In boardrooms and boardrooms across corporate India, long explanations filled with buzzwords often pass for intelligence. Polished presentations, heavy jargon, and carefully crafted “corporate speak” may sound impressive—but they often blur the meaning instead of sharpening it. As businesses move faster and decisions carry higher stakes, this habit is increasingly seen as a hindrance rather than a strength.
This concern was recently raised by Varun Alagh, co-founder of Honasa Consumer Limited, in a LinkedIn post that sparked widespread discussion online.
Sharing a glimpse of his leadership style, Alagh wrote that in many meetings, he often hears his teams interrupt him with simple but targeted questions like “Can you explain that in two lines?” or “Thoda Hindi mein samjhaoge?”
There’s a reason for that, he explained. Alagh calls this the “Twaddle Tendency” – a behavior that occurs when people aren’t quite clear about what they’re saying.
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Ambiguity, he says, leads people to overcompensate. They rely on complex jargon, corporate phrases and disconnected narratives to make themselves appear smarter than they really are. But it’s actually a red flag.
“When this flowery language is confirmed, it comes with a hidden problem: a lack of substance and clarity,” Alagh wrote, adding, “If you can’t explain it simply, you probably don’t understand it well enough.”
The hidden price of flowery language
Alagh warned that workplaces often reward such communication without realizing its impact. When style is mistaken for insight, vague ideas escape questions. Over time, this leads to poor strategies, poor execution, and bad decisions that show up much later.
To avoid this, he emphasized the need to build a culture of “simple and short” communication across organizations.
According to him, this approach should be visible everywhere:
From interviews by filtering out candidates who can easily break down complex ideas
In meetings by encouraging direct answers instead of unnecessary “dragging”
In presentations, by valuing data and “why” over fonts, padding, and theatrical elements
At its core, Alagh emphasized, clear communication must take precedence over complexity.
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Netizens echo the message
The post resonated with professionals across industries, many of whom shared their own frustrations with jargon-laden communications.
One user summed it up sharply: “Brevity is not brutality, it’s respect for intelligence. When language obscures meaning, it reveals uncertainty, not sophistication. Clarity, put simply, is the highest form of competence.”
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Another pointed out that the problem goes beyond meetings: “Same thing with written communication – emails and proposals. I get pages that basically say, ‘Look how much effort (words/characters) I put into avoiding thinking’. It’s annoying, like wasting a token is a reason to be happy.”
A third user emphasized the influence of leadership: “Complicated language usually just hides unclear ideas. When clear, simple explanations take a back seat, people start rewarding style over substance. That’s how bad decisions creep in.”
