Run It Up the Flagpole

Definition

To present an idea to higher-ups and see if anyone salutes, which they won't because they're all in back-to-back meetings until 2027. A phrase that combines patriotism with the futility of middle management.

Example Usage

"Let's run it up the flagpole and see who salutes," said Jim, blissfully unaware that the flagpole was on fire and nobody was looking up.

Related Terms

Intermediate

Value Proposition

A fancy way of explaining why someone should give you money instead of your competitor. It's the corporate pickup line -- it sounds rehearsed, slightly desperate, and works about 10 percent of the time.

💼 Corporate / Business📣 Marketing / Advertising

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

Intermediate

Parallel path

Working on multiple approaches simultaneously in case one fails, which sounds strategic until you realize you're just doing twice the work. The corporate version of hedging your bets.

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

analysis paralysis

The state of overthinking a problem to the point where no decision gets made, usually involving seventeen spreadsheets and six committee meetings. Death by PowerPoint's neurotic cousin.

💼 Corporate / Business

Intermediate

catalyst

In business speak, the fancy term for whatever sparked change after months of inertia—usually a crisis, a competitor's success, or a new executive's pet project. Chemistry borrowed this word to describe substances that speed up reactions without getting consumed; corporate America borrowed it to describe consultants. The thing everyone credits in hindsight for making something happen that should've happened anyway.

💼 Corporate / Business

Beginner

Put a pin in it

To pause discussion on a topic with the promise of returning to it later, which translates to 'let's pretend this never happened.' The corporate version of ghosting an idea.

💼 Corporate / Business

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