Sticks and Stones

Wednesday I wrote a post called Money Talks; Bullshit Walks.  In it I suggested that the measures that matter to small businesses most are financial, specifically cash flows and operating profit.  I received comments in LinkedIn group discussions and on this blog that strongly disagreed with me.  To clarify, I didn't mean to suggest that money is the only thing companies should ever be concerned with. I'm merely saying that startups and small businesses with limited resources should not worry about trying to measure intangibles like customer satisfaction until they have some financial stability. 

I enjoyed reading the comments from those that disagreed with me, even one that suggested my message is for "small minded, intellectually challenged people."  There's lots to debate here, and I look forward to bringing this topic up again in the future.  I also got a couple of comments from those that did not appreciate my use of "vile language."  Honestly, I gave the title of the post considerable thought.  I almost used "B.S." or "Bulls**t" or some variation thereof to try and avoid offending readers.  I also thought of changing the title to something else to avoid the issue all together, but in the end the title felt right to me.

I'm reminded of a post I read about a month ago on asalesguy.com, a great blog I subscribe to.  In it Jim Keenan says the following regarding swearing:

Professional speakers dropping F-bombs that enhance authentic, real, presentations where the swearing brings value is exactly what we need. Gratuitous swearing does none of this and therefore I’m not a fan.

I know my use of swearing turned away some potential readers, but I also know that the same post helped my expand my social network. So does that mean it was a good decision?  Did it make my post more authentic, or was it simply gratuitous?  I'd love to hear everyone's comments on this.  Just please, no swearing!