The Dictionary of Corporate Jargon and Management Speak

Corporate language has a habit of multiplying.

Somewhere between the meeting, the away day and the third round of stakeholder feedback, a perfectly sensible idea acquires a new title, a steering group and a slide deck of its own. Before long, it needs a glossary.

The Dictionary of Corporate Jargon and Management Speak is that glossary.

Inside are 750 entries drawn from the peculiar language of offices, inboxes, video calls, management reports and strategy decks. Here you’ll find the Parking Lot, the Hard Stop and the Quick Question that is never quick; the Zombie Project nobody has the heart to kill; the Bun Fight, the Perfect Storm and, inevitably, the news that you are on mute.

Each definition begins somewhere near the real meaning before wandering off to see what happens once the phrase has spent a few years in management.

Sometimes useful. Sometimes baffling. Occasionally ridiculous.

Essential reading for anyone who has ever sat in a meeting and wondered when ordinary English quietly left the room.