50 Business Terms All MBA’s Should Know

Professionals who have earned their MBA degree have a certain amount of business education that along with their professional experience qualifies them for leadership roles in many companies. Along with a high level of education and experience an MBA’s vocabulary should be fairly large as well.

Here are 50 business terms all MBA’s should know.

1. It’s a paradigm shift – Things are not going the way we want them to
2. We are data driven – We need numbers
3. We need to wrap our heads around this – We need to understand this
4. ROI – Return on investment
5. Let’s circle back to that – Let’s talk about something else
6. Let’s blue sky this – Be optimistic
7. Let’s ballpark this – Give me an average
8. A team player – Working well with others in the same culture and dynamics
9. Thinking outside the box – Getting creative
10. This is where the rubber meets the road – We need to work hard
11. Let’s go back and sharpen our pencils – We need to come up with some new ideas
12. Managing the optics – Move the facts around to be beneficial
13. Creative destruction – unstable
14. Not enough boots on the ground – There are not enough people working on this
15. Too many cooks in the kitchen – There are too many people trying to be the boss
16. Deal with it – figure things out
17. Housekeeping – mundane organization and structure issues
18. Clean house – fire a bunch of people
19. Let’s square the circle – Let’s do things differently
20. The million dollar question – I don’t have an answer for that question
21. Cash cow – something that brings in the most money
22. Synergies 1+1=3 – I don’t understand how we got here but it works
23. Monetize – Make money from it
24. Strategize – Make a plan
25. Incentivize – Make it worthwhile to people
26. Analyze – figure things out
27. A perfect storm – It’s everyone else’s responsibility
28. I’m putting my butt on the line – I expect you to perform
29. Results oriented – Getting things done
30. Core competency – Our main focus
31. Facing headwinds – It’s going to be tough
32. Full steam ahead – focus on the business at hand and get there
33. It’s a one-off – get the job done
34. An agent of change – a person who knows how to be flexible with the change in atmosphere
35. Due diligence – investigate
36. Leaving money on the table – not being greedy enough
37. That won’t move a needle – my boss will not be excited over this
38. Manage expectations – don’t expect to get results
39. Deliverable – make sure things get done
40. It is not actionable – I can’t do it
41. Sounding like a broken record – repeating yourself over and over again
42. I have an open door policy – You can come in and talk to me anytime
43. Something has gone viral – It is all over the social media like Twitter and Facebook and people like it
44. Burning the candle at both ends – Doing too much work and becoming exhausted so you are no use to anyone
45. It is scalable – I can change the plan
46. What’s the value-add – How will I benefit
47. Go-to-market – Where can I sell this
48. Drinking from a fire hose –I need sympathy because I have been doing too much work
49. We are getting some push back – They are not buying it
50. Get your game face on – Getting serious

Many corporate businessmen and business women use these terms to describe situations and this is a completely different terminology for someone who has not had many years of experience in this environment. Corporate lingo can be much different from language in everyday life. It is important that MBA students understand what these terms mean and how they are used in meetings with employees as well as higher ups in the company. These phrases tend to be used as a slang in a boardroom type of atmosphere. The meanings can vary a bit from company to company depending upon the culture of the organization.