Technical jargon: What does "detox" actually mean?

Everyone is talking about it, especially in January. At home, in the gym, in the offices. Detox, or in German: Entgiftung. Over the holidays, most people had time to clean up and get rid of old junk or eat way too much. In the first weeks of January, the long lines in front of the incinerators and the weight machines in the gyms testify to this. But what does detox mean in the business world? 

Freeing yourself from old burdens and getting rid of old vices. And this is how it usually works in the marketing and communications industry: Shortly before Christmas, the budgets that are still available are either used up with non-strategic activities or the agencies and other service providers are told to please invoice for something that will be needed in the coming year. This is an elegant way of disposing of the money that has not been used up for the current year, while at the same time covering up insufficient planning and hoping that the budget for the new year will not be cut by the management. What looks so nice and clean in the books is actually dross that is still being dragged into the new year from the previous year. Instead of analyzing what went wrong last year, work continues as if everything is fine.

But detox means something else. Anyone who has ever gone through a "dry january", a tough "body shaping" or a nicotine withdrawal with their body knows: Detox must cause pain. In the limbs, in the head or in the organization. 

*About the Author: Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He created the section "Vom Fach" in the NZZ FOLIO and was in charge of it for years. He presents and decodes words and terms that can be used either for small talk, being important, getting excited, playing Scrabble or simply for fun.

This means that everything that has not been achieved in terms of goals must be put on the personal or internal dock. Yes, that's right: everything! Ask the defendants, for example: Why are we over or under budget? Why are there still so many unproductive and unrecorded meetings? Why do creatives often still think they are "superior" when the money in the agency has long since gone elsewhere? The list of questions can be extended endlessly. So instead of making resolutions that you can't keep anyway, detox. Now!