The other day I was looking at the team billing section of an AI product. They had a widget labeled “Usage leaderboard”.
For whatever reason, that phrase at that moment made me pause and reflect — and led me here to this post.
It’s an interesting label. You could argue the widget doesn’t even need a label. You can look at it and understood at a glance: “This is a list of people sorted by their AI usage, greatest to least.”
But it has that label.
It could have a different label.
Imagine, for a moment, different names for this widget — each one conjuring different meanings for its purpose and use:
- “Usage leaderboard”
- “Usage dashboard”
- “Usage wall of shame”
Usage leaderboard implies more usage is better. Who doesn’t want to be at or near the top of a leaderboard at work? If you’re not on the leaderboard, what’s that mean for your standing in the company? You better get to work! Calling it a leaderboard imbues the idea of usage with meaning — more is better! All of that accomplished solely via a name.
Usage dashboard seems more neutral. It’s not implying that usage is good or bad. It just is, and this is where you can track it.
Usage wall of shame sounds terrible! Who wants to be on the wall of shame? That would incentivize people to not have lots of usage. Again, all through the name of the thing!
It’s worth noting that individuals and companies are incentivized to choose words designed to shape our thinking and behavior in their interest. The company who makes the widget from my example is incentivized to call this a “Usage leaderboard” because more usage by us means more $$$ for them.
I’m not saying that is why they chose that name. There may not be any malicious or greedy intent behind the naming. Jim’s law is a variation on Hanlon’s razor:
Don’t attribute to intent that which can be explained by thoughtlessness.
I do find it fascinating how little thought we often give to the words we use when they can have a such a profound impact on shaping our own psychology, perception, and behavior. I mean, how many “word experts” are on your internal teams?
Personally, I know I could do better at choosing my words more thoughtfully.