Piling on - here is a very helpful discussion by two CDC evaluators on the use of "stakeholder" and preferred alternatives, written for the American Evaluation Association. I've pasted the overview below - more information in the link.
As an evaluator, do I use words (e.g., stakeholder) that can be harmful to others
Hello, we're Goldie MacDonald and Anita McLees from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2020, CDC scientists and communication specialists prepared principles and preferred terms for non-stigmatizing, bias-free language to guide employees engaged in COVID-19 response activities. At the time, we were both deployed to this response and read the document in earnest. While others have known this for some time, we learned that stakeholder can have "a violent connotation for tribes and urban Indian organizations." As we looked at the term more closely, we saw that others have questioned its origins and use. For example, in 9 Terms to Avoid in Communications with Indigenous Peoples, authors in British Columbia, Canada explained that "Indigenous Peoples are rights and title holders not stakeholders so avoid this term at all costs." In Banishing "Stakeholders", Joshua Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and former Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, discussed the term as having a "mercenary connotation." It was used to refer to someone who "held the money of bettors while the game was on." He explained that this meaning likely evolved to current understandings of the term that include individuals or groups with a concern or interest (e.g., financial) in an endeavor, organization, program, etc. In the same article, he cautioned that the catchall phrase "obscures the landscape in question, much like a dense fog."
https://aea365.org/blog/as-an-evaluator-do-i-use-words-e-g-stakeholder-that-can-be-harmful-to-others-by-goldie-macdonald-anita-mclees/
------------------------------
Lloyd Michener, MD
Professor Emeritus, Department of Family Medicine & Community Health, Duke School of Medicine
Adjunct Professor, Public Health Leadership, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 02-09-2022 13:44
From: Lloyd Michener
Subject: For Your Learning Friday: vocabulary lesson
Thanks for the learning! Did some more digging and found this gem from Millbank:
Banishing "Stakeholders"
JOSHUA M. SHARFSTEIN
Every year since 1976, Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, has released a list of banished words-terms in the English language that deserve never to be spoken again. The university's 2016 list includes "stakeholder."1 As one nominator put it, referring to the vampire fighter from Dracula, "Dr. Van Helsing should be the only stake holder."
Sharfstein JM. Banishing "Stakeholders". Milbank Q. 2016;94(3):476-479. doi:10.1111/1468-0009.12208
------------------------------
Lloyd Michener, MD
Professor Emeritus, Department of Family Medicine & Community Health, Duke School of Medicine
Adjunct Professor, Public Health Leadership, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Original Message:
Sent: 02-09-2022 13:20
From: Stephanie Weiner
Subject: For Your Learning Friday: vocabulary lesson
Another angle of the "stakeholder" discussion I just discovered: many people consider the term stakeholder no longer appropriate to use because it's rooted in colonial practices. If you click the hyperlink you can read the thread, originally posted by someone from the Denver Zoo!
------------------------------
Stephanie Weiner
Director, Digital Strategy & Engagement
Association of American Medical Colleges
Original Message:
Sent: 02-09-2022 08:58
From: Lloyd Michener
Subject: For Your Learning Friday: vocabulary lesson
Carolyn - I am with you - and prefer the terms "partner" and "partnership" as they describe a relationship, not just a position. This also aligns with the increasing focus on multisector partnerships for health, and the importance of relationships and trust in those models.
I'd be fascinated if anyone has better/alternative language!
Lloyd
------------------------------
Lloyd Michener, MD
Professor Emeritus, Department of Family Medicine & Community Health, Duke School of Medicine
Adjunct Professor, Public Health Leadership, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Original Message:
Sent: 02-08-2022 09:17
From: Carolyn Pointer
Subject: For Your Learning Friday: vocabulary lesson
Stakeholders is my least favorite buzzword. Any suggestions for replacements would be welcome.
------------------------------
Carolyn Pointer
Assistant Professor
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
Original Message:
Sent: 02-07-2022 11:19
From: John Pelley
Subject: For Your Learning Friday: vocabulary lesson
Why would anyone waste time thinking outside the box when you can give 110% avoiding a new normal by getting your boots on the ground to circle back and use someone else's innovation to avoid establishing a new culture. You have to recognize growth hacking when you see it if you expect to keep from moving the needle. Or, to put it another way, to thine own self be true (buzzwords from the past).
------------------------------
John Pelley
Professor
Texas Tech HSC
Original Message:
Sent: 02-04-2022 08:15
From: Penny Schnarrs
Subject: For Your Learning Friday: vocabulary lesson
Preply, a language tutoring company, just came out with survey results that show the most common-and most hated-buzzwords, or business jargon, used in the workplace. Read on. Then circle back with us ASAP to make sure we're on the same page.
Top 10 most frequently used business buzzwords:
- Win-win
- Culture
- ASAP
- Think outside the box
- Moving forward/going forward
- Circle back
- It's on my radar
- On the same page
- Bring to the table
- New normal
Top 10 most annoying business buzzwords:
- New normal
- Culture
- Circle back
- Boots on the ground
- Give 110%
- Low-hanging fruit
- Win-win
- Move the needle
- Growth hacking
- Think outside the box
------------------------------
Penny Schnarrs
Virtual Communities Program Manager
Association of American Medical Colleges
------------------------------