1. 50-thousand foot view – noun: concise summary; key points; essential data
What they say: “I’ll be presenting a 50-thousand foot view of the results.”
What they mean: “Awesome. I present for two minutes then relax to enjoy a tuna sandwich and Diet Coke.”
2. Leverage – verb: make effective or efficient use of a resource
What they say: “We should leverage our existing partnership with ___ to explore new business opportunities.”
What they mean: “Finally! I learned this in business school and never had the chance to say it! Leverage, leverage, leverage!”
3. Think outside the box – verb: create unconventional ideas or solutions
What they say: “To solve this complex problem we’ll really need to think outside the box.”
What they mean: “So, yeah, I don’t have any ideas…um, do you???”
4. Bandwidth – noun: capacity given available resources
What they say: “At the start of the fiscal year, I may not have the bandwidth to do this anymore.”
What they mean: “Note to self: look extra busy at the start of fiscal year.”
5. Moving parts – noun: complicated processes; multiple parties or components
What they say: “Leading this new project is quite a challenge because of all the moving parts.”
What they mean: “Can’t someone else do it?”
6. Reach out: verb – initiate contact with, usually about a specific topic or question
What they say: “Thank you for reminding me. I’ll reach out to her about that.”
What they mean: “Who was I supposed to call?”
7. Circle back: verb – reconvene about a specific topic or question; follow up
What they say: “Hmm…that is a great question. I’ll look into it and circle back with you with more details.”
What they mean: “I have no f*cking clue.”