Looking for a sign that the job market is finally starting to improve? Here's one: In a recent Accountemps survey, 43 percent of CFOs interviewed said that the number of employee requests for promotions or raises has increased compared to two years ago.

Two things are true about all of us in the business world: (1) We all use business buzzwords. (2) We all say how much we hate business buzzwords. So let's add: (3) We are hypocrites. We tout the importance of simple communication, but we find that making a hard stop to utilize value-added, impactful language to leverage deliverables among our audiences often demands a powerful paradigm shift.