think health care cost pressure is so bad that it only goes one way, which is really towards driving new solutions.”

What does he mean by “drive?” For example, does he mean attract, control, create, cue, decrease, determine, elicit, enable, encourage, engender, expand, generate, govern, guide, incite, increase, limit, manage, occasion, operate, produce, promote, prompt, run, steer or stimulate? Or something else? Other mantra-fanciers have used “drive” in all these senses. They chose the vague “drive” because they were too lazy, ignorant or evasive to say precisely what they meant.

Mr. Brailer is also fond of the mantra “kind of” – a hedging phrase that can make a senior manager sound uncertain, flippant or evasive:

“We kind of set the overall price tag as $100 billion…”

Using the phrase “kind of” while talking about 100 billion dollars sounds childishly flippant. It has an adolescent tone of “whatever” about it.

A senior manager should be deliberate. If he intends to hedge, he should hedge. And he should do it conspicuously, like a grown-up: “We set the overall price at, approximately, $100 billion…”

And if a senior manager doesn’t intend to hedge, he should avoid using childish, timid hedges such as “kind of,” “sort of” and “pretty much.”

Am I being too critical?

If you think I am being too critical of Mr. Brailer, consider this: Mr. Brailer earned an M.D. and a Wharton Ph.D. – he’s not an uneducated laborer or a used-car salesman.*

Also consider this: Senior managers of prominent companies usually undergo intensive “media training” to cure them of sloppy diction. Why do senior managers endure this tedious (and sometimes humiliating) training? Because they know, or at least suspect, that the world outside the company’s walls is more judgmental than the cozy inside world of callow underlings.

Senior managers know that the dreaded outside world is populated by serious adults: investors, bankers, analysts, reporters and customers. These people want information, and they want it straight. Many of these people are astute and skeptical; they will ruthlessly dissect a senior manager’s diction, word by word, looking for exaggerations, evasions and lies.

In other words, senior managers who need to venture outside the company walls and speak to serious adults need to learn how to speak like serious adults. That’s why they endure the tedium of media training.

And I can tell you this, having been both a media trainer and a reporter: Reporters generally assume that senior managers have been media-trained. So, when an intelligent reporter hears sloppy diction, he does not assume that the speaker is ill-trained or careless. He assumes that the speaker is being (at best) intentionally rude or (at worst) evasive or dishonest. That’s when – and why – the reporter begins to dig deeper.

When it comes to diction, every senior manager is free to choose: He can present himself as a child or as a serious adult. But he can’t do both at once.

The Takeaway: Think consciously about the words you utter and write. Especially when editing, keep asking yourself, “What do I really mean?” Over time, this diligent habit will make your writing increasingly precise and accurate. It never fails to do so.

*I am not picking on Mr. Brailer; I am merely using his interview as an illustrative example of a widespread behavior. Mr. Brailer is one among hundreds of senior executives who are acquiring similar sloppy habits. The purpose of this educational blog is to show and explain examples of clear and unclear writing and speech.