Corporate Buzzwords

The findings of a 2026 study that looks at corporate buzzwords—or what the researcher behind this study colorfully calls “corporate bullshit”—suggest that people who are susceptible to abstract, superficially impressive-sounding buzzwords like “synergistic leadership” and “growth-hacking paradigms” are less likely to score highly on tests that measure analytic thinking, cognitive reflection, and fluid intelligence.

In essence, the more a person finds these phrases and terms to be deep, meaningful, and indicative of visionary thinking, the more likely they are to lack those traits, themselves.

The idea is that colorful, flowery language that lacks semantic meaning might serve as a social signal to people who don’t spend much time deeply reflecting on such things, or who perhaps find such reflection difficult.

Much like a peacock’s feathers might superficially signal biological fitness without necessarily reflecting anything more than a bird’s ability to grow large, colorful plumage (which is of questionable survival and procreationary benefit), being capable of spouting this sort of verbiage may indicate, to some, that the spouter has advanced cognitive abilities and a canny business sense, despite that not necessarily being the case; they might just be good at memorizing buzzwords and parroting them at believable moments.

Some people may associate such buzzwords with corporate fitness, however, and these people are the equivalent of a peahen checking out an extremely feathery peacock and thinking, oh yeah, this is definitely A-grade father-material with a bunch of survival benefits to offer his offspring.

These findings led to what the researcher has dubbed a “Corporate Bullshit Receptivity Scale,” which, in theory at least, should be helpful in determining who merely has plumage (and mostly looks at others’ plumage to determine their level of corporate fitness) and who is actually fit, in terms of on-the-job-relevant skills and cognitive abilities.

The researcher also points at risks for organizations that employ a large number of buzzword-susceptible people, as those who are most prone to this type of language are more likely to help elevate others who are good at using it but not necessarily good at anything else. Which means in relatively short order, the upper-ranks of an organization could be filled with skilled buzzword-deployers, rather than people who are truly right for the job, and capable of the type of thinking that is most desired in management and the C-suite.