Corporate jargon defined
| 30,000 foot view | To look at the overall goals and objectives rather than small details. |
| Action-item | A take-away task that needs to be completed in the near future. |
| All hands on deck | All employees are needed to complete a project. |
| Analysis paralysis | Overthinking a situation to the point that nothing actually gets accomplished. |
| Back-end | Essential work that goes into the creation of a product that a customer doesn’t see. |
| Bandwidth | Referring to the amount of time someone has available to spend. |
| Behind the 8 ball | Referring to being in a difficult situation. |
| Big Picture | The ultimate goal or main idea. |
| Boil an ocean | To take on an impossible project or task. |
| Bring to the table | Referring to the skills or value that someone can bring to your company. |
| Buy-in | Accepting or committing to an idea or course of action. |
| Change agent | A person who is the catalyst for business improvements or innovation. |
| Circle back | The notion to revisit a topic at a later time. |
| Deck | Shorthand for a set of PowerPoint presentation slides. |
| Deep dive | To look at the details of a project closely. |
| Disconnect (as a noun) | A situation where expectations differ from reality. |
| Disruptive | Referring to the process of changing existing technology with something new. |
| Dot your i’s and cross your t’s | To be detail oriented and thorough in your tasks. |
| Drill down | To look further into the matter or get more details. |
| Go all in | To put all of your energy or resources into something. |
| Heavy lifting | Bearing the burden of the most difficult and time-consuming work on a project. |
| High level | To explain a concept without getting into the small, technical details. |
| Holistic overview | To take into account other external factors that can affect an outcome. |
| I’ll ping you | Send someone a message using an online messaging system. |
| I’ll run that up the flagpole | Moving the project on to the next appropriate person for approval. |
| Ideate | To think of and came up with new ideas. |
| In the weeds | When a task is too hard to accomplish because there are too many problems involved. |
| KPIs | Key Performance Indicators; points used to evaluate the performance of something or someone. |
| Learning (as a noun) | Knowledge gained from a conversation or past project. |
| Leverage | Manipulating a situation so someone can control it in their favor. |
| Low-Hanging fruit | Tasks that are easy to accomplish or problems that can be easily solved that provide clear benefits. |
| Onboarding | Assimilating a new employee into an organization; introducing service to new customers. |
| Out-of-the-box | An idea that is unusual or new. |
| Put a pin in it | To delay discussion, engagement, or work on a project to another time. |
| Quick win | Something that can be done quickly that will provide a beneficial outcome. |
| Reinvent the wheel | To redo an existing process, idea, or way of thinking. |
| ROI | “Return on Investment” i.e. whether something is worth it. |
| Stack hands | To imply that every team member is in it together. |
| Sync up | To meet with someone and touch base on an idea or topic. |
| Take it offline | To discuss something with someone in a separate time and place. |
| Touch base | To meet or talk with something about a specific issue. |
| Value-add | Benefits of a feature that provides value to customers. |
| Where/when the rubber meets the road | The time or place at which something matters the most. |
| Wordsmithing | To change, edit, or make a play on words. |
How do you tell a college that you’ll email them when you find out if you have enough time to complete a project that requires a lot of work? “Hi (First Name), I will circle back with you once I evaluate the bandwidth that I have to complete the heavy lifting of this action-item.” Whether you realize it or not, office jargon is very much alive and well, and you probably even use it when you’re not in the office. Check out these interesting findings Verizon has assembled in a recent survey conducted on 1,000 working adults in the U.S.
Source: Verizon
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Michael N. Mercurio is a leading attorney in the field of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). He serves as outside general counsel in buy-side and sell-side M&A, as well as in all business law and real estate law matters. As a strategic partner to firm clients, Mr. Mercurio regularly counsels entrepreneurial individuals and assorted entities on the many challenges, issues, and opportunities companies face throughout the business lifecycle—from start-up to eventual exit.
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