drink the Kool-Aid   
To parrot the company line; not to be confused with “eat your own dog food,” which seems dumber but may actually be a better idea.

driver    
The key factor in getting something done; what you can afford when you get enough things done.

elevator pitch   The length of time it takes to pitch someone while traveling in an elevator; for the pitched, however, it can often feel more like a ski-lift story.

empower   
The process by which the powerful dribble out bits of power to the powerless.

fast track   
A type of professional advancement that leads most quickly to divorce and personal despair.

feature creep    
The temptation to keep loading extra features onto a product release until it becomes an absolute mess. This usually happens under the advice of management consultants.

first mover   
A nice epitaph for a company that goes bankrupt for being two years ahead of its time.

go-live   
Used to describe a product’s release date; anticipated with much fanfare, at least by the folks in marketing.

granular   
A level of detail at which I, as a big-picture guy, refuse to become involved.

hard stop  
The much feared point at which everyone must stop talking and start doing.

integrated solution    
A solution that does not ignore the problem it is meant to address; in other words, a solution.

leverage   
The power or influence those with money wield based on their decision whether or not to lend.

low-hanging fruit   
The part of a project your boss completes before handing it over to you.

outside the box   
Ironically, an expression used most often by people who will never understand it.

overhead   
The fixed costs of running a business (such as rent, heat, and electricity) that must be paid, making them very different from your salary.

paradigm shift    
What you want your foot to give the V.P. of marketing when he overuses this term.

performance management   
You can expect this from board members when the value of their options goes down.

ping    
A computer networking term meaning “a quick, pointless query”; has now been popularized to mean an email or text message containing a quick, pointless query.

resourceTraditionally used to describe plants and equipment, but now used to refer to anyone whose job can be done much more cheaply in Bangalore.

rollout 
The introduction of a new product to the market; any similarities to toilet paper are completely coincidental.

secret sauce  
A supersecret, highly classified business process or method; not to be confused special sauce, the term coined by McDonald’s to refer to a combination of mayonnaise, ketchup, relish, and mustard.

take it offline  
The “let’s take this outside” of the business world; often thrown around when people begin to disagree too openly in a large meeting.

team player  
An enthusiastic co-worker who some say can’t get hired anywhere else.

upsell  
To peddle expensive add-ons to an otherwise useful but inexpensive product.