This phrase has been part of the jargon of finance and business for a while now but I think it is emerging into broader contexts.
ZG: 5
Still a jargon word for the knowledgeable with overtones of business and marketing expertise.
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A step change is a sudden positive change in outcomes for a business or organisation, or a sudden improvement in the way an individual behaves. In business it is a radical change in strategy or operations and it is probably in business and marketing and planning that this term is mostly used.
ZG: 6
Trendy for those who want to sound professional.
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Women seeking senior positions in organisations, government and private, lead dangerous lives. First they have to break through the glass ceiling, that barrier which is invisible but very effective in preventing women from being selected for the top jobs, despite their having the necessary qualifications. Having shattered that ceiling they may find themselves confronted by the glass cliff.
ZG: 7
Both these words are markers of the observation that the workplace is structured to favour men.
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This is a system for securely storing one’s education and training accreditations in one digitised system that allows for the individual employee to update and verify their details and for employers to access the database to find the workers with the skills that they need.
ZG: 3
Government jargon at the moment but it could become common.
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This is the practice of inserting malicious code into legitimately placed ads which will pop up on your website. The word is a blend of malware and advertising.
ZG: 6
This is the computer hacking threat of the moment.
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This is a tool that makes clear (by way of visualisation) the relationships of power in an organisation or community which have to be navigated in order to bring about social change.
ZG: 4
This is a specialised term which has gained notice because of the activities of some organisations in gaining undue influence with the government.
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It has become fashionable for companies and organisations to claim in their public documents that they are doing wonderful things for the environment. Climate disclosures and commitments are now being revised in a process that is described as green hushing.
ZG: 6
A term employed by those engaged in environmental watchdog activities.
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This is the increase in the number of tourists visiting a tourist destination to the point where it is beyond the capacity of the people who live there to deal with the influx. In these post-pandemic times travel is once again an option and overtourism is becoming an acute problem.
ZG: 8
I expect a great deal more discussion of over tourism and how to manage it.
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There is a mode of improvisation in which you agree with what one player has offered and then expand on it. ‘My hair is on fire’ says one actor. Yes, and it’s catching onto your clothes’ says another, building up the scene and giving the first actor something to work with.
ZG: 5
The leap from the theatre to business contexts has given this expression greater currency.
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The Perth Mint has been in the headlines, accused of money laundering and of gold doping. The second charge needed explanation.
ZG: 3
This is jargon and not something the average person would encounter but it is fascinating.
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Kim Kardashian is an influencer with 341.9 million followers. A micro-influencer typically has between 3,000 and 10,000 followers BUT they are serious followers who share a niche interest and are convinced of the integrity of the micro-influencer and the value of the information provided.
ZG: 8
With pretty well everyone aspiring to be an influencer, but failing that, a micro-influencer, this word has high frequency. That was before we started discussing how to regulate them.
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The digital nomad appeared around 2016, often a figure seated in front of a laptop in a coffee shop for some hours. Digital nomadism morphed into digital slomadism, a movement that espoused travel at a slower pace, giving the digital slomad time to really get to know a place before they moved on again.
ZG: 6
Not everyone can work wherever their laptop is, but the numbers of slomads are increasing.
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Apparently there is nothing like the anger experienced by a computer gamer who has just been outwitted by the game and killed. In such circumstances gamers simply abandon the game in a fury.
ZG: 5
A term that is high-frequency among gamers but limited in use in other contexts. That said, why would you say that you quit when you could say that you rage-quit. Much more powerful.
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This is the paid leave that you can have from work to settle in a new puppy into your household.
ZG: 4
It made sense for a pet food company to offer this to their employees. Some companies in Australia have picked up on the idea but I am not sure how far it will go.
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The step from sporting jargon to polliespeak is a small one these days, so it comes as now surprise to find that Hail Mary has been liberated from the finance pages and can be used more generally for any desperate strategy.
ZG: 7
This seems to be one of those buzz words that pops up with increasing regularity.
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The idea of an adaptability quotient (AQ) is modelled on this but is meant to indicate readiness to be flexible in a fast-changing world.
ZG: 6
A piece of business jargon but one that will probably be increasingly popular.
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For a company to be on brand means that they are giving a clear and consistent message in all their products, their advertising, their sponsorships, all the activities they engage in, that is in line with how they wish to be perceived by the public.
ZG: 4
A bit of marketing jargon but interesting because it shows the on song pattern is still productive.
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The term big business has led to a related set of big words such as big tobacco, big pharma, and big sugar. These are now joined by big tech.
ZG: 9
Big tech are big in size and big in influence. They affect our lives hugely. We will be discussing big tech for some time to come.
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This is software which enables a business to falsify the details of a transaction maintained by the point-of-sale software in order to cheat on tax payments.
ZG: 4
The ATO also comments that Australians regard cheating on their tax as a national sport so this is technology jargon and the subject matter is of little interest.
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