I came to discover the term: ” strategic profanity” very recently during an executive team meeting where one of the participant spitted out curse words in an attempt to convey his/her emotions and then proceeded to articulate his/her belief in the practice. I was not really phased or otherwise shocked to hear profanity being used during an executive meeting. I have witnessed it so often in my career that I have somewhat become immune to it. It is, in a way, very similar to those new features in Zoom or Microsoft teams where the background noise is filtered out to focus the conversation on the important message. I myself do not engage in the use of profanity, neither in my professional settings nor in my private environment. It is a choice I have made early on in my life and in my career to commit to impactful words that convey messages and build bridges as opposed to just stirring emotions and drawing responses. This is by no mean and indictment of those who engage in the use of profanity, we are all on a journey of self-awareness and improvement and the path is different for each of us.

The term : ” Strategic Profanity “, and the notion that it was an active belief system, did however have me confused especially when consciously articulated as an impactful way to conduct business. The term “Strategic Profanity” is and will always remain an Oxymoron. There is nothing strategic about displaying that an otherwise thoughtful leader in a position to inspire and mandate, has resolved himself to sacrifice positive and impactful communication for a quick rush of emotional adrenaline simply geared at releasing himself for the excessive pressure he/she might have felt at that moment . On the contrary, the leader who proudly claims strategic profanity as a tool in his business toolkit has clearly demonstrated that adequate communication, in difficult or otherwise confrontational situation, is not his forte.

The argument professed by those purposely engaging in strategic profanity resides in the attempt to create a reaction and drive a call to action in support of the desired outcome. None of those are ever achieved for 2 main reasons :

1. The initial reaction to hearing profanity is never a positive one. It is either discarded as a temporary outburst with the risk of discarding part of the message along with it or
2. it is treated as a personal attack at which point it is also discarded and perhaps worse, as the message could be completely derailed to focus on a personal response.

The business world has evolved dramatically over the last 5 years. It is all about the customer experience and his/her overall satisfaction, not only with the products and the services they are presented with but also with the overall culture and values a company is embracing and promoting. In a customer-obsessed organization, employees with rich and diverse backgrounds are the pillar upon which truly great companies will build their long term strategy. “Strategic profanity” as a concept or even as an acceptable notion should have no place when engaging individuals in any settings. Following are some of the reason why

1. You should not use any language with employees that you would not otherwise use with customers. Doing so automatically send the signals that employees are not as valued as customers or prospects.
2. “Strategic Profanity” is not a communication tool. The purpose of words is to convey meaning, to exchange, to bring about a message. Profanity is a unilateral outburst of emotions that automatically undermines the ability of individuals to confidently exchange on various topics.
3. The use of profanity can be traumatic or can awake a past traumatic situation : We have often heard the saying that we should be kind to every one because we do not know what they have been through. In a time of social injustice and systemic racism, the use of profanity can awaken past traumatic situations where individuals were unjustly confronted by authorities often using profanity as a way to exercise power. The impactful leader should promote a positive work environment where the employee is safe from any harmful trigger .
4. Being OK with the notion of “Strategic Profanity” does nothing for self-growth and development. People embrace the use of profanity to mask the fact that they sometimes do not have any or enough words to accurately convey their emotions. Many exercises in therapy are in fact to find the right words that can accurately capture feelings and emotions. Embarking on this very exercise does require a commitment to self-growth and development.
5. “Strategic Profanity” displays a severe deficiency in situational awareness. People leaders and executives must be fully versed in situational awareness. They need to learn to read the room in forum settings or even in 1:1 conversations. Assuming that your preference in the use of “strategic profanity” is all but accepted clearly displays a lack of situational awareness but perhaps and also, a certain degree of arrogance.
6. “Strategic Profanity” is not an international concept. The world has a lot of different cultures and religions. Profanity, strategic or other, is not always widely understood nor accepted and it does not always carry the very emotion you were trying to convey when the culture is different. This could at time results in very awkward interactions and conversations between participants of different culture and languages.

I am not naïve as to think that the world and the workplace is perfect. People bring their biases, their fears and emotions when they come to work. Once you carry however, the mantel of an executive or a people leader in any organization, the expectation to do and be better is no longer an option. It becomes the example we need to set and when setting those positive examples, there should be no room for even the mere notion of profanity having anything to do with a purposeful and meaningful strategy.