“Center of gravity” is not in AirLand Battle, but Clausewitzian and AirLand battle narratives converged. Army Training and Doctrine Command were wielding their buzzwords intentionally and thoughtfully in a planned series of talks, articles, and engagements. But this was not a failure of the buzzwords, rather it was a sign of their success. ![]() The buzz around these ideas would eventually dissipate. The “extended battlefield” and “centers of gravity” were that sugar. Robert Cluley argues that buzzwords provide a “spoonful of sugar” to help organizations explore problem areas that they don’t want to admit are problematic. Army leaders were learning from the Vietnam and Yom Kippur Wars, reconceptualizing and extending the battlefield, and implementing change through the AirLand Battle concept of war. The argument was that Clausewitz presented a more intelligent way to focus Army combat power. In Clausewitzian thought, “centres of gravity” are “situated where the greatest bodies of troops are assembled.” After the 1970s boom in On War’s popularity in professional military education, usage of the phrase “centers of gravity” peaked in military professional journals in the 1980s. Ironically, he also warns readers about the “pompous retinues of technical terms” that accompany most studies of war. ![]() In On War, Clausewitz used scientific analogies like gravity and friction to capture his theory of war. One of the greatest (unintentional) buzzword designers was Carl von Clausewitz. The document even explicitly calls on readers “to think and act in new ways.” The 2022 National Security Strategy introduces “integrated deterrence” in an attempt to make readers reconceptualize “deterrence,” breaking out of the habitual shorthand. It is possible to discuss the term “deterrence” without understanding its intellectual history. You’ve experienced this if you have ever used an acronym but cannot recall exactly what it stands for. Because this language is often learned through conversation and context, it is possible to use jargon appropriately without recalling its origins. Jargon is often shorthand for more complex ideas and processes, allowing for faster communication. ![]() These words become familiar, even habitual. When individuals enter a profession, they are taught the jargon of their professional community. The first benefit of buzzwords is that they create cognitive distance from something that already exists, creating space for individuals to think in a new way. Critically, words can move between these categories: buzzwords that lose their fashionable nature decay into non-buzzy jargon, and with enough support, may eventually be codified into doctrinal terminology. Some are just flash in the pan words that quickly drop out of usage, while others survive for decades. They are uncodified phrases that are particularly fashionable or attention-grabbing at a specific moment in time. Buzzwords are a different subset of jargon. For example, in my research, “military terminology” is the set of words found codified in military doctrine, the Department of Defense Dictionary, or the service dictionaries. One subset of jargon is “terminology” - the standardized technical words and phrases that have been codified. Jargon is the set of technical language shared by a group of people in the same profession or specialty. ![]() “Buzzwords” and “jargon” are often conflated but they are not the same. It is the actions, or inaction, of individuals and organizations during a buzzword’s lifespan that determine whether it begins a revolution or fades into a bumper sticker. All buzzwords eventually lose their buzz. They can be coopted into bumper stickers or denigrated as bingo squares. When used judiciously and in concert with other tactics, buzzwords can help leaders change organizations. They can provide an external or executive-driven justification for new budgeting and organizational structures, thereby deflecting blame from lower-level leaders. Buzzwords introduce a new label that can delink us from our prior knowledge and expectations. Buzzwords are a promising weapon in the arsenal of individuals seeking to shape an organization.
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