Phrases Execs Use That Make You Cringe

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Open the kimono. Creepy, racist, and gross all at once.

Yeah. I often wonder if people reflect on what this actually means. So cringeworthy especially in a work environment. And I’m not a pearl clutcher by any measure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"this space"

We want to be leaders in this space.

There will be so much growth in this space.

This space will take off and we want to be ready.

Even better, "ecosphere". Gah.

[Anonymous]

The "ask". It's a freaking request, stoopid.

[Anonymous]

Bandwidth; vantage point;

[Anonymous]

Stay in your lane
Talk track (B-school way of saying "message")

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Collaborate is the only action word used in our Corporation comprised of 7k introverts. They think its the wave of the future.

OMg we must secretly work together. I am SO TIRED of collaboration and innovation. So, so tired.

Although thankfully nobody has ever referred to opening kimonos or lifting skirts

[Anonymous]

Can't wait for #metoo to come for corporate America...

[Anonymous]

Here's phrases that I heard on business calls just this week :
Net net
Let's circle back on that
We don't have the bandwidth for that
Right size the project
We need to manage expectations
Let's level set here
Soup to nuts
What are our deliverables

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I worked in an overseas office and my staff was completely befuddled whenever US business people (I'm sure other nationalitie are the same but we're a US company) and they used phrases like "elephant in the room," etc. I watched a guy have an entire conversation in jargon and had no clue that my colleagues had no idea what he was talking about. After that, I had an intern collect US business phrases and translate them into the local language and include the origin story, which is often sports as it turns out.

I had a US gov official come to give a talk and she said "lift the kimono" and "one ring to rule them all" and "peel the onion" in the span of 10 minutes. I was, like, really? Really????

LOL. agree, zero self awareness.

Once my oldest kid was 5 yo, she starting taking grandma's many cliches literally and asked the wildest questions. So funny, but utterly confusing to her!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Let's level set. "
I have one corporate client that uses this phrase all the time... Everyone in the company says it. Just to level set, let's level set here, level set what does this mean...
STOP

I think it means so that everyone has the same understanding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"I won't drain the slide"
"Tailwinds or headwinds"
"Algorithm"
Overuse of any word ending in -ize. Maximize, optimize........
"We need to harmonize our plans"

Ha ha...I'm a data scientist and I physically cringe whenever I hear anyone but a data scientist use this word. And most data scientists don't actually say "algorithm" in their day-to-day work...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Open the kimono. Creepy, racist, and gross all at once.

Yeah. I often wonder if people reflect on what this actually means. So cringeworthy especially in a work environment. And I’m not a pearl clutcher by any measure.

I think most people don’t actually know what this means, and believe it refers to something else.

[Anonymous]

“Pop goes the weasel.”
“That’s that sauce!”
“Swish”

[Anonymous]

I guess I should stop complaining about my job since I’ve only heard a few of these before. If I worked at some of these places, I’d have my hands over my ears all day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Parking lot" as a verb.

Ex.: "Let's parking lot this issue and we can call another meeting to talk more about it."

At our place, we use the parking lot for questions. "Oh, you have a question. Here. Write your question on a Post-It and put it on the parking lot." At the end of the meeting the boss or the boss's assistant takes the poster with the post-its, rolls it up and puts it in the circular file on the way out the door. Sometimes they wait until the room is cleared; sometimes not.

We used to write real questions for the parking lot. Now they are goofy. We compare notes after the meeting for who has the most absurd or outlandish or ridiculous question in the parking lot. At our weekly after-work meeting, we chip in to buy the winner/s a drink.

If the boss and/or assistant ever stops to read the questions then there will be trouble …