Using similar language can facilitate conversation, make people feel connected, and increase their perception that they are part of the same tribe. All of which can increase liking, trust, and a variety of positive downstream outcomes.

We suggest three ways to dampen the damage inflicted by in-group lingo. The first stems from the power of generalists, who, as David Epstein shows in his book Range, play a crucial role in a world with so many specialists. You need to find and develop generalists who, apparently unlike UBS’s Peter Kurer and his colleagues, know enough about the jargon and work of key specialists to discern the virtues and risks, and who understand how to weave their varied efforts together.

The third solution is to translate in-group jargon into plain English to avoid confusing or alienating outsiders who need to understand it.

Appendix

“We wrote a friction article for Gallup.com, “Too Many Teams, Too Many Bosses,” and for Times Higher Education, “Our To-Do Lists Can’t Grow Forever. It’s Time to Try Subtraction.

3. Individual participant articulation.

There are real language barriers—both literal and cultural—that mean we often think we are hearing each other, but we actually have no clue what others are saying. We all have filters, only some of which we are aware.

In a gathering, this can create the utmost confusion. Folks are using different cultural references, different touch points and acronyms, coming from widely different experiences and passions—even if what they are saying is similar, they can’t hear and understand each other.