KPI, ROI and EBITDA are some of the most commonly used acronyms in the corporate world. However, using certain abbreviations in front of Cisco’s Indian-origin executive could get a meeting terminated.
Jeetu Patel, president and chief product officer at Cisco, recently revealed why he sometimes ends meetings when employees use acronyms, particularly those coined internally by the company.
“I don’t like acronyms, especially Cisco-manufactured acronyms that happen at runtime,” Patel told Fortune during a small roundtable dinner.
“If there’s a meeting and there’s acronyms that are used, there are times that I’ve just terminated the meeting,” he added.
Patel explained that his objection to acronyms stems from concerns about workplace inclusivity. He believes employees who are unfamiliar with company-specific terminology often hesitate to ask for explanations, fearing they might appear uninformed in front of their colleagues.
He also recalled an instance when he heard employees referring to him as “JP” while discussing an approval. However, Patel said he did not even go by that nickname. “I’m like, who’s JP? He’s like, that’s Jeetu Patel. I don’t even go by JP,” he recalled.
{{/usCountry}}He also recalled an instance when he heard employees referring to him as “JP” while discussing an approval. However, Patel said he did not even go by that nickname. “I’m like, who’s JP? He’s like, that’s Jeetu Patel. I don’t even go by JP,” he recalled.
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Why Jeetu Patel thinks acronyms are not inclusive
Explaining his concerns, Patel said that even a relatively small employee attrition rate can result in thousands of new people joining a large organisation every year.
According to Fortune, he estimated that an annual attrition rate of 5% to 10% at Cisco’s scale could mean around 9,000 new employees joining the company each year. Over 3 years, that could amount to approximately 27,000 people, or nearly a third of its workforce.
These employees, he said, would have to navigate company-specific terms and abbreviations casually used during meetings. Many might hesitate to ask what these expressions mean and instead remain silent, he added.
“They don’t know all the colloquial acronyms that we’ve come up with, but they feel too stupid to ask because they don’t want to be intrusive and invasive in a meeting,” Patel said.
He added that this often results in employees remaining quiet even when they do not understand what is being discussed.
“So now people are talking past each other, and you’ve got a third of the population that does not feel comfortable asking what that means, and the two-thirds that are using the acronyms feel like that’s superbly efficient. ut how is anything efficient that a third of your company does not even understand what you’re talking about?” he said.
Patel said that he encourages new employees to stop meetings whenever communication becomes unclear. During orientation, he tells them they have the authority to interrupt a discussion if they do not understand what is being said. He also believes senior leaders have a responsibility to communicate in a way that everyone can understand.
“I’m a big believer in that. You have to be able to speak in easy enough terms that everyone can understand,” he added.