Early on in a May 2022 FT Live presentation that would ultimately cost him his job, Stuart Kirk, then Global Head of Responsible Investing at HSBC Asset Management, offered: “I am probably the only head of Responsible Investing worldwide, at a major bank, who has never used the word ‘journey’, either in print or up on stage.”

Martyred by management, Kirk was suspended days later. He subsequently chose to resign. HSBC must stand for Hotshot Spoke, Bank Choke.

In the manic accounting of the world by gossips, twitterers, and other Masters of the Obvious, extremes rule. ‘Here today, gone tomorrow’, ‘hero to zero’, ‘never better, then never heard of him’ and their ilk make up the black-and-white, emotion-soaked currency of the here-and-now news cycle.

Then there is the Stoic idea of ‘amor fati’. Translating cogent Latin into expressive English: the downs of life don’t happen ‘to you’, they happen ‘for you’—so that you may use the lessons encoded in them to arrive at the ups. In other words: embrace your fate, treat your failure as fuel for a comeback—and accomplishment is a matter of time.

Inherent in the two-word philosophy that means ‘love of destiny’ is the necessity of growth, the logic of gradual development, a step-by-step approach to better self-knowledge—sure to translate itself into the kind of world-knowledge that’s a precursor to success. All these require time and effort, and may be referred to as a journey—which makes sense, given the time horizon and degree of personal growth involved.

Now, say I’m getting ready to celebrate 6 months as a client of a bank. The dreaded feline dunce hat comes out; the cat hides next to the ceiling; the Twinkie cake under the bed is retrieved, dusted. Then, on JPMorgan’s best stationery, I am congratulated and invited to review my ‘customer journey’.

The blood boils.

At this precarious point, it is only a Stoic upbringing that keeps one from reminding Jamie Dimon in all-caps that I don’t look to his marketing monkeys to serve up updates à la Tao Te Ching (the source of the storied “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”).

Let us be clear: relationships with service institutions do not journeys constitute. There must be loss, dead ends, mind-numbing grunt work, swerves from the stated path, sessions with bottle/therapist/shaman, zigzagging progress, spiraling marathons of incremental inner growth, and much, much more.

The loss of $34 in the form of an insufficient-funds fee now and then is no walk in the park, but a journey it is not.

For mundane applications, use a down-to-earth alternative: trajectory, path, process, arc, career, bio, time, experience, history, story, timeline. Still at a loss for words? Comment below; we’ll find the right one together.

PS And how is Mr. Kirk? He’s bounced back just fine, thanks for asking—not least because he’s careful which part of his life’s journey he gives that name.