Exaggeration Can Lead to Problems

What is the cost of exaggeration? Well, it depends on who you ask. If you ask a Wall Street brokerage firm whose employee was accused recently of being "too bullish" on stock picks, that cost might be quite a lot.

Merrill Lynch reportedly paid $400,000 to settle allegations that its top Internet analyst was too bullish when making stock recommendations (usatoday.com 7/20/01). Those recommendations allegedly caused a client to "lose his shirt" when the stock value plummeted.

Though stock brokers can't predict the future with certainty, expectations by customers that businesses be accurate and not exaggerate claims are high. And even if people don't mean to exaggerate, they sometimes do by choosing the wrong words to make their claims.

Remember that when communicating with people, choose your words carefully. Be aware of both a word's denotation (literal meaning) and connotation (emotional colorings) to minimize the possibility that someone will misinterpret what you say. Most of all, expand your vocabulary so that the words you use are the words you mean to use.

For more information on choosing the right word, see Module 15.