north star
Bureaucratic/ˈnɔrθˌstɑr/n. (aspirational)
Etym.from the navigational phrase 'north star', originally denoting Polaris, adopted into corporate strategy parlance circa 2012 by a boutique consultancy seeking majestic-sounding direction, cited in Strategy Glossary, 2015.
A rhetorical device that converts vague long-term ambition into an indefinite project timeline and absolves present commitments of measurable accountability.
'This will be our guiding light, pending resource allocation and metric definition' - Q3 Board Deck, slide 12