Consultant Offers Free BS Fighter

The consulting firm has developed some free software that identifies the type of gobbledygook mumbo jumbo consultant-speak that seems to have become a ubiquitous part of today’s business “communications.”  

The so-called Bullfighter software, which Deloitte alternatively describes (tongue-in-cheek) as, “A value-added, leverageable global knowledge repository,” a “repurposeable, leading edge thoughtware that delivers results-driven value,” and “a future-proof asset that seamlessly empowers your mission critical enterprise communications,” works like a spelling checker program to spot questionable words and phrases in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint documents.  

The firm began working on the software after a consultant in the firm’s Dallas office posed a challenge: Instead of just talking about plain talk, design a tool to help people talk plainly, according to a NY times report.   According to the firm, some of the most hated phrases were `leverage,’ `bandwidth,’ `touch base,’ `incentivize,’ `inoculate,’ `bleeding edge,’ `robust,’ `synergize’ and `envisioneer.’ “

It is available on the Deloitte Consulting Web site at www.dc.com/bullfighter (you can also order it in CD-ROM format).   The Bullfighter software runs in Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, but only within Microsoft Office 2000 or XP.   You can also download screensavers, or pass the word along with an e-card.

In addition, you can rate documents with the Bull Composite, which includes the Bull Index and the Flesch Reading Ease indices. The Bull Index counts the frequency and severity of jargon, while Flesch focuses on sentence length and syllable count, according to Deloitte.

The consulting firm notes that “nasty” words like “leverage” hurt your score far more than innocuous but overused words like “global,” but cautions that long sentences can also kill your score.

Indeed, the bullfighter could actually result in a….’value-based paradigm shift.’

No bull.