Etym.From Gk. holos, 'whole,' reintroduced into boardroom parlance circa 2009 as holistic by a brand strategist who needed a term implying totality without measurable content, Baxter 2011, Journal of Strategic Buzz.

An adjective deployed to expand descriptive scope while deflecting requests for metrics, timelines, or accountable ownership.

'We will adopt a holistic roadmap to drive cross-functional alignment' - Q3 Board Deck, slide 47

Etym.from Old English delfan and related Germanic roots meaning to dig, recontextualized in corporate speech by a 2011 consulting brief, cf. Grindle, Journal of Strategic Lexicography, 2014.

to initiate a time-consuming delve, an ostentatious procedural inquiry that delays decisions while implying analytic rigor.

'Let's delve into the numbers and circle back with next steps' - Q3 Board Deck, slide 12

Etym.from Old French tapisserie, entering English as tapestry and later appropriated by strategy consultancies to suggest coherent design while evading specifics, see Harrow, Corporate Lexica (2018).

A rhetorical cover term that conflates unrelated initiatives into an implied whole to justify continued funding and postpone accountability.

'We are aligning product, data, and culture into a single tapestry to unlock synergies' - Q3 Board Deck, slide 47

Etym.From poker, where it denotes compulsory betting amounts; migrated into corporate parlance circa 1990s as a sterner synonym for baseline requirements, see Kowalski 2008, Business Lexicon Review.

A rhetorical device that rebrands ordinary baseline requirements as nonnegotiable prerequisites, used to inflate modest needs and deter further scrutiny.

'This is table stakes for any vendor' - Q3 Board Deck, slide 47