That usage means the writer has no idea what a quantum leap is (and therefore has violated the rule against writing with words you don't understand). Worse, he also violated George Orwell's great rule about never using an expression you've heard before when you write.
And it made me as grumpy as the furry guy up there. The reason this matters is that words are a lawyer's tools. When you need a lawyer, you need one who respects his or her tools and uses them thoughtfully, avoiding cliches and trite expressions while seeking to get the most meaning delivered to the reader with the fewest number of words.
The marketing guy wrote:
- If we want to take a quantum leap in our personal and professional life, we need to do things we’ve never done before.
So I wrote back to him:
Quantum leaps are the last thing anyone who seeks personal or professional growth should want — not only are they incredibly incredibly incredibly tiny leaps, they are (by definition) only between fixed levels, and each step is only do-able when a higher level up is unoccupied.
Would you limit your own growth to tiny steps, and then only be allowed to make each one if there is no competitor occupying the higher level?
John Gear
(BS Nuclear Engineering 1984)
P.S. In other words, “Avoid cliches like the plague.” ;^)