One of the most over-used words in business and public life today is ‘challenge’.

It has become a noun, usually employed in the context of euphemistically referring to some major foul up: “Yes, the fact that our MD ran off with the cleaner and all our money presents us with a challenge, but…”

The language of business and politics today won’t allow us to use words like ‘problem’, ‘issue’ or indeed ‘foul up’ to describe the multitude of things that go wrong on a daily basis. Challenge, the noun, is used to demonstrate that the speaker is in control, has command of the situation and is in the process of dealing with it.

Its prevalence as a noun came out of the growth in use of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) techniques in Public Sector and business training courses.

In contrast to the sanitising effect of the noun ‘challenge’, the verb ‘to challenge’ carries with it immense power.

As a verb, ‘challenge’ is a dynamic word – it implies thought, courage and a desire to push the boundaries.

It is what we should all be engaged in: challenge what you read in the press, see on TV or hear our political and business leaders tell us.

Don’t wordlessly accept what you are told, don’t let other people tell you what you should be thinking.

In this context, ‘to challenge’ does not imply violence or aggression – but integrity, a desire to make things better.

Ask questions, make sure that there is proper scrutiny, show us the facts.

Don’t be content to let other people re-frame your life – challenge them, then challenge yourself to keep on asking questions.