How To Sell Yourself

104 How to Sell Yourself

CIA Director George Tenet negotiated a tricky cease-fire in
the Middle East in June, 2001.

One member of the negotiating team, General Eiland, attrib-
uted the success of the mission this way: “Tenet said the clearest
possible things and used simple clear words.”

Winston Churchill summed it up with, “Short words are the
best, and short words when old are best of all.”

When we’re trying to figure out what you mean, we’re missing
your next thought. Don’t try to tell us everything you know. We
don’t want to know everything you know.

The Washington word game

This game pops up from time to time in newspapers and maga-
zines and makes my point for me.

You’re to select one word from each of the three columns and
put together a perfectly governmentese phrase. The more words
you use, the less likely you are to say anything meaningful while
still managing to sound important. Try any combination of one
word from each column.

The Washington Word Game

Column A Column B Column C

indigenous environmental overkill

comprehensive neutral pollution

fragmentary concomitant interface

interplanetary philosophical replication

internecine totalitarian exacerbation

collective demagogic dialectic

bureaucratic proactive evaluation

portentous demonstrative resonance

didactic hedonistic fallacy

pedantic antediluvian methodology

ultimate gustatory phalanx

incorrigible retrogressive dyslexia

corporeal pragmatic monasticism