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(1). A staff member who blindly agrees with his or her bosses in an attempt to curry favor.
(2). A terrible movie starring Jim Carrey.
“Bryan’s such a yes man. He agreed with Andrew that Navy Seals was a great movie. Hey, remember Navy Seals?”
(1). Where Jeffrey Skilling and Bernie Madoff now go to school.
“Hey, Gil … you should probably stop telling people at the bar that our returns are going to be down next quarter. I’m pretty sure that’s a one-way ticket to Graybar University for a CEO ….”
Props to Tim P. for the submission.
Definition
(1). A nautical term used by new managers or consultants when describing their plan for turning around a struggling business unit (or, in other words, layoffs).
“Team, Q3 results come out tomorrow and I don’t have to tell you all it’s not going to be pretty. We need to right the ship or else all of us are going to be looking for new jobs. Speaking of which…Jim, can I see you in my office after we wrap up here?”
Real Life Lingo
I am not sure why so many of these terms are derived from the sea. Perhaps it’s because every manager believes they are the captain of some sort of seafaring vessel with a copy machine on deck. Either way, a few years ago I worked at an upstart .com, and my boss loved to say we are going to right the ship every time things weren’t going too well. Which pretty much was the entire year I worked there, so I heard that phrase a lot.
My advice to anyone would be two-fold, one, when you’re trying to make your band and musical dreams work, don’t just take the first job that says ok to hiring you, they may go out of business and never pay you. And two, if your boss is constantly saying that you are going to right the ship in the next quarter, it’s probably time to start looking for a new job.
Fair seas matey!
