Power of Language: The poster's English version has arrived
Red42 releases a new poster called The Power of Language: It covers 320 words and terms, from "The Dark Side" of organizational language and an alternative, more useful language of "The Light"
Silke Hermann and I first developed this content-dense and engaging resource in German language, in 2018: The poster's German version has been a hit in the Red42 product catalog for years, proving popular in workshops, group interventions and work sessions around organizational development. Since 2018 we at Red42 have released several different editions of the poster, tweaking and improving the design over time, and adding more and more words. But even though the poster contained "just a bunch of words", it wasn't easy to replicate the content in English. The seemingly simple lists of words from "The Dark Side" and "The Light" defied automatic translation, and entirely new sets of words had to be identified.
The poster's content has occasionally sparked controversy online. In January 2025 alone, one LinkedIn thread on the Power of Language topic attracted over 140,000 views. The reason for the strong interest in this poster is two-fold, I think. On one hand, people love the poster for its immediate usability in workshops and group interventions, and for the thought-provoking content that gets discussions going within seconds. You can discuss the poster's content for hours and take away surprising insights! On the other hand, the poster is probably the most provocative resource that Silke Hermann and I ever developed. The distinction between The Dark Side of language and its shining counterpart calls upon people to question the very words they use in work contexts, in team settings and in their organizations. The idea that we can or must question our own language at work is a bit unsetting for some, at least at first glance. But we must overcome conventional language patterns, if we want to produce joint understanding, foster better collaboration, produce more learning, more consistent change, and higher performance. We cannot bring about consistently self-organized and democratic organizations if we do not have the language to think about or socialize the patterns required for such modes of organization.
Which is why it is worth taking a closer look at this poster, before drawing conclusions too fast! It will be worth your time.
The poster is already available (exclusively) through the Red42 web shop. Get the poster here: redforty2.com/product-page/the-power-of-language-a1-poster
This Red42 poster comes with a sticker that suggests useful exercises for workshops and group interventions. International shipment is available. Attractive volume discounts start at purchases of 10 copies.
Check out the news release on the BetaCodex Network website: betacodex.org/home/news/red42-publishes-new-poster-called-the-power-of-language