(1). To opportunistically change direction or focus (see shift gears).
“I think we should pivot towards mobile this quarter. Why yes, we do happen to have a mobile department!”
Pivot
RANDOM LINGO
Parking Lot
(1). At conferences you are invited to write out questions/ideas/concerns on a sticky note and place it on a board called the parking lot. You are told someone (from the company running the conference) will go through them and group them into like categories to avoid repetition and then your topics will be addressed.
Translation: Slick guise to placate participants, weed out undesirable topics and zero in on what corporate wants to address.
Props to Cynthia E. for the submission.
(2). A polite euphemism used in meetings to scuttle the train wreck of an idea that everyone sees except the one who just raised it.
“That’s a good point, Bill. Let’s put that in the parking lot and discuss it after the meeting offline.” (Here “offline” means never.)
Props to Tommy P. for the submission.
Bake Sale
(1). The day when that obnoxious prospect schedules presentations from several firms for their business. The main purpose of the bake sale is to reinforce the prospect’s own sense of self-worth (oh, and also to waste all of your time since he already hired his brother-in-law’s firm to do the work).
“Well, I think there’s, like, two other firms pitching for this business today. The good news is I got us the last time slot, so I feel pretty good about our chances. You always want to be the last thing they eat at the bake sale, ’cause that’s the only thing they’re going to remember!”