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Taking the bull by the horns

“We’ve had it with repurposeable, value added knowledge capital and robust, leveragable mindshare. Enough, already,” says Brian Fugere, partner at Deloitte Consulting. “If Corporate America wants to restore public trust, we need to start speaking and writing more clearly. Less empty rhetoric about openness, honesty and accountability, and more straight talk.”

Enter Bullfighter™, a new program developed by Deloitte Consulting that searches documents for jargon and unnecessarily complex language. Once installed, the Bullfighter toolbar appears in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents, and works much like the spell check feature. The software scans documents for egregious bull, flogs the author for trying to use those words, suggests replacements, and then assigns a Bull Composite score.

Deloitte used the tool to examine a wide range of communications from companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and found that straight-talking companies outperform companies that use vague, unclear communications. Some of the other Bull findings:

• Among the 30 DJIA companies analyzed, Home Depot earned the top spot for clarity in communications.
   
• The computer hardware and software segments suffered the lowest readability scores and used the most jargon overall. Apple Computers, Inc. is a notable exception, proving that even technical companies can speak clearly.
   
• Consulting firms were slightly ahead of the technology segments – but earned no bragging rights when it came to clear communication.
   
• Consumer goods companies, even those selling complex products, were very clear communicators.
   
• The emergence of “bull” in corporate documents may provide an early warning sign of troubles. A review of Enron’s communications during the last three years indicates that, when performance began to sink, its communications became increasingly laden with ambiguous words and sentences.

Deloitte’s conclusion – that straightforward communications can be linked to financial performance – mirrors the findings of two accounting and finance professors, Malcolm Smith of the University of South Australia and Richard Taffler of England’s Cranfield University. Their independent study concluded that clarity of communications can be a very good indicator of corporate performance.

“We’re hoping Bullfighter will shatter the credibility of business jargon, and make business communications safer for all of us,” said Fugere. “We’re just as guilty as the next consultant when it comes to using words like paradigm, bandwidth, and leverage, but we’re committed to straight talk as a way of doing business – and Bullfighter is helping us get there.”

Bullfighter can be downloaded for free at www.dc.com/bullfighter.

Deloitte Consulting is one of the world’s largest consulting organizations. We help clients solve their toughest problems with a unique blend of systems, process, people, finance, accounting and tax expertise. The people of Deloitte Consulting – more than 20,000 men and women in over 40 countries – are known for their straightforward, practical approach to working with clients. Deloitte Consulting is a part of the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu global organization and can be found on the Internet at www.dc.com.

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