When I worked in finance, I noticed something interesting.
When times were good, we called ourselves ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ด.
When times were tougher, we reverted to ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ด.
Same people. Same work. Different economic mood.
Lately, Iโve noticed a similar shift on LinkedIn.
A quiet move away from verbs like:
Fueling.
Empowering.
Growing.
And adjectives like:
Passionate.
Energetic.
Fearless.
And back to ๐ท๐ผ๐ฏ ๐๐ถ๐๐น๐ฒ๐. Plain, simple job titles.
From verbs to nouns.
From -ings to -ers.
Strategist.
Designer.
Founder.
Advisor.
Have you noticed it too?
I wonder whatโs behind it.
Is it ๐ฎ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ณ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ด๐๐ฒ โ a weariness with flowery promises, and a desire to just know what someone actually does?
Is it reaction to ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฒ?
When everyone is โpassionate,โ the word starts to lose its impact.
Or is it about ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ถ๐น๐ถ๐๐?
A noun implies a role you can be held to, not just a feeling you hope to create.
We know from behavioural science that what you call something, matters.
Iโm curious:
โข What do you notice people responding to more right now?
โข How do you describe your work โ and how do you prefer others describe theirs?
P.S. Instead of posting each weekday, I plan on sending you ideas about behavioural science every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Thanks for being a subscriber ๐
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