Hang Out One's Shingle - Corporate Lingo - 2

It’s interesting how all of a sudden a phrase comes from nowhere and becomes almost as popular as party poker. The phrases usually originate from the top and then percolate through the ranks. Within days, even the Tier 7 Desi/Chinese make some guesses as to what the phrases might mean and start using them with an awe-inspiring confidence.

(Aside: Reacting to the post “Stake in the Ground” – someone said, “Dooode, did you check before posting, I think it is “steak in the ground”. Perhaps, to him, putting his steak on the ground symbolizes that he is finished with his lunch and now talking serious business!)

Definition (Well, I did some research this time!)

[Shingle: A wooden board

Hang out one’s Shingle: Open an office, especially a professional practice, as in Bill's renting that office and hanging out his shingle next month. This American colloquialism dates from the first half of the 1800s, when at first lawyers, and later also doctors and business concerns, used shingles for signboards.] Source: Dictionary.com

In our context, I guess, it would mean creating an independent business identity for a team / defining what a team does through some small phrases etc.

Examples:

(I was amongst those who used this phrase with alarming frequency without really understanding it.):

Some Gems:

“We are chasing an ambitious shingle through this project”

“We will hang out a high shingle and then strive to achieve it. Even if we achieve half the shingle, it would be a job well done”

"Stake in the Ground" - Corporate Lingo - 1

I am starting a series where we would explore the currently “IN” phrases at work

This post features the omni-present phrase “Stake in the Ground”

Now-a-days, ranging from fresh college hires to the Big Bosses, almost everyone has been putting all kinds of stakes in every possible ground. I thought I would do some scholarly research on this phrase, but then decided to leave that for Chintu.

Interpreting it literally, I imagine a medieval warrior (of the leader types) furiously and ferociously forcing a stake through the ground and shouting expletives at the enemy.

In corporate America context, I imagine someone banging the table loud enough to attract everyone else’s attention (shutting them up in the process) and make loud but not necessarily logical statements. Softening it even further, I would guess it means taking a firm position on an issue / assuming ownership etc. etc.

Examples:

“I am putting a stake in the ground, and we will send popcorns with our offers”

“Let us put our stake in the ground, before they put their stake in the ground”

In fact I heard an Indian dude (I won’t reveal identity) saying:
“We will put our stick in the ground”

Well, to give it to him – stick can serve same purpose as stake – just look for a stick with sharp edge (or may be find a soft ground)


I Wish:

When the CRE folks had come to throw us out of the field, Mamu should have confronted them, actually put a real stake in the ground and should have declared “We will play Cricket”

To rub salt, we should have used those stakes as Cricket wickets.