Herding cats

Definition

Managing or coordinating a group of independent-minded individuals who refuse to cooperate, similar to the impossibility of actually herding cats. The daily reality of most middle managers.

Example Usage

Getting all the department heads to agree on a meeting time is like herding cats with ADHD.

Origin

Management metaphor dating to the 1980s, popularized by a 2000 Super Bowl commercial

Fun Fact

The phrase became so popular that actual cat herding competitions were held at tech conferences in the early 2000s.

Source: Management terminology

Related Terms

Advanced

delimitation

The act of drawing boundaries or limits around something, whether it's a research scope, territorial borders, or the precise extent of your responsibilities before they become someone else's problem. In academia and business, it's how you politely tell stakeholders 'this is what we're doing, and everything else is out of scope.' Think of it as the corporate version of building a fence, but with more documentation and fewer property disputes.

💼 Corporate / Business

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diversify

To sprinkle variety into something like you're seasoning a bland corporate strategy, making it more palatable by adding different elements, perspectives, or investment types. In business and finance, it's the sacred principle of not putting all your eggs in one basket—whether that's hiring practices, product lines, or stock portfolios. The grown-up version of "mix it up a little."

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fire drill

An urgent, chaotic scramble to address something that's suddenly a priority, despite being predictable weeks ago. Manufactured urgency masquerading as crisis management.

💼 Corporate / Business

Intermediate

syndicate

A fancy word for a group of businesses or individuals who band together to pull off something too big or risky for one entity alone—think organized collaboration with a whiff of organized crime energy. In media, it's how your local newspaper gets that comic strip; in business, it's how deals get done when no one wants to go it alone.

💼 Corporate / Business

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Blue sky thinking

Ideation unconstrained by practical limitations like budgets, reality, or physics. Where you pretend anything is possible before constraints murder your dreams.

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strategizing

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💼 Corporate / Business

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