As I worked my way through various consulting teams and environments, I came across a few terms that weren't immediately clear, so I decided to document them. Some of these might be specific to my experience while others likely have proliferated across the consulting / business spheres, but maybe it can serve as a useful starting point for a new analyst / associate. Also, some of them are pretty hilarious 😆.

Probably just VP speak worldwide

  • Blocking & tackling | Basic tasks that must be done to meet short-term goals, more of the mundane than the revolutionary
  • Cover your ass (CYA) | Material of any type (footnote, extra email, backup slide) that supports, qualifies, and/or sometimes further obscures a statement
  • Softness | The number is liberally calculated; headwinds should be expected that will drive the number down (in the case of revenue or profit) or up (in the case of cost)
  • Horse trading | Bargaining in a "zero sum game" between various executives, particularly for investment funding or relief for potential overspending
  • Swim lanes | Individual processes or workstreams; often used to instruct analysts to order activities sequentially and categorize them by eventual outcome
  • Straw man / straw dog | A presentation with headers filled out and/or descriptions on each slide to mock-up the potential "story"
  • Quarterback | Run the show, be the "point" person, but also in consulting ensure the deliverable is tailored for executive consumption
  • Flash it | Present the slide or model on the projector, TV, or screenshare, prepare for rapid, real-time feedback and editing
  • Run interference | Protect someone else, usually a partner or executive, from the criticism due for a particular activity, often for controversial initiatives like restructuring
  • Boil the ocean | Try every different possibility, interview every stakeholder, stay up all night going through different options until one makes sense
  • Bogey | An outlier (usually negative) that needs to be addressed
  • Double bubble | Counting something twice, as to inflate both numbers; also commonly used to refer to increases in both stocks and bond markets
  • Please fix | Either the entire slide needs to be rethought / restructured / reformatted or there is simply just a lack of footnotes or page numbers; it is really up to you to decipher the context

Maybe localized jargon from my firm/teams?

  • Mickey Mouse | Make it less wordy, more conceptual, and clearly convey the key message
  • Squishy | The number is imprecise, commonly due to either conscious executive manipulation (to show the impact or cost favorably) or expedited analysis (potentially due to necessity to announce a program to the Street)
  • Round out the bullets | Similar goal as with Mickey Mouse, but focused specifically on the supporting text on the slide; also, there is a need for tone and syntax consistency that is implied
  • Good guy vs. bad guy | Good = tailwind, bad = headwind
  • Dice it 8 ways to Tuesday | Take the data, Pivot it (that one you should know) by all the appropriate dimensions, and highlight any clear trends or outliers
  • Peanut butter | Spread the value amongst multiple line items or categories, as to avoid creating an additional line items or to meet reporting requirements