One of the archaic cultural elements of working in corporate America is that there are still men in charge who think using sports metaphors (especially baseball and football terms) in large team meetings is an appropriate way to get their team excited. For example, a headline to a page in a presentation might say "Hit a Grand Slam" or he might mention his son's Little League team's strategy, or he might make a joke out of some sports scores. (I can't even quote an example because I tune out to this kind of bullshit.) I find this kind of white male rhetoric exclusive and sexist and it really doesn't motivate me or pump me up to succeed. While I appreciate the person in question loves himself some team spots, I also think consistently using sports metaphors to motivate a diverse group of people would be as arbitrary as me leading a team using my love of cats.
Here are some examples of how arbitrary this kind of rhetoric can be:
1. Don't Be Pussies: Facilitating Change
2. Catch that Mouse! Get 10 million accounts!
3. Get Out Your Scratching Posts: Annual Review Guidelines
4. Catnip Crazy: Getting Feedback from Your Boss
5. Your Jacobson's Organ: Sniffing Out New Trends
6. Cleaning Out the Litterbox: Audit Kickoff!
See how crazy that sounds? I, however, am smart enough to know that some people hate cats and people would think I was kind of crazy and wonder why in the hell they worked for a company that used this kind of crazy cat talk.
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