| Race without a finish line [n.] | A frantic effort without a clearly defined goal. “I see you clowns racing, but where’s the damn finish line?” Suggested by Mark N. |
| Raft of measures [n.] | A group of solutions launched concurrently. “Let me assure you that we will float out a raft of measures to correct this imbalance.” Suggested by Michael D. |
| Ramp up [v.] | To increase over a period of time. |
| Rasterbator [n.] | A person who uses photo-editing software compulsively. |
| RDB [n.] | Rectal DataBase. The origin of ideas that are pulled out of one’s ass. |
| Re-inventing the wheel [v.] | Hard work that can be avoided by simply stealing the solution from someone else. Suggested by Julie. |
| Reach out [v.] | To contact. A dramatic way of saying a very mundane thing. “I’ll have my people reach out sometime next week.” Suggested by Denis |
| Ready, fire, aim [exp.] | Releasing a product that isn’t ready just to meet an arbitrary deadline or impress investors. “Come on… ready, fire, aim. We’ll fix it in post.” Suggested by Mr. Planner. |
| Real-time [adj.] | Voice communication (as compared to email and text). “75 reply threads and you’re still nowhere. Get on the horn and deal with this in real-time.” Suggested by Jeff. |
| Recontextualize [v.] | To redefine an organization’s role in a given business environment. Who can actually say this word with a straight face?? |
| Rectible [n.] | A larger, rectangle shaped cubicle usually given to team leaders. Suggested by Jeffrey. |
| Red flag [n.] | Warning sign. |
| Reduction in Force (RIF) [n.] | One of the many euphemisms used to describe firing people. |
| Referenceability [n.] | A measure of a firm’s ability to gather positive references and case studies from its clients. Suggested by Lisa G. |
| Rent-a-quote [n.] | “Experts” for hire that are prized for their ability to provide convincing sound-bites. |
| Repeating tickler [n.] | A recurring calendar event with a reminder alarm. |
| Report [n.] | A subordinate. “By this time next year, you’ll have a small army of direct reports.” |
| Repurpose [v.] | To redefine how an item is used, often as an alternative to discarding it. “If we don’t repurpose this production line, we’re going to waste $2 million in capital.” |
| Resonate [v.] | To appeal to someone on a fundamental level. “This new model will really resonate with the youth market.” |
| Resource [n.] | References anything that will be used to complete a task, whether it be a stapler or a person. Helps managers strip away the humanity from their employees before making hard choices. Suggested by Renee. |
| Resource-intensive [adj.] | Expensive. |
| Responsibility curve [n.] | The collection of things for which one is responsible. “Accounts Receivable is not part of my responsibility curve.” Suggested by Dave C. |
| Resume stain [n.] | A job (or company) that looks so terrible that you’d rather leave it off your resume. |
| Retired in place (RIP'd) [adj.] | Describes a ‘tenured’ employee who still holds a position, but generally does nothing but count the days until retirement. Suggested by Mark D. |
| Retread [v.] | To implement a failed idea for the second time. Suggested by Matt F. |
| Reverse infallibility [exp.] | Describes a person who is always wrong. Suggested by Just Some Poor Schmuck |
| Reverse logistics [n.] | The return of a faulty product to the manufacturer. “Make sure the reverse logistics are as complicated as possible for the customer.” Suggested by fhunktion. |
| Ride herd [v.] | From a cowboy expression meaning to observe and control closely. “Jill, I need you to ride heard on this project.” Suggested by aclassicgirl. |
| Right seat on the bus [n.] | Responsibilities that complement the skills of those assigned. “We want to hire you, but just can’t seem to find the right seat on the bus.” Suggested by Jeremy. |
| Right-shoring [v.] | Distributing operations to the most profitable location, instead of assuming that offshore options are inherently superior. Suggested by Aaron D. |
| Rightsizing [v.] | A gentler way to refer to downsizing. Suggests that a round of layoffs is simply a labor surplus correction, rather than a symptom of deep financial problems. |
| Road map [n.] | A plan for dealing with upcoming business challenges. |
| Robust dialog [n.] | A productive conversation between co-workers involving open, honest discussion. Usually this translates to two assholes shouting at each other. Suggested by Christina. |
| Rocket surgery [n.] | A delightful way to combine two points of comparison when discussing the difficulty of a task. “Come on, it’s not rocket surgery.” Suggested by Jon K. |
| Rocking a pair of doobs [v.] | Wearing boat/deck shoes (Dubarrys) in a business setting. Suggested by Chrissie. |
| Rocks in the backpack [n.] | The individual responsibilities that make up a person’s total workload. “Can’t help you. I’ve got enough rocks in my backpack.” Suggested by Leah. |
| Roll in [v.] | When telling a story about a late coworker, this is the only acceptable way to describe their arrival. “Typical Millennial… rolls in at 10:45 without saying a word.” |
| Rolling the tortoise [v.] | Excessively increasing resources to accelerate an otherwise slow-moving project. “Pull in ten extra bodies to help roll the tortoise.” Suggested by Nigel. |
| Rolling thunder approach [n.] | Creating a constant media buzz. Suggested by Atticus I. |
| Rooster call [n.] | An early morning meeting scheduled well before normal working hours. Breakfast optional, but they best be brewing coffee. Suggested by Gene R. |
| Round file [n.] | The garbage pail. “This sales brochure is going straight into the round file.” |
| Row back [v.] | To retreat from a position. “You can’t expect B.O.D. row back with so many shareholders pushing for no confidence.” |
| Royal jelly [n.] | 1) The substance that bees rub onto an immature female to cause her to transform into a queen. 2) The flashy projects and good assignments that are constantly fed to someone the boss is grooming for promotion. “Debra’s been getting a ton of royal jelly lately, you think she’ll remember us when she makes VP?” Suggested by Randy D. |
| Rub my rhubarb [exp.] | To be irritated in a particularly annoying or painful way. “These whiny new interns are really starting to rub my rhubarb.” Suggested by Luke K. |
| Rubber check [n.] | A bounced check. |
| Rubber stamp [n.] | Approval. “Can I get your rubber stamp on this one?” |
| Rube Goldberg [adj.] | Describes an inefficient and overly complex solution. |
| Rug ranking [exp.] | When the career of an assistant is tied to that of his or her boss. |
| Run it up the flagpole [exp.] | To find out what colleagues think of a new idea. Suggested by Patti |
| Runway [n.] | The amount of time left before a startup runs out of money. “You’ve got a 5 month runway—don’t waste it.” Suggested by Tim C. |
