As we kick off 2025, what words should we banish for this year, I wonder?Which words would you like to see banished from the industry in 2025?Personally, I am over the word transformation. Bruh, haven’t we transformed enough in the past decade? It feels like an overused word fit for over-promised money pits.For my first FinTech Futures column of the year, I thought it’d be fun to ask some of my colleagues from across the fintech space which words they would like to see banished from the industry in 2025. Here’s what they have to say:Tammy Bangs, Director of Channel and Financial Services Partnerships, ID Dataweb: “Synergy. I think that word deserves banishment. I had a boss years ago that used that word A LOT and it’s still at the top of my list of corporate speak I detest!”Kristen Castell, Managing Director, Fintech CAFE: “Ma’am. I think it’s old fashioned and not a compliment to women and kind of rude when men use it. Makes you feel old. In corporate, I always thought war room was an awful term when used for employees getting empowered together to solve a problem. Why is it a war?!”Sonya Dreizler, co-founder of Choir: “Empowerment. The word is typically used in a context that centres those already in power and implies that they can benevolently imbue with power the people they decide deserve it. Instead, if you are in a position of power, and know that someone deserves more recognition, more responsibility, more authority, and more compensation – then please: listen to them, amplify their ideas, hire or promote them, pay them more, and follow THEIR leadership. If you can’t do any of those things, step out of the way and make space for them to shine on their own.”Stephanie Foster, Managing Director, ThinkTECH Accelerator, ICBA: “Synergy. Because honestly, it’s just code for: ‘We hope this works, but we’re not entirely sure how.’ It’s the corporate equivalent of ‘thoughts and prayers’ for mergers, partnerships, and tech integrations. If I had a nickel for every time someone pitched ‘synergy’ without a clue about the actual plan, I’d have funded my own start-up accelerator by now. Let’s leave synergy in the vaults of 2010 PowerPoints and focus on words like execution, results, or even magic, because at least that’s honest about the level of hope involved.”Barb MacLean, Podcast Host, Speaker, and Creator of the Fintech Playlist: “Partnership. Everyone is just customers and vendors, and they are almost never partners.”Millicent Tracey, Independent Public Board Director, Audit Committee Member and Fintech Advisor: “Woke, because it’s totally overused and not even being used in the proper context anymore, so much so that it’s lost its effectiveness.”Syed Musheer Ahmed, founder of FinStep Asia: “Fintech. Oh, we know that one well!”Dharmesh Mistry, Banking/Technology Consultant, Author, Advisor and Investor: “Digital, because it’s business as usual.”Jim Perry, Consultant, Stra
Mer. Gen 15th, 2025
