THE TRANSLATION CORNER

Top business executives, often through their public relations officers, love to make glowing statements to the media or to their shareholders, which describe how marvelously effective their company activities are proving to be.

However, words of such a rosy nature usually require translation into what the real facts are. Accordingly, we're showing below the phrases uttered by the trained public relations types, along with the true underlying situations.

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"John Forthright has served as our Chief Executive Officer for the past ten years."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“Our company policies and outlook are just as sluggish as they were ten years ago.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
Our field of business is an extremely competitive one."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“We aren’t operating as efficiently as our competitors are.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"We're looking forward to even better results for the coming year."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“This year has been pretty lousy so far.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"Our staff morale and enthusiasm level is as high as it has been for a long
while."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“Most of our people have been with us six months or less.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"We're spending substantial sums for new product research and development."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“Those guys in our Research Department are driving us into bankruptcy with their spending practices."

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"People are our company's most important asset."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“Our payroll costs have gone sky high over the past year.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"We've established a more acute sense of financial responsibility."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“The banks are on our tail to improve, or they’ll take us over.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"We are investing heavily in staff training and development."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“Our people are so inept, we have no choice but to send them on special courses all the time."

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
“Hard work is our main forte.”
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“We’re so understaffed and underqualified that we have to work our butts off
around here.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"We're constantly seeking new markets, new products, and other new fields to conquer."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“Our efforts have been pretty much a bust so far, but some day we hope to make it.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"Our cash flow has improved over the past year."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“Our bank balance is a black figure for the first time since 1999.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"We're currently quoting on more prospective business than ever before."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“We’ve finally learned to adopt sensible pricing policies.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"Our Zilchblende product line has captured 67% of the market during the last six months."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“Only three sales have been made of these junk products – two by us and one by a competitor."

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"We find it necessary to increase prices."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“We’re so inefficient, we can’t even begin to control our costs properly."

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"We have a most energetic staff incentive program laid out for the coming year."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“We’ve changed the payroll system terminology, to make it sound better to the staff.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"This is our company policy."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“This is how the home office says we should do it.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"We have an outstanding array of systems analysts and programmers."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“Everybody on our software service staff has had some school training.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"Our company has always enjoyed a harmonious internal relationship."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“The only person who ever makes a decision around here is the CEO.”

WHAT THE PUBLIC HEARS
"We've always prided ourselves in being an imaginative organization."
THE ACTUAL SITUATION
“We want to avoid facing reality at all costs.”