(Connect With is an annoying business term and is just one of the 212 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Effuse, Confuse, and Overuse detailed in the hilarious must-have guide for every workplace: The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room. Available right now on Amazon.)

Connect With

What are we, Legos?

Why is it so many in our midst are always trying to connect with so many others?

If you’re selling a B2B product or service, you’re often told in order to be successful you need to connect with as many important people as possible. You’re told to connect with the decision maker; to connect with the department head; to connect with the buyer; to connect with their coworkers.

Enough with the connecting! Instead, why don’t we just meet each other? Why don’t we just interact like humans instead of connecting like ubiquitous plastic blocks?

Of course, the biggest annoyance factor for this term comes in its overuse by some managers. You know the type, they start every sentence with so and they’re constantly discussing, deliberating, contemplating, and bragging about the number of people with whom they’re connecting.

Funny thing, of course, is these are most often the same people others try to avoid. Other will connect begrudgingly because the annoyer will hound them forever if they do not. Moreover, their connections, because the annoyer is so focused on quantity instead of quality, are always the shallowest.

Certainly, you know the type. Those whose LinkedIn profiles boast their number of connections – as if connections were dollars. Ugh.

Real relationships – especially in business – are not the prize of some contest; they are the result of genuine human interactions that develop over time. What’s more, the person with the most connections doesn’t win anything other than a prize for being the most annoying person you know.

Replacement phrases: Meet; Speak to; Interact with

See also: Face Time; Touch Base

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The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room is available on Amazon