Misleading, Unclear, Sometimes Confusing
Business Cliches, Expressions, Sayings

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Misleading Cliches

As in the Business Cliches page, below are well-known misleading business cliches, showing their "Common Cliche Meanings" and "WARNING" about taking them too literally. Thanks for visiting my executive coaching website. "Larry The Tune Up Guy"

"Go For The Gold" Common Meaning: Go all out and try to become THE WINNER in what you are attempting.

WARNING: In this very competitive world, there are many things that people compete very hard to win. And this CAN be a very growing experience, depending on the specifics. But there will likely only be one GOLD winner! This OFTEN can lead to the "losers" feeling like failures. This MAY also eat up a lot of time and resources, and not have been worth the effort. So, before you decide to "Go For The Gold", size up what it's going to cost, what your chances of success are, how you will feel if you don't succeed, and what might be better for you to compete for instead. Perhaps "Going for the Gold" isn't something you should even consider seriously. Remember - it's very important that you are grateful for what you already have and do achieve!

"The Customer is ALWAYS Right" Common Meaning: Listen to your customer, and then always quickly agree with and accommodate to what your customer wants.

WARNING: This is a misleading business cliche that has been around for many, many years. But in today's era and in some situations, you may need to be somewhat careful about applying this cliche literally all the time.

For instance, perhaps the customer doesn't understand the value of what she recently purchased and just needs to be shown/explained. This can be a good time for both parties to learn some things.

Or, on rare occasions, a customer may just be plain dishonest and try to take advantage. Depending on the specific situation, the business may need to decide not to accommodate the customer, at least not completely.

Lastly, the customer may feel you should add a product or service to your offerings; what is suggested may just not be practical.

"MY Way or the Highway" Common Meaning: I'm the boss, If you're working for me, do what I say, or else!

WARNING: Businesses do need rules and procedures to operate effectively. And although the owner, general manager, or supervisor has the right to act bossy (within the applicable laws), management by intimidation is rarely an effective approach to getting things done. Proper training and treating people with respect will allow people to both think better, and want to perform well.

"Tomorrow is Another Day" Common Meaning: Don't try to do too much in one day. What's the rush?

WARNING: This misleading business cliche means that while it's true that doing too much has its downsides, don't fall into the other trap that translates to "Tomorrow is good enough for me!" You can get into the habit of expecting too little of yourself.

"You ARE What You Are" Common Meaning: People don't change.

WARNING: Many people believe that people don't or can't change. Other people believe that someone can change someone else if they work at it enough.

People CAN change IF they really want to or have to change, have the ability to change (which most people do), and then decide to really work on the processes of change. People CAN encourage change in others, but once again, the person needs to decide to cooperate, and often needs a clear step by step path towards change.

"Time is Money" Common Meaning: Time is very valuable, like money. You can convert time to money, and you can use use money to gain time. How? Simply, if you have extra time, work and earn more money. If you have extra money, hire someone to help you do something you normally spend time doing; you gain time by doing this.

WARNING: This is another potentially misleading business cliche. Many people don't value their time; they give it away or waste it like it isn't precious. In business, sometimes owners often spend a lot of time on things they could hire other people to do for not much money.

But, sometimes businesses spend money they don't have, or should save, by hiring/contracting with additional people instead of spending time doing certain things themselves. Other times, people spend money in careless ways (such as hiring poor helpers), and it takes EXTRA time to fix the situation that caused.

So, be careful how you spend your time and money: there should be a smart balance between money and time - try not run to ever totally run out of either of them.

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" Common Meaning: It's better to take a sure thing than to try to get more by holding off and taking risks.

WARNING: It really comes down to weighing the risks and rewards. If I KNOW that by waiting, the potential payday will mostly likely come and be much, much bigger, and if I know that I'll be OK if that payday doesn't come after all, it just may be worth the risk of waiting and taking that chance.

"Act in haste repent at leisure" Common Meaning: You'll have lots of time to regret your decisions if they were done without planning them out properly. This potentially misleading business cliche could imply that if you spend time planning things out before taking action, you'll make a great plan and get good results.

WARNING: Just because you take time to plan, doesn't guarantee success; your plan might not be as good as it could be. If something is very important to you, solicit input from one or more people whose opinions you trust; this should increase the chances that the plans and actions you take will be rewarding and satisfying.

I hope this sheds some new light on these potentially misleading business cliches. Even very popular cliches aren't ALWAYS correct; their true cliche meanings will vary with the situation!

If you're interested in finding out other ways to do better in your business/career and personal life (in addition to learning about the falicies of misleading business cliches, please read below: "The Quickest Way to Get the Most from this Website".