Going forward: CEOs should stop saying 'going forward' originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 02 May 2008 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This post was part of AOL Money & Finance's Best & Worst of 2007. Voting has now closed and readers have chosen globalization as the most overused buzzword of the year. Be sure to let us know in the comments if you are pleased with this result.

We all have our pet peeves in the evolution of language. Mine is the misuse of "quality" as an adjective, as in -- say, "that's a quality mullet you have there!" Quality is a scale of measurement, people, not a unit of measure.

That being said (which should have made the list), we have a quality set of annoying buzzwords as our candidates for the most overused in 2007.

#1. Take that offline; as in, quit embarrassing yourselves by engaging in an IM flame-war and solve your problems in a face-to-face slap-off. We would prefer that those who use the term "take that offline," would, um, take it offline.

#2. Globalization. Also flat earth, global integration, global supply chain, etc. We get it that we put on pants made in Thailand, shoes from China, a shirt from India, get in our car made in Romania, and drive to our office to work for a Belgian company selling widgets to Indonesia. No mas, por favor!

Continue reading Best & Worst of 2007: Most overused buzzwords

Best & Worst of 2007: Most overused buzzwords originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 01 Dec 2007 14:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Because the business of manufacturing nearly everything has been deferred to China, it seems to me that there must be some great opportunities in store for those who learn to communicate in the Chinese language. Corporations large and small have already taken hold of this thinking and I believe that companies wishing to thrive in a true global sense are duty bound to maintain staff fluent in English, Spanish, Chinese, and a host of other languages. Gone are the days when speaking English was the "responsibility" of foreign corporations wishing to do business with us. If we want to keep pace, we need to drop our attitude of superiority and realize that the world of business has some staggering new rules.

I'm not doing a promotion here. I'm merely examining the current business conditions and investigating some options. When considering the fact that one out of five people on this planet speaks some form of Chinese dialect, doesn't it make good sense that we should be interested in communicating with them? Perhaps they don't understand that we don't want lead in our children's toys. Wouldn't you like to explain that to them?

Continue reading The Chinese language for business: Its time has arrived

The Chinese language for business: Its time has arrived originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 18 Nov 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This weekend's Wall Street Journal (subscription required) features a piece on the number of CEOs hiring tutors to teach their children Mandarin Chinese, or even hiring a Chinese nanny. They do this because they strongly believe that an understanding of the language will give their children a strong advantage in the business world.

I believe the public schools need to get with the program and start offering Chinese language courses, because most parents can't afford to hire a Chinese nanny to prepare their 7-year-olds for the business world. The fact that rich people can buy their kids the skills they need to succeed can only perpetuate the status quo: the children of the rich arrive in the business world in their 20s with a valuable skill that their savvy parents paid for in their preteen years.

Does your local public school offer Chinese? Chances are it doesn't. Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty has taken steps to level the playing field. In his 2006 state of the state address, he said, "I'm directing the Department of Education to develop a model Chinese language curriculum so it's available to every school district." More governors should do the same, or the only people with the skills to succeed in the global economy will be the children of the rich, and that is un-American.

Time to start teaching Chinese originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 17 Mar 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

AOL Latino launches free version today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 04 Dec 2006 10:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.