Rabobank CEO Wiebe Draijer replied in an interview in NRC Handelsblad to comments made in an article by a columnist targeting the use of corporate jargon in Dutch companies.
The journalist view:
- Jargon creates a distance between senior management and the rest of the organisation
- Jargon creates a distance between the bank and its customers
The CEO view:
- Frequent meetings in English at a Dutch company creates a “language soup” that can come across a bit strange to outsiders
- Certain words have become efficient and convenient shortcuts for a big project, initiative, philosophy, strategy and summarise months of work and discussions in 4 letters.
I think both have a point: efficient meetings full of shortcuts are better long and slow discussions where everyone is looking for the right words. Still, you should watch out when external audiences are involved: especially large gatherings of people and written material that can end up on anyone’s desk (including presentations).