| Table [v.] | To set an issue aside. “We have to table your complaints for now and come back to them when we have more time.” |
| Table stakes [n.] | 1) The minimum resources needed to compete in a market. 2) The bare minimum necessary to participate or be taken seriously in a given situation. “In this office, responding to emails within 2 hours is table stakes.” Occasionally misspelled as “table steaks”, causing confusion and hunger. Suggested by Amanda |
| Tacit knowledge [n.] | Information that only exists within the head of an employee(s). The challenge is to make sure it’s recorded before they resign. |
| Tactical [adj.] | Concerned with low-level details and execution. “Don’t tell me you’re an ‘ideas guy’ when your team is begging for tactical leadership.” Suggested by Chris K. |
| Tailwinds [n.] | Positive market conditions that favor success. “We’re going to capitalize on current tailwinds to carry us into next year.” Suggested by Kyle R. |
| Take a bath [exp.] | To lose a significant amount of money. “We really took a bath after 9/11.” |
| Take home [n.] | Final net pay after all deductions have been taken off. |
| Take the knock [v.] | To sell at a loss. |
| Talent [n.] | A cynical way to refer to unskilled labor. “We’re short-staffed on the fryer this week. Get more talent in the door.” |
| Talent [n.] | Key skilled labor. “Never lose sight of The Talent. Acquire it. Keep it happy. Full stop.” Suggested by Scott |
| Talk to [v.] | A self-important way of saying ‘talk about’. “Next I’m going to talk to the issues raised last week.” Suggested by Dave |
| Talk turkey [v.] | To converse in a serious way. “Step into my office so we can talk turkey.” |
| Tall Foreheads [n.] | 1) A swipe at older white men with receding hairlines who predominate most senior management teams. 2) Experts or intellectuals. “I made the pitch to a room full of Tall Foreheads.” Suggested by Michael A. |
| Tangentery [n.] | Distracting side topics. “Let’s not get off into tangentery again.” Suggested by Jargo Girl. |
| Tap dancer [n.] | A person who seems busy and productive, but stays in pretty much the same place. Suggested by Tony. |
| Tart up [v.] | To artificially increase the attractiveness of something. “I think their auditing firm has been tarting up the financials again.” Suggested by September F. |
| Tasked [v.] | To be given an assignment. “I’ve been tasked with bringing coffee to the meeting.” Suggested by Randi H. |
| Tassel-loafers [n.] | Construction site visitors that can be identified as upper management by the style of their shoes. Suggested by Chad W. |
| Tee up [v.] | To provide a natural transition point; to make preparations. “Your question tees us up nicely for the next presenter…” Suggested by Kelly B. |
| Teflon shoulders [n.] | The coworker who always manages to wiggle out of assignments. “Total immunity to delegation, this guy. Nothing sticks.” Suggested by PJ |
| Testiculate [v.] | To wave one’s arms while at the same time, talking bollocks. Suggested by Tom P. |
| That dog won't hunt [exp.] | That plan won’t work. |
| The juice is not worth the squeeze [exp.] | The pain or sacrifice outweighs the expected benefits. Suggested by Cool rockin’ daddy. |
| Think the unthinkable [exp.] | A meaningless challenge. |
| Thought leader [n.] | A person who positions themselves as an expert in a given field and regularly shares insights and opinions—whether groundbreaking or just a rephrasing of common knowledge. |
| Three-martini lunch [n.] | A business meal with multiple alcoholic drinks. Can be used to help the sales process along. |
| Throw the dolly out of the pram [exp.] | A childish, inappropriate outburst in response to frustration. “Now don’t throw the dolly out of the pram here; calm down and let’s talk about this rationally.” Suggested by Carol F. |
| Throw under the bus [v.] | To avoid responsibility for a mistake by blaming someone else. “That bitch from finance really threw me under the bus.” |
| Tiger team [n.] | A temporary group of “experts” assembled to convince management that everything is under control. Suggested by Krystina S |
| Time pig [n.] | A useless project that will require countless hours. “I can’t stomach another time pig vanity bid.” Suggested by Jonathon T. |
| Time-poor [adj.] | Lacking free time. |
| Timeframe [n.] | A vague and flexible measure of time. “We’re looking at a Q2 to Q4 timeframe.” Suggested by Ski. |
| Tips and pearls [n.] | Brief pieces of advice and wisdom. “We provide a broad-base consult to really capture those tips and pearls.” |
| Title sponsor [n.] | A company that attaches its name to a building, event, or anything else that will take their money. |
| TLA [n.] | Three Letter Acronym. There’s no time to say three whole words, even when complaining about acronyms. Suggested by Michael S. |
| Tokenism [adj.] | Putting minority workers in visible roles in order to project an image of diversity. |
| Tony Bagadonuts [n.] | A bumbling man. “So I’m talking to the client and all of a sudden Tony Bagadonuts shows up and interrupts everything.” Suggested by Brad |
| Toolkit [n.] | A collection of training materials. CLAIM: Comprehensive set of tools and strategies for dealing with any situation. REALITY: Three slide PowerPoint. Suggested by Rob |
| Touch base [v.] | To get in contact with or update. “Call me in two weeks and we’ll touch base about this again.” |
| Town hall [n.] | A meeting held by senior management for all staff, usually followed by a carefully scripted question and answer period. Suggested by Dave. |
| Transitioning [v.] | An ugly verb meaning ‘to undergo a transition.’ “We’re transitioning to a new payroll system next month.” |
| Travel dazzle [exp.] | An attempt to impress the boss while on a business trip together. |
| Tree killer [n.] | Someone who insists on printing every email, document, and web-page they come across. |
| Treeware [n.] | Geek-speak for anything printed on paper. |
| Trending over [v.] | To increase past a projected or budgeted value, usually in reference to spent money. “We’re trending over plan on our T & E line.” Suggested by Aaron. |
| Trial balloon [n.] | Information distributed in order to observe the reaction of colleagues or management. “Float a trial balloon before committing budget.” Suggested by John. |
| Triangulate [v.] | To involve a third person or party. “The contract looks good to me, but I’ll have to triangulate with Gavin in Accounts before we can move forward.” Suggested by Michael P. |
| Tribal knowledge [n.] | Group wisdom gained over many years in a given industry. “I’m going to hit you with some hard won tribal knowledge.” Suggested by Erik |
| Triple-dub [n.] | The freshest way to start spelling out a website address. “Dude, you have to hit up triple-dub dot superpizzaboner dot info.” Suggested by Alli R. |
| True North [n.] | The business direction that leads to success. “We’ve brought in some consultants to help steer us to True North.” |
| Trustafarian [n.] | A co-worker, typically a young intern, who is from a wealthy background but dresses like a bohemian stoner. Suggested by Luke K. |
| TTB [n.] | Time to boxes. Elapsed meeting time before someone jumps up and starts drawing shapes on the whiteboard. Suggested by Dennis |
| Turd polishing [v.] | 1) Putting a positive spin on an unpleasant situation. 2) Efforts to make cosmetic improvements to something that is fundamentally flawed. Suggested by Derrick and Pillson. |
| Turkey farm [n.] | A division used to store the incompetent or unfireable, safely isolated from actual customer interaction. Members may include eccentric IT gurus, union reps, and your boss’s teenage daughter. Suggested by Chuck P. |
| Turkey trot [v.] | Transferring a difficult or incompetent worker into another section of the company. |
| Turn-key [adj.] | Describes a system that can be immediately installed and activated, without significant configuration. |
| Two-comma [adj.] | Anything that costs over $1,000,000. “We just landed a two-comma contract this morning.” |
| Twobicle [n.] | A cubicle built for two. “Having my own twobicle will always be the dream.” Suggested by Marty R. |
