Definition

The corporate sin of turning the perfectly good noun 'action' into a verb meaning to execute or complete a task. Because apparently 'doing' things is too pedestrian for the modern workplace.

Example Usage

I'm actioning your feedback from the last sprint review as we speak.

Origin

Business jargon evolution from the late 1990s, part of the trend of verbing nouns.

Fun Fact

This term is so reviled by language purists that it regularly appears on 'most annoying business jargon' lists alongside 'synergy'.

Source: Common corporate terminology

Related Terms

Beginner

analyst

Someone whose job is to analyze data, systems, or markets while the rest of us just make gut decisions and hope for the best. In tech, it's usually a systems analyst who translates business babble into technical requirements. In finance, it's someone who stares at spreadsheets all day and occasionally predicts the future with varying degrees of accuracy.

💼 Corporate / Business
Intermediate

linkage

A fancy corporate term for 'connection' that makes simple relationships sound more impressive in strategy presentations and consultant reports. It refers to how different things—processes, systems, incentives, or metrics—are mechanically or conceptually connected to produce outcomes, usually in ways that require extensive PowerPoint diagrams to explain. In executive meetings, establishing linkage between your project and revenue somehow makes budget requests more persuasive.

💼 Corporate / Business
Intermediate

inertia

In physics, an object's stubborn resistance to changing its state of motion; in corporate culture, a team's resistance to changing literally anything. Newton's first law meets Monday morning meetings. The force that keeps companies doing things 'because that's how we've always done it' despite overwhelming evidence suggesting otherwise.

💼 Corporate / Business
Advanced

rubber coyote

A corporate buzzword for a solution that sounds clever in PowerPoint but fails spectacularly in practice. Named after the brilliant strategy of using fake predator decoys to scare away geese—which works about as well as you'd expect. It's the business equivalent of thoughts and prayers: well-intentioned, completely ineffective, and beloved by middle management.

💼 Corporate / Business
Beginner

wholesale

The art of selling massive quantities of stuff to retailers who then jack up the price and sell it to you, the sucker at the end of the chain. It's the business model that keeps Costco in business and makes you feel smart for buying 47 rolls of paper towels at once. Essentially, it's bulk selling before things get marked up for "presentation" and "convenience."

💼 Corporate / Business
Beginner

criteria

The impossibly long list of standards used to judge or evaluate something, usually inflated beyond all reason in job postings. Singular form is 'criterion,' but nobody uses it correctly anyway. These are the hoops you make candidates jump through before ultimately hiring your CEO's nephew.

💼 Corporate / Business

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