Phrases Execs Use That Make You Cringe

[Anonymous]

We have "proud moment of the week" so our VP can share with our senior VP via memo.

[Anonymous]

Drinking from the fire hose
Let’s unpack that
Balls to the wall

[Anonymous]

"Let's come back around to that" = you asked a stupid question/meeting's almost over/a nice way to say "thanks for sharing"

"Talk about..."

Said as a command. Replaces, "explain" or "tell everyone in the meeting your opinion"

I get to hear, "Jody, talk about your outreach efforts."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have "proud moment of the week" so our VP can share with our senior VP via memo.

lol thats that sauce!

[Anonymous]

Agile
Transparent
Optimal

[Anonymous]

Roger that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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

Uhhhh I don’t know how old you are but I’m guessing over 40... these are all incredibly common phrases. Maybe “jargon”back in the day, but they’re not going anywhere any time soon so everyone should probably get used to it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Most educated people actually know what this means they just don’t work in hyper pc offices and enjoy the added flavor (vs say “pop the hood” or “do a deep dive”). I like to say this to get a smile out of people (tongue in cheek, and definitely not with any sort of frequency), but I also work in finance where people can put up with far far worse re: language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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

Uhhhh I don’t know how old you are but I’m guessing over 40... these are all incredibly common phrases. Maybe “jargon”back in the day, but they’re not going anywhere any time soon so everyone should probably get used to it?

It’s annoying MBA talk and it rubs off on other employees so before you know it, everyone is using the jargon

[Anonymous]

Wow. I used to do management consulting 20 years all and these are the same phrases we used back then, except for blockchain. Gah!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Same! This saying is so creepy. Also have an older male boss who is always saying "his turn in the barrel".....does he know what that means???

[Anonymous]

“Transformation” = Reorg/Eliminating other leaders they feel are a threat/workers over age 55

“Fit for the Future” - layoffs and budget cuts to make books look better for shareholders

[Anonymous]

NPR beat you to this.

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/11/02/360479744/why-corporate-executives-talk-about-opening-their-kimonos

[Anonymous]

Break down the silos
“Leverage” (I use this all the time and am sick of hearing myself say it!)


Have never heard the kimono thing, and am very glad

[Anonymous]

“Miss the mark”
“Back to the drawing board”
“Performance improvement plan “