Just What We Need: Another Euphemistic Management Tactic

De-Nial is infested with crocodiles.

Looking for a way to pare down your company without having to fend off negative publicity?

From the folks who brought us “pursuing other opportunities” as a euphemism for “got canned” comes the art denialsizing.

Dr. Joe Webb, a noted printing-industry economist who discovered this Publishing Word of the Day, defines denialsizing as “saying that everything is okay with your company despite you laying off scads of employees.”

The tactic is not unique to the publishing industry, but we’ve had more than our share of denialsizing. First came the announcements of new digital initiatives carefully timed to paper over layoffs on the print side of the business.

"Pursuing new opportunities"

More recently, with CPMs for web ads continuing to plummet, some of the digital folks have been caught up in the reorganizations, strategy shifts, pivoting, and Six-Sigmaing while management spins plausible denialsizabilities to the trade press and Wall Street.

Remember, kids, De-Nial is a dangerous place. Hang around too long there and something's likely to bite you in your hind quarters.

The Dead Tree Edition Research Institute and Tiddlywinks Club is celebrating July with Publishing Word of the Day, an exploration of terms that will help you make sense of the nonsensical world of contemporary publishing.