# I need corporate cliches **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 27, 2010, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511 "2010-10-27T13:08:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/1 "2010-10-27T13:08:44Z")
Like certain fellow dopers and about 10,000 people worldwide, I will be writing an entire novel during the month of November. My plot, [described here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=581684), involves three corporate executives on a quest in a fantasy kingdom, complete with dwarves, dragons, swordfighting, and so forth. Now, to fill in the middle chapters, I need some scenes in which corporate thinking and culture clashes with the high fantasy environment. To that end, I’m making a list of common words and phrases, positions, and things associated with the corporate environment. So far I’ve got: “Think outside the box.” Board meetings and other meetings Diversity training seminars “Be proactive.” “Client-centered…” “Think win-win.” “There’s no ‘I’ in team.” Cubicles Middle management Sexual harrassment lawsuits Now I turn to you, the esteemed citizens of the Straight Dope Message Board, for more corporate cliches that I can reference. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/2 "2010-10-27T13:23:20Z")
Do more with less! ROI, TCO, synergize our common strengths! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/3 "2010-10-27T13:38:22Z")
Work smarter, not harder. Change for a paradigm The TPS report - Did you get that memo? ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/4 "2010-10-27T14:27:17Z")
Run it up the flagpole and see who salutes. We deliver solutions. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/5 "2010-10-27T14:51:57Z")
Anything you’d find on your Buzzword Bingo card: > **[Buzzword Bingo - lurkertech.com](https://lurkertech.com/buzzword-bingo/)** > > Buzzword Bingo: The answer to meetings! ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/6 "2010-10-27T15:10:16Z")
Or just let the software[make them up](http://www.robietherobot.com/buzzword.htm) for you: ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/7 "2010-10-27T15:11:36Z")
Right-sizing Blue-sky thinking This is a no blame culture Information sharing There are no problems, only challenges What will the customer pay for? Fit for business ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/8 "2010-10-27T15:18:28Z")
Low-hanging fruit Paradigm shift Lean Six Sigma black belts ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/9 "2010-10-27T15:20:44Z")
Elevator Speech Throughput ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/10 "2010-10-27T15:20:55Z")
You need to check out some _Dilbert_ books from your library ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/11 "2010-10-27T16:56:15Z")
> [@fluiddruid](#): > > Lean Six Sigma black belts ??? But overall, good suggestions. Keep 'em coming! ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/12 "2010-10-27T16:57:55Z")
“Our employees are our most valuable asset.” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/13 "2010-10-27T17:01:50Z")
“Reach out to” ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/14 "2010-10-27T17:08:33Z")
You don’t contact or talk to someone, you “connect” with them. I was going to also say “reach out to” but Twickster beat me to it. When you ask what someone’s workload is for the day, say, “what’s your bandwidth like for today?” I am not making that last one up. I have about a million from that company but I don’t want to expose myself because they’ve actually trademarked some of their phrases. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/15 "2010-10-27T17:13:07Z")
“Relentless innovation for human progress.” “Live the philosophy in what we do.” “The people of the company define our Brand.” “Grow the idea and make it most meaningful to ourselves.” ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/16 "2010-10-27T18:21:10Z")
I was in a departmental meeting a couple of days ago when the person in our department who can most reliably be counted on to provide businessisms offered, “And the value that I added to that project was (blah blah blah).” It was, unexpectedly, a heretofore unencountered version of that old chestnut, “value-added.” Also, she doesn’t need to “do” something; rather, she has “an action that I need to move forward with.” I fought the urge in the meeting to correct her usage to “an action with which I need to move forward.” ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/17 "2010-10-27T18:32:02Z")
My Door is always Open We eat our own Dogfood here. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/18 "2010-10-27T19:12:43Z")
Organic Growth: If you are XYZ chip company, it means selling more chips. Enterprise-wide solution: Um, like… for the whole company ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/19 "2010-10-27T19:28:29Z")
I could give you some but "I think outside the box’. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511/20 "2010-10-27T19:31:56Z")
When a corporate guy didn’t like what I was saying: “I don’t mean to demotivate DQ’s comment, but…” I couldn’t believe what I’d heard. Also when people don’t know the answers to questions: “We’re going to have to ‘parking lot’ that question for now.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-corporate-cliches/558511.md?page=2)