4. Power Verbs for Managers and Executives
(2) ease; lightheartedness; natural spontaneity; unrestraint; cast aside
(3) give in to emotion
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) We had to abandon plans to produce in China when the quality issues could not be resolved.
(1) “Once you start a working on something, don’t be afraid of failure and don’t abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest.”
—Chanakya, Indian politician, strategist, and writer (350 BC–275 BC)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Antithesis—“Hope never abandons you; you abandon it” (George Weinberg, American psychologist, writer, and activist).
• Vivid imagery—“When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them” (Confucius, philosopher and political theorist, 551 BC–479 BC).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Ronnie felt abashed by her failure to remember all the names of the members of the executive committee of the board of directors.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Businesses are sometimes given tax abatement in return for building or expanding in economic depressed communities.
(1) “The decision to restrict gasoline sales was a departure for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who had said last week that anticipated fuel shortages would have abated by now.”
—York, Michael Howard. 2012. Gas Rationing Put in Place in New York. Wall Street Journal, November 19.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Parallelism—“We should every night call ourselves to an account: what infirmity have I mastered to-day? what passions opposed? what temptation resisted? what virtue acquired? Our vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the shrift” (Seneca, Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) I will ask Jon to abdicate his role as board chairman.
(1) If you cannot function as head of the new products development team, then you must abdicate.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Antithesis—“Power abdicates only under the stress of counter-power” (Martin Buber, German Jewish biblical translator, philosopher, and interpreter, 1878–1965).
(2) to abduct; draw away
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “If we abduce the eye unto either corner, the object will not duplicate.”
—Sir Thomas Browne, English author (1605–1682)
(1) The project management team must abduce reasons for the cost overruns when there was no indication at the last stage gate of any such overage.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The CEO aberrated from being a perfect gentlemen.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Although Jon had not benefited in the insider trading, he left himself open to charges of abetting the perpetrators by his association with them.
(1) “No state should be allowed to profess partnership with the global coalition against terror, while continuing to aid, abet and sponsor terrorism.”
—Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Indian politician, former prime minister of India (1924–)
(1) “At first I wasn’t sure that I had the talent, but I did know I had a fear of failure, and that fear compelled me to fight off anything that might abet it.”
—Gordon Parks, American photographer, musician, writer (1912–2006)
(1) “The Court then agreed that the statute identifies the corporation as the “person” which may be found guilty of the misdemeanor of misbranding or adulterating drugs. To reach corporate officers and managers, the Court relied on the historic conception of a misdemeanor under which any person aiding or assisting in the commission of a misdemeanor is also guilty of the misdemeanor. Applying this principal, the Court found that while the statute technically implicated only the corporation for the misdeed, ‘All persons who aid and abet its commission are equally guilty.’ Thus, the offense is committed by all who have a responsible share in the furtherance of the transaction that the statute outlaws. The Dotterweich case set the stage for United States v. Park, in which the president of Acme Markets, a food distributor, was charged with violating section 301 of the FFDCA. Park was tried and convicted for failing to prevent exposure of food in his company’s warehouse to rodent contamination.”
—Darmody, Stephen. 1993. The Oil Pollution Act’s Criminal Penalties: On a Collision Course with the Law of the Sea. Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review 21 (1): 89.
(2) cancel; terminate before completion
(3) interfere with the development
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The drilling project using pressurized water drilling will have to be aborted due to the severe drought.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Abridge provided that Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press.
—U.S. Constitution, First Amendment
Collocates to: immunities, law, privileges, rights
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “[On love:] I have no respect for anyone who says they’ve given up, or that they’re not looking or that they’re tired. That is to abrogate one’s responsibility as a human being.”
—Harlan Ellison, American writer (1934–)
(1) He should not abrogate that responsibility which is inherent to the chairman of the board.
Collocates to: contracts, rights, states, laws, treaties
(2) to draw into oneself; grasp; realize; recognize; take in; understand
(3) to become captivated, interested, engaged, or preoccupied in; fascinated
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Smart is an elusive concept. There’s a certain sharpness, an ability to absorb new facts. To ask an insightful question. To relate to domains that may not seem connected at first. A certain creativity that allows people to be effective.”
—Bill Gates, American business magnate and philanthropist (1955–)
(1) Overhead costs have absorbed all our profits for the year.
(1) The acquiring firm will be absorbing our losses.
Collocates to: able, body, costs, heat, energy, impact, light, moisten, shock, water
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “As a general rule, I abstain from reading reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I cannot properly offer an answer.”
—Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States (1809–1865)
(1) “The people are the best guardians of their own rights and it is the duty of their executive to abstain from interfering in or thwarting the sacred exercise of the lawmaking functions of their government.”
—William Henry Harrison, 9th president of the United States (1773–1841)
(1) “The companies that tried to keep pace with the telecommunications mergers in the first half of the first decade of the 21st century by launching mergers of their own not only failed to usurp the leader Ericsson but also found themselves under by the only player that abstained from the M&A frenzy: the Chinese company Huawei.”
—Keil, Thomas, and Tomi Laamanen. 2011. When Rivals Merge, Think Before You Follow Suit, Idea Watch. Harvard Business Review (December): 25.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Vivid imagery—“All philosophy lies in two words: Sustain and Abstain” (Epictetus, Greek philosopher, AD 55–c.135).
Collocates to: alcohol, food, intentions, marriage, relations, sex, vote
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Let me abjure you of any further action that could be construed as harassment of the fired employee.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Vivid imagery—“I have from an early age abjured the use of all meat, and the time will come when men such as I will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men” (Leonardo DaVinci, Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, 1452–1519).
Collocates to: allegiance, forced, renounced, sort, test
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Scientists, being people of cognitive complexity, must start making their own decisions as to whether what they’re doing adds to human happiness or detracts from it, and not abnegate moral responsibility.”
—Weldon, Fay. 1992. A “Profile” of the Creator, OUTLOOK. Washington Post, July 19.
Collocates to: moral, responsibility, serve, otherwise
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “A dissenting minority feels free only when it can impose its will on the majority: what it abominates most is the dissent of the majority.”
—Eric Hoffer, American moral and social philosopher (1902–1983)
Collocates to: demons, loathe, respectable
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) In the early days of fire insurance, the insurance companies also ran firehouses and would sometimes show up at a fire and if the burning home wasn’t a policyholder, the fire brigade would try to sell a policy. If the policy couldn’t be sold, in many instances the fire brigade would absquatulate leaving the building to burn.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The union leaders eventually acceded to the demands of the management committee.
(1) “I am not willing to be drawn further into the toils. I cannot accede to the acceptance of gifts upon terms which take the education policy of the university out of the hands of the Trustees and Faculty and permit it to be determined by those who give money.”
—Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States (1826–1924)
Collocates to: demands, requests, treaty, refused, wishes
(2) happen or develop faster; progress faster
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The rush shows the extent to which wrangling in Washington over deficit reduction already is affecting the way taxpayers are spending their money. In addition to rethinking their charitable giving, some taxpayers are accelerating large medical expenses, selling appreciated stock and even prepaying mortgages.”
—Saunders, Laura, and Hanna Karp. 2012. Fiscal Talks Spur Charitable Giving. Wall Street Journal, December 7.
(1) “The concept of teaming helps individuals acquire knowledge, skills, and networks. And it lets companies accelerate the delivery of current products of services while responding to new opportunities.”
—Edmondson, Amy C. 2012. Teamwork on the Fly, Spotlight. Harvard Business Review (April): 74.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Delete the negative; Accentuate the positive!”
—Donna Karan, American fashion designer (1948–)
(1) “A science is said to be useful if its development tends to accentuate the existing inequities in the distribution of wealth, or more directly promotes the destruction of human life.”
—Godfrey Harold Hardy, English mathematician (1877–1947)
Collocates to: differences, opportunities, positives, shapes
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) A job change may require the individual to acclimate himself to a completely different environment.
(1) Businesses that offer returnships for workers returning to work after extended periods out of the workforce should create similar opportunities for veterans, which would help them acclimate to the civilian workforce.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Success is not measured by what you accomplish, but by the opposition you have encountered, and the courage with which you have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds.”
—Orison Swett Marden, American spiritual author (1850–1924)
(1) “Chance can allow you to accomplish a goal every once in a while, but consistent achievement happens only if you love what you are doing.”
—Bart Conner, American Olympic gymnast (1958–)
Collocates to: goals, job, mission, objectives strategy, tactics, task, work
(2) succeed in doing something
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the effort you apply.”
—Denis Waitley, American motivational speaker and author (1933–)
(1) “That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”
—Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States (1809–1865)
(1) “Organizations do well when the people in them work hard to achieve high performance, as individuals and as members of teams.”
—Schermerhorn, John, Richard Osborn, Mary UHL-Bien, and James Hunt. 2012. Organizational Behavior. 12th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 4.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Vivid imagery—“First, have a definite, clear practical ideal; a goal, an objective. Second, have the necessary means to achieve your ends; wisdom, money, materials, and methods. Third, adjust all your means to that end” (Aristotle, Ancient Greek philosopher, scientist, and physician, 384 BC–322 BC).
Collocates to: able, goals, help, objectives, results, necessary, order, success
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “No man can sit down and withhold his hands from the warfare against wrong and get peace from his acquiescence.”
—Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States (1856–1924)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Vivid imagery—“Men acquiesce in a thousand things, once righteously and boldly done, to which, if proposed to them in advance, they might find endless objections” (Robert Dale Owen, American politician, 1801–1877).
Collocates to: choice, compelled, council, demands, forced, must, refused, quietly
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.”
—Francois de La Rochefoucauld, French author (1630–1680)
(1) “Men acquire a particular quality by constantly acting in a particular way.”
—Aristotle, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath (384 BC–322 BC)
(1) “The drive to acquire is most easily satisfied by an organization’s reward system—how effectively it discriminates between good and poor performances, ties rewards to performance, and gives the best people opportunities for advancement.”
—Nohria, Nitin, Boris Groysberg, and Linda-Eling Lee. 2008. Employee Motivation a Powerful New Tool, Honing Your Competitive Edge. Harvard Business Review (July/August): 81.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Antithesis—“The more I read, the more I meditate; and the more I acquire, the more I am enabled to affirm that I know nothing” (Voltaire, French philosopher and writer, 1694–1778).
• Antithesis—“Nobody can acquire honor by doing what is wrong” (Thomas Jefferson, American founding father, third president of the United States, 1743–1826).
• Metaphor—“Work and acquire, and thou hast chained the wheel of Chance” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet, lecturer, and essayist, 1803–1882).
Collocates to: ability, able, information, land, knowledge, necessary, students, skills
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) A great leader can begin to actuate a new movement just with his or her vision.
(2) Senator Rubio’s speech actuated the Congress to finally act on the bill.
(2) make fit often by modification
(3) to cause something to change for the better
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Since there are no similar models to study, economists say it is impossible to predict what is likely to happen to South Africa’s economy. Some predict that the bigger corporations will be able to adapt to a decline in the labor pool. Most are already in the process of shedding employees as they mechanize, computerize and in general try to become more competitive.”
—Daly, Suzanne. 1998. A Post-Apartheid Agony: AIDS on the March. New York Times, July 23.
(1) “Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live.”
—Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (AD 121–AD 180)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Antithesis—“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people” (George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright and a cofounder of the London School of Economics, 1896–1950).
• Simile—“The wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher” (Chinese proverb).
Collocates to: ability, able, change, conditions, environment, must, quickly
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Let me adduce the following reasons for recommending the merger.
(1) “In an effort to defend against a hate crime charge, some defendants may try to prove their lack of prejudice by introducing evidence of non-racist speech, memberships, and activities. How could a judge rule such evidence irrelevant? If the defendant is permitted to adduce such evidence, however, the prosecutor will almost certainly be allowed to introduce rebuttal evidence of the defendant’s racism.”
—Jacobs, James B. 1993. Should Hate Be a Crime? Public Interest Fall (113): 3–14.
Collocates to: can, evidence, might, link
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Netflix, Inc. said Monday its board adopted an anti-takeover plan intended to block activist investor Carl Icahn from expanding his nearly 10% stake in the streaming video and DVD mail company.”
—Bennsinger, Greg. Poison Pill at Netflix, Corporate News. Wall Street Journal, November 6.
(1) “I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.”
—Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States (1809–1865)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Simile—“We cannot expect that all nations will adopt like systems, for conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth” (John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 35th president of the United States, 1917–1963).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”
—Jimmy Dean, American country music singer, television host, actor, and businessman (1928–2010)
(1) “There are things I can’t force. I must adjust. There are times when the greatest change needed is a change of my viewpoint.”
—Denis Diderot, French philosopher (1713–1784)
(1) “The problem is this. The spread of markets outpaces the ability of societies and their political systems to adjust to them, let alone to guide the course they take.”
—Kofi Annan, Ghanaian diplomat, seventh secretary-general of the United Nations
Collocates to: compensate, ideas, models, standards, themes, work
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.”
—James Madison, fourth president of the United States (1751–1836)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Simile—“It is as useless to argue with those who have renounced the use of reason as to administer medication to the dead” (Thomas Jefferson, American founding father, third president of the United States, 1743–1826).
Collocates to: contracts, exams, plans, policies, programs, projects, tests
Word Used in Sentence(s)
“Some importers are adulterating tequila, and they’re doing great damage to our image, said Jose Luis Gonzalez, president of the Tequila Regulatory Council, which governs the industry. The vast majority of imported mixto is by established companies like Cuervo and Sauza, and we have no doubt that their product is genuine. But some of the others adulterate it and even use silly, offensive brand names that make Mexico look ridiculous.”
—Collier, Robert. 1997. Tequila Temptation. San Francisco Chronicle, November 19.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Simile—“The test of friendship is assistance in adversity, and that too, unconditional assistance. Co-operation which needs consideration is a commercial contract and not friendship. Conditional co-operation is like adulterated cement which does not bind” (Mohandas Gandhi, Indian, preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled, 1869–1948).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The global political troubles adumbrated an eventual worldwide economic recession.
(1) It is never good for a manager to adumbrate news of a partial layoff to just a few employees.
(2) improve; rise in status
(3) loan money
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “DreamWorks has been advancing efforts to increase its intellectual-property base, especially through the Classic Media Acquisition, and identify ways to translate its characters into merchandising opportunities.”
—Orden, Erica. 2012. How to Train Your Branding, Media. Wall Street Journal, December 10.
(2) distress; disturb; move; touch; upset
(3) assume; fake; imitate; pretend or have; put on
(1) “Being fit matters...New research suggests that a few extra pounds or a slightly larger waistline affects an executive’s perceived leadership ability as well as stamina on the job.”
—Kwoh, Leslie. 2013. Marketing. Wall Street Journal, January 16.
Collocates to: adversely, does, factor, how, negatively, performance, positive
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) There is only one way to prevent simmering employee conflicts from creating greater problems and that is to air out the issues, bring them out in the open and discuss them.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The new technologies that we see coming will have major benefits that will greatly alleviate human suffering.”
—Ralph Merkle, American, inventor of cryptographic hashing, and more recently a researcher and speaker on molecular nanotechnology (1952–)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Metaphor—“We have discovered that the scheme of ‘outlawing war’ has made war more like an outlaw without making it less frequent and that to banish the knight does not alleviate the suffering of the peasant” (C. S. Lewis, British scholar and novelist, 1898–1963).
Collocates to: concerns, pain, poverty, some, suffering
(2) place in line so as to arrange in a particular order
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) As I consider this position, I want to be sure I am aligned with the values and culture of the organization.
(2) The firm’s objectives and goals must be aligned.
(1) “Institutional logic should be aligned with economic logic but need not be subordinate to it. For example, all companies require capital to carry out business activities and sustain themselves. However, at great companies profit is not the sole end; rather, it is a way of ensuring that returns will continue.”
—Kanter, Rosabeth. 2011. How Great Companies Think Differently. Harvard Business Review (November): 68.
(1) “Parallels between ancient leaders and modern executives will never align perfectly, but there is definite value in making the comparisons. Ancient leaders obviously operated under different conditions and lacked many advantages that modern-day CEOs take for granted, but they ran their empires by utilizing similar styles of leadership.”
—Forbes, Steve, and John Prevas. 2009. Power Ambition Glory. New York: Crown Business Press, 10.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “But some advertising and media experts said that explaining the technology behind the ads might not allay the fears of many consumers who worry about being tracked or who simply fear that someone they share a computer with will see what items they have browsed.”
—Rossman, Jim. 2010. DallasNews.com, August.
(1) “Defending the truth is not something one does out of a sense of duty or to allay guilt complexes, but is a reward in itself.”
—Simone de Beauvoir, French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist (1908–1986)
(1) “In order to allay the concerns of recalcitrant Republicans, GOP leaders in the House said Tuesday that had split the $60.4 billion package into two parts and removed roughly $400 million in spending some lawmakers thought was unnecessary or unrelated to Hurricane Sandy relief.”
—Grossman, Andrew. 2013. Fiscal Cliff’s Shadow Stills Sandy Aid Bill. Wall Street Journal, January 2.
(2) divide a sum of money or amount of resources
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1), (2) We will be allocating reserve funds for the project.
(1), (2) I will allocate an annual budget toward the direct costs of the group’s work.
(1), (2) “Ironically, managing a law firm’s own resources is one of the biggest challenges for lawyers in managing a client’s work. ‘It was so hard for firms to realize that they had to allocate money among different practice departments,’ Roster says. For example, due to a shift in anticipated workload, ‘They had to decide how to allocate more money one year to their labor department than their tax department.... That is something clients have to do all the time.’”
—Schachner Chanen, Jill. 1997. Constructing Team Spirit. ABA Journal (August) 83 (8): 58.
Collocates to: available, budgets, capital, cash, energy, limited, money, resources
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) I alluded to the merger during the press conference.
Collocates to: character, fact, images, thus, tradition
Word Used in Sentence(s)
“As I grew to understand the business, it became clear to me that it was fundamentally broken. To fix it, I needed to dramatically alter the company’s culture.”
—Grossman, Mindy. 2011. HSN’s CEO on Fixing the Shopping Networks Culture. Harvard Business Review (December): 44.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The respective boards of directors voted to amalgamate the firms immediately.
Collocates to: business units, into, cells, several, slough, soil, particles, nations
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Phillip ameliorated the issues in the business plan prior to the meeting with the investors.
Collocates to: conditions, economic, effects, effort, help, might, situation, social, problems
(2) add details to; clarify; develop; elaborate on; go into details
—Shah, Denish, and V. Kumar. 2012. The Dark Side of Cross-Selling, Idea Watch. Harvard Business Review (December): 22.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Would you analyze the data from the study and make recommendations based upon your analysis?
(1) “You are a product of your environment. So choose the environment that will best develop you toward your objective. Analyze your life in terms of its environment. Are the things around you helping you toward success—or are they holding you back?”
—W. Clement Stone, American author (1902–2002)
(1) “We are not won by arguments that we can analyze but by the tone and temper, by the manner which is the man himself.”
—Samuel Butler, English novelist, essayist, and critic (1835–1902)
(1) “The research shows that in almost every case, a bigger opportunity lies in improving your performance in the industry you’re in, by fixing your strategy and strengthening the capabilities that create value for customers and separate you from your competitors. This conclusion was reached after analyzing shareholder returns for 6,138 companies in 65 industries worldwide from 2001 to 2011.”
—Hirsh, Evan, and Kasturi Rangan. 2013. The Grass Isn’t Greener, Idea Watch. Harvard Business Review (January/February): 23.
Collocates to: ability, collect, data, evaluate, identify, information, results, sample, situation, used
(2) not likely to offend
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Illusion is an anodyne, bred by the gap between wish and reality.”
—Herman Wouk, American author (1915–)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) We need to anticipate our customer’s concerns and be prepared with the proper response.
(1) If we anticipate the potential risk factors, we can build into the budget a more defensible contingency.
(1) “Research shows that morning people get better grades in school, which get them into better colleges, which then lead to better job opportunities. Morning people also anticipate problems and try to minimize them.”
—Randler, Christopher. 2012. The Early Bird Really Does Get the Worm, Defend Your Research. Harvard Business Review (July/August): 30.
(2) attract; charm; draw; fascinate; grab; interest; please; pull; tempt
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “If I am trying to persuade others, I first have to understand their position, which means I have to listen to them. I have to appeal to their values, which means I have to show them respect. I have to find the best argument for my position, which means I have to think about my values in the context of their concerns.”
—Jenkins, John. 2013. Persuasion as the Cure for Incivility. Wall Street Journal, January 9.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “You Yourself created the counterfeit and the genuine. You Yourself appraise all people. You appraise the true, and place them in Your Treasury; You consign the false to wander in delusion.”
—Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of sikhs
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) I want to apprise you of the situation with regard to merger talks.
Collocates to: development, progress, public, readers, thought
(2) allow; authorize; consent; grant; pass; sanction
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “They that approve a private opinion, call it opinion; but they that dislike it, heresy; and yet heresy signifies no more than private opinion.”
—Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher (1588–1679)
(2) “Fools admire, but men of sense approve.”
—Alexander Pope, English poet (1688–1744)
(2) make plans for something to be done
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “A shrewd man has to arrange his interests in order of importance and deal with them one by one; but often our greed upsets this order and makes us run after so many things at once that through over-anxiety to obtain the trivial, we miss the most important.”
—François de la Rochefoucauld, French classical author (1613–1680)
Collocates to: alphabetically, ascending, carefully, chronologically, descending, haphazardly, hierarchically, symmetrically
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “For the past 30 years, a group of social scientists around the world—from pioneers like Edward Deci and Richard Ryan, at the University of Rochester, to a new generation of scholars such as Adam Grant, at Wharton—have articulated a more subtle view of what motivates people in a variety of settings, including work.”
—Pink, Daniel. 2012. A Radical Prescription for Sales. Harvard Business Review (July/August): 77.
“Leaders articulate a lucid sense of purpose, create effective leadership teams, prioritize, and sequence their initiatives carefully, redesign organizational structures to make good execution easier, and most importantly, integrate these tactics into one coherent strategy.”
—Wheeler, Steven, Walter McFarland, and Art Kleiner. 2007. A Blueprint for Strategic Leadership. Strategy+Business Winter (49): 46.
(2) to find out with certainty
Collocates to: able, extent, difficult, order, study, try, whether
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The next step was to assemble the right talent around me.”
—Grossman, Mindy. 2011. HSN’s CEO on Fixing the Shopping Networks Culture. Harvard Business Review (December): 44.
(1) “When you approach a problem, strip yourself of preconceived opinions and prejudice, assemble and learn the facts of the situation, make the decision which seems to you to be the most honest, and then stick to it.”
—Chester Bowles, American diplomat and politician (1901–1986)
(2) to estimate the value, cost, benefit, or worth of
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1), (2) In order to assess the pros and cons of this merger, we will need to assemble an ad hoc intradepartmental team.
(1), (2) “A mid-career transition is a great opportunity for a leader to help an employee assess her current interest areas and identify areas of satisfaction as well as development opportunities. In addition, a leader can look at burnout areas and determine if there are opportunities to rekindle that interest.”
—Karkau, Betty. 2011. Stopping the Mid-Career Crisis. Harvard Business Review (September): 24.
Collocates to: ability, designed, difficulty, effects, situation, student, study, items, impact, order, used, whether
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Let me asseverate that I’ll greatly appreciate your help as we launch the new strategic plan.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “True ideas are those that we can assimilate, validate, corroborate, and verify. False ideas are those that we cannot.”
—William James, American philosopher and psychologist (1842–1910)
(1) “Nothing is more revolting than the majority; for it consists of few vigorous predecessors, of knaves who accommodate themselves, of weak people who assimilate themselves, and the mass that toddles after them without knowing in the least what it wants.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German playwright, poet, novelist, and dramatist (1749–1832)
(1) “It’s important for companies to gather insights form former outsiders who have assimilated successfully; managers who have grown up in an organization often don’t realize they even have a culture.”
—Watkins, Michael. 2007. Help Newly Hired Executives Adapt Quickly, Corporate Culture. Harvard Business Review (June): 26.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “There is no more noble occupation in the world than to assist another human being—to help someone succeed.”
—Alan Loy McGinnis, American, author, Christian psychotherapist (1933–2005)
Collocates to: effort, design, goals, program, resources
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) I’ve never know any trouble than an hour’s reading didn’t assuage.
—Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher (1788–1860)
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(1) “Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal—a commitment to excellence—that will enable you to attain the success you seek.”
—Mario Andretti, American racecar driver (1940–)
(1) “The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.”
—Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (1632–1677)
(1) “While progress has been made in many firms, more work clearly needs to be done. Even among the best and brightest managers, gender equality has yet to be attained.”
—Carter, Nancy, and Christine Silva. 2010. Women in Management: Delusions of Progress, Idea Watch. Harvard Business Review (March): 21.
Collocates to: ability, can, effect, may, stress
—Art Kliener, Building the Skills of Insight. Strategy + Business, http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00154?gko=d4421&cid=TL20130117&utm_campaign=TL20130117 (accessed January 17, 2013).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) We plan to augment the company security with an outside vendor.
(1) “The traditional product life cycle has created a kind of tunnel vision for marketers. Typically they layer new product benefits on top of old ones in an endless struggle to differentiate... Over time the augmented product becomes the expected product.”
—Moon, Youngme. 2005. Break Free from the Product Life Cycle. Harvard Business Review (May): 88.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Parallelism—“There are two ways of being happy: We must either diminish our wants or augment our means—either may do—the result is the same and it is for each man to decide for himself and to do that which happens to be easier” (Benjamin Franklin, American statesman, scientist, philosopher, printer, writer, and inventor, 1706–1790).
Collocates to: ability, data, current, design, income, replace
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “These readings augur well in the very near term for supportive bond price action. We, however, still look for core inflation to tick up modestly and for overall labor market conditions to improve gradually.”
—Chris Sullivan
Collocates to: does, future, might, not, poorly, well
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “So great moreover is the regard of the law for private property, that it will not authorize the least violation of it; no, not even for the general good of the whole community.”
—William Blackstone, English jurist (1723–1780)
(1) Only a vice president can authorize an expenditure that has not been budgeted.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Some philosophers aver that both moral blame and legal responsibility should be based on prior behavior.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) I avow never to let the company be taken over by outside interests.
Collocates to: both, should, many, others
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Don’t back down just to keep the peace. Standing up for your beliefs builds self-confidence and self-esteem.”
—Oprah Winfrey, American television personality, actress, and producer (1954–)
(1) “You are a coward when you even seem to have backed down from a thing you openly set out to do.”
—Mark Twain, American humorist, writer, and lecturer (1835–1910)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Antithesis—“Officials tend to back down when the people get their backs up” (Unknown).
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(1) “When in doubt, back out on a technicality.”
—Walter Shapiro, American columnist
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(1) Managing a global enterprise requires a CEO who is adept at balancing many interests.
(1) Managers need to balance their approach in handling worker disputes.
(2) having keen eyes; keenly watchful for danger; sleepless; vigilant; watchful; wary; wide awake
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(1) “I wish more people would belabor the obvious, and more often.”
—Ibn Warraq, Why I Am Not a Muslim
(1) I feel like we are wasting time if we belabor the same points already covered in previous negations.
Collocates to: need, not, obvious, point, want
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The small, unassuming building belied the global Internet business that was taking place inside.
(1) “Man is a creature of hope and invention, both of which belie the idea that things cannot be changed.”
—Tom Clancy, American novelist
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Repetition—“Our very hopes belied our fears, / Our fears our hopes belied - / We thought her dying when she slept, / And sleeping when she died!” (Thomas Hood, English poet and humorist, 1799–1845).
Collocates to: fact, image, notion, numbers, seem, words
—Arabella Weir, British comedian, actress, and writer (1957–)
(1) “A Chinese animation studio is already using an early commercial version of the software to increase the quality of its television productions, and Zhou is collaborating with the Frankfurt-based gaming studio Crytek—maker of the popular Crysis series of games, which are often used to benchmark the graphics performance of PCs—to improve the realism of its products.”
—Anonymous. 2011. THE NEXT GENERATION OF TECHNOLOGY: 35 Innovators Under 35. Technology Review (September/October).
(1) “This benchmarking process realigns the job positions with the most-up-to-date strategic business initiatives.”
—Hayashi, Shawn Kent. 2012. Conversations for Creating Star Performers. New York: McGraw Hill, 19.
(1) “After brainstorming and formalizing our instincts, we commissioned a consulting firm to provide us with competitor benchmarketing. Our instincts confirmed, we clearly saw the way forward; We would reinforce our Burberry heritage, our Brutishness, by emphasizing and growing our core luxury products, innovating them and keeping them at the heart of everything we do.”
—Ahrendts, Angele. 2013. Turning an Aging British Icon into a Global Luxury Brand, How I Did It. Harvard Business Review (January/February): 41.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Because of the ubiquity of social media, it is much easier to besmirch someone and not be held accountable.
Collocates to: anything, man, name, otherwise, reputation, would
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Simile—“Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world like a Colossus, and we petty men walk under his huge legs and peep about to find ourselves dishonorable graves” (William Shakespeare, English poet and playwright [1564–1516], Julius Caesar, I.ii.135-8).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “I wouldn’t bet the farm on it, but I’d bet the main house. I wouldn’t even bet the outhouse on Mondale.”
—Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States (1937–1994)
(1) TV networks are obviously willing to bet the ranch on special sports events—they paid millions to broadcast the Olympics.
(1) No matter how confident you are in the future, you should never bet the farm on one idea.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Labor also has started to bifurcate, as minimum-wage workers have begun to see their interests as distinct from—and often opposed to—those of relatively well-paid unionized workers in industry and the public sector.”
—Armijo, Leslie Elliott. 1996. Inflation and Insouciance: The Peculiar Brazilian Game. Latin American Research Review 31 (3): 7.
(2) flourish or shake menacingly
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) A leader most likely would not attempt to blandish a follower into accepting his point of view but rather resort to the use of influence.
(2) When Susan stood and blandished the bylaws, everyone knew the executive session was going to be a long one.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The new product was announced with a blaze of adverting and promotions.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Antithesis—“When beggars die there are no comets seen; but the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes” (William Shakespeare, English dramatist, playwright, and poet, 1564–1616).
• Metaphor—“I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them. I shall use my time” (Jack London, American short-story writer and novelist, 1876–1916).
• Metaphor—“The blaze of reputation cannot be blown out, but it often dies in the socket; a very few names may be considered as perpetual lamps that shine unconsumed” (Samuel Johnson, English poet, critic, and writer, 1709–1784).
—Unknown
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Vivid imagery—“Like to the time o’ th’ year between the extremes Of hot and cold, he was nor sad nor merry” (Shakespeare, English dramatist, playwright, and poet, 1564–1616).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) I want the senior management team to meet in retreat to blue sky ideas for where this company needs to be in twenty years.
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(1) “When Laura Esserman, MD became the director of the Carol Franc Buck Brest Care Center in 1997, she hoped to boost the institution’s prominence and patience throughput by delivering integrated care in on attractive setting.”
—Pfeffer, Jeffrey. 2010. Power Play. Harvard Business Review (July/August): 85.
(1) “Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.”
—Sam Walton, American retail executive and founder of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (1918–1992)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Many new product initiatives move forward by bootstrapping methods until stakeholders see the value.
(1) Bootstrapping until investors began to see the potential is common for new firms.
(1) “Many entrepreneurs will attest to the value of bootstrapping: launching ventures with modest personal funds. From this perspective, Ross Perot, who started EDS with $1,000 and turned it into a multimillion dollar enterprise remains the rule, not the exception.”
—Bhide, Amar. 1988. Bootstrap Finance, The Art of Start Ups. Harvard Business Review on Entrepreneurship. Boston: HBR Press, 152.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “‘The job of second-in-command wasn’t worth a warm bucket of spit’ is what John Garner Nance, FDR’s first Vice-President was supposed to have said. But this was before hot microphones and newspapermen were kind enough to bowdlerize it for him.”
—Mark Hemingway. Mar. 28, 2010. “Biden is a Bad @&%* Vice President.” Washington Examiner.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Don had his people brainstorm to keep them on track and produce enough ideas with which to work.
(2) new idea
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “There is the assumption that an industry that seems superior today will remain so. There are always some industries that seem superior today and will remain so. There are always some industries in a ‘hot’ part of the growth cycle because of a breakthrough innovation, favorable regulation, or some other advantage.”
(1) “New businesses with the potential to deliver breakthrough growth for established companies face stiff headwinds well after launch...limits to innovation have less to do with technology or creativity than organizational agility.”
—Gaovondarajan, Vijay, and Chris Trimbla. 2005. Building Breakthrough Businesses Within Established Organizations. Harvard Business Review (May): 58.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “A traditional project management approach would not work for the proposed project. Success depended on bridging dramatically different national, organizational, and occupational cultures to collaborate in fluid groupings that emerged and dissolved in response to needs that were identified as the work progressed.”
—Edmondson, Amy C. 2012. Teamwork on the Fly, Spotlight. Harvard Business Review (April): 74.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The essays as a whole reflect the influence of anthropological concepts as well as studies conducted since the early 1980s by cultural historians of Europe and the United States (such as Lynn Hunt’s work on the French Revolution). They broach a wide range of topics: popular religious celebrations, the delightful subject of street songs and dance, work and labor conditions, the notion of public space and its use, educational reform, civic festivals, and village bands.”
—Murray, Pamela. 1997. Diverse Approaches to Nineteenth-Century Mexican History. Latin American Research Review 32 (3): 187.
(2) encourage; foster; grow
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The TAD covering Atlantic Station has poured nearly $330 million in bonds to transform a former steel mill into one of the city’s biggest retail attractions. The money helped build office towers, retail developments, housing units and the posh Twelve Hotel, as well as the roads and infrastructure that help link the complex to the rest of Atlanta.”
—Bluestein, Greg. 2012. Uneven Results for Tax Districts. Atlanta Journal Constitution, NEWS, June 13.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Alliteration—(1) “Law firms seeking to become international behemoths are chasing cross-border mergers to build brands with thousands of lawyers from Boston to Beijing and beyond” (Smith, Jennifer. 2012. With CROSS-Border Mergers, Law Firms Enter Arms Race, MarketPlace. Wall Street Journal, December 10).
• Antithesis—(1),(2) “To build may have to be the slow and laborious task of years. To destroy can be the thoughtless act of a single day” (Winston Churchill, British orator, author, and prime minister, 1874–1965).
• Antithesis—(1),(2) “I don’t build in order to have clients. I have clients in order to build” (Ayn Rand, American writer and novelist, 1905–1982).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The most significant improvement in the sound was the elimination of the low burble you always get with lv disks.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “If the debate continues to burgeon in this way, between the state and the ‘governing institutions’ of organized labor and organized capital, the net result may be the gradual emergence of a new, cross-disciplinary historical political economy, richer than anything we have had since the nineteenth century.”
—Marquand, David. 1991. IX: Big Ends or Little Ends. History Today 41 (9): 38–41.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Vivid imagery—“Only those within whose own consciousness the sun rise and set, the leaves burgeon and wither, can be said to be aware of what living is” (Joseph Wood Krutch, American naturalist and writer, 1893–1970).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) In 310 BC, Agathocles of Syracuse sailed his army to Carthage and burned his boats so his soldiers knew that the price of failure would be their death.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Radio Sawa is hardly the first government-funded use of popular culture to burnish America’s image. During the cold war, Voice of America radio beamed jazz into the Soviet bloc.”
—Bayles, Martha. 2008. The Return of Cultural Diplomacy. Newsweek, December 31.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Vivid imagery—“In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish’d dove; in the Spring an yon man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love” (Alfred, Lord Tennyson English poet, 1809–1892).
Collocates to: brand, credentials, image, opportunity, reputation; surface
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) An architect should live as little in cities as a painter. Send him to our hills, and let him study there what nature understands by a buttress, and what by a dome.”
—Gore Vidal, American novelist and essayist (1925–)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) I did not want to head the task force but was cajoled into the role by the members.
(1) “Christians are to be taught that the pope would and should wish to give of his own money, even though he had to sell the basilica of St. Peter, to many of those from whom certain hawkers of indulgences cajole money.”
—Martin Luther, German priest and scholar (1483–1546)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Almost one in five American men between the ages of 25 and 54 doesn’t have a job. Fiscal and monetary policy should be calibrated to get more of them working before that permanently unemployable.”
—Wessel, David. 2012. Long-Term Economic To-Do List. Wall Street Journal Capital, November 8.
(1) American secondary and collegiate education needs to be calibrated more toward providing students with educations that prepare them for knowledge-based work, which is what the American industry needs now.
Collocates to: analyze, careful, data, difficult, model, properly, used
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) I’ve waited years for the opportunity to run an operation, to call the shots.
(1) “At the outset when Robert Eaton was named as CEO replacing Lee Iacocca at General Motors he informed key staffers that he believed in participatory management, not consensus management. The message was that Eaton would be calling the shots.”
—DuBrin, Andrew. 1998. Leadership Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 13.
(2) fund; supply capital for
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes.”
—Zig Ziglar, American author, salesman, and motivational speaker (1906–2012)
(1) “What you have, what your are—your looks, your personality, your way of thinking—is unique. No one in the world is like you. So capitalize on it.”
—Jack Lord, American television, film, and Broadway actor (1920–1998)
(1) “We’re looking to have the ability to come in and be able to capitalize on the marketing in order to grow the top-line. We basically leverage what has worked with our other successful acquisitions—investment in marketing, retention and student services.
—John Larson, American, U.S. Representative (1948–)
(1) “He poured resources in R&D and capitalized on two of the company’s exceptional capabilities—rapid innovation using deep customer insights, and flexible manufacturing.”
—Hirsh, Evan, and Kasturi Rangan. The Grass Isn’t Greener, Idea Watch. Harvard Business Review (January/February): 23.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The union bargaining team was forced to capitulate on the pension issue.
(1) “I will be conquered; I will not capitulate.”
—Samuel Johnson, English poet, critic, and writer (1709–1784)
(1) Today, successful selling should produce a win-win outcome not one in which the buyer feels like they had to capitulate.
(2) aid; act on; be in charge of; deal with; dispose of; handle; manage
Word Used in Sentence(s)
“Life is short, don’t waste time worrying about what people think of you. Hold on to the ones that care, in the end they will be the only ones there.”
—Unknown
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Vivid imagery—“Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill” (Buddha, spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) A career should seem like a trip on a well-mapped route, not a car careening out of control.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Sometimes the political left will castigate the fundamentals of the free market concept.
(1) “You are quick to castigate those who dare to heap verbal or visual abuse upon liberals and the socialistic programs The Chronicle’s editorial policies endorse, but fail to acknowledge the one-sided news reporting and total unfairness in maligning 3.4 million NRA members, 60 to 100 million American gun owners, and most members of Congress, as something less than loyal Americans and patriotic citizens.”
—Letters to the editor, Editorial. 1995. San Francisco Chronicle, May 17.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Mr. Beranke cataloged the reasons why the past few lousy years might have lingering effects: So many workers have been sidelined for so long they may never go back to work. Business investment declined sharply during the recession, leaving firms and workers less to work with, and individuals, businesses and investors may be so shaken that they will take fewer risks that produce efficiencies, new companies and new ways of doing things.”
—Wessel, David. 2013. Checking the Economy’s Pulse, Agenda 2013: US. Wall Street Journal, January 2.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Mr. Petrosian—whose father names him Tigran after a former chess champion with the same surname—is one of a legion of top chess players that have catapulted the poor nation of three million into world beaters on the 64-square board.”
—Parkinson, Joe. 2012. Winning Move: Chess Reigns as Kingly Pursuit in Armenia. Wall Street Journal, December 4.
(1) “Some authors have what amounts to a metaphysical approach. They admit to inspiration. Sudden and unaccountable urgencies to write catapult them out of sleep and bed. For myself, I have never awakened to jot down an idea that was acceptable the following morning.”
—Fanny Hurst, American novelist (1889–1968)
(1) “The initiative, known as a middle college high school, is patterned after similar programs in California, Texas and New York. It is the first of its kind in Maryland. ‘The idea behind the program is to catapult a young person forward, providing them not just with access but with skills on how to be successful,’ said Cecilia Cunningham, the executive director of the New York-based Middle College National Consortium.”
—Wiggins, Ovetta. 2012. Doubling Up on Education, Metro. Chicago Sun-Times, June 14.
(1) “By positioning—or repositioning—their products in unexpected ways, companies can change how customers mentally categorize them. As a result, companies can rescue products foundering in the maturity stage of the product life cycle and return them to the growth phase. And they can catapult new products forward into the growth phase, leapfrogging obstacles that could slow consumers’ acceptance.”
—Moon, Youngme. 2005. Break Free from the Product Life Cycle. Harvard Business Review (May): 88.
(2) to burn; ignite
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Metaphor—(1) “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn” (John Wesley, English evangelist, 1703–1791).
• Metaphor—(2) “For it is your business, when the wall next door catches fire” (Horace, Ancient Roman poet, 65 BC–8 BC).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Many businesses will try to catch the wave with social media.
(1) A business strategy is a well-thought-out plan, not ‘let’s catch the wave’ of the next hot industry cycle.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Bluster, sputter, question, cavil; but be sure your argument be intricate enough to confound the court.”
—William Wycherley, English dramatist of the Restoration period (1640–1715)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “One more substantive issues, CIA agency officers sometimes chafed under what they saw was Mr. Petraeus’s more controlling style.”
—Nicholas, Peter. 2012. CIA Chief Struggled to Deflect Criticism of Agency, US News. Wall Street Journal, November 15.
(1) “When entrepreneurs begin to create an entity to carry out their ideas, they often face a crippling and seemingly arbitrary question: whether to be a for-profit or a nonprofit. A growing number of entrepreneurs chafe under those classifications.”
—Sabeti, Heerad. 2011. The For-Benefit Enterprise. Harvard Business Review (November): 98.
(2) concentrate; focus
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Afghanistan this week plans to ask during President Hamid Karzia’s Washington visit for more US assistance to be channeled directly in government coffers, the country’s top finance official said.”
—Hodge, Nathan. 2013. Kabul to Seek More Control Over US Aid, World News. Wall Street Journal, January 7.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Accept the challenges so that you may feel the exhilaration of victory.”
—General George Patton, American general WWI and WWII (1885–1945)
(1) “The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution.”
—Bertrand Russell, English logician and philosopher (1872–1970)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Challenging the status quo as a leadership behavior requires some finesse on the leader’s part. The leaders must strike a balance between challenging respectfully and being a team player.
(1) Research shows that individuals will risk challenging the status quo only when two conditions are met: (1) They have a high-quality relationship with their leader, and (2) They know it’s their job to bring up new ideas.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “We cannot be both the world’s leading champion of peace and the world’s leading supplier of the weapons of war.”
—Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States (1924–)
(1) “Champion the right to be yourself; dare to be different and to set your own pattern; live your own life and follow your own star.”
—Wilfred Peterson, American author (1900–1995)
(1) Championing the new compensation plan made Sharon a popular choice for the sales VP.
Collocates to: approaches, causes, freedom, ideas, issues, reforms, values
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “A strong man and a waterfall always channel their own path.”
—Chinese Proverb
(1) “Goals help you channel your energy into action.”
—Les Brown, American author, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker
(1) “Marketing and Finance have a famously fractious relationship, with each accusing the other of failing to understand how to create value. That tension may seem to be dysfunctional, but when channeled right, it can actually be productive.”
—Harvard Business Review (June, 2007): 25.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Leaders are people who use influence to create change, they have followers because other people see value of their ideas or suggestions and choose to go along or align with them.”
—Schermerhorn, John, Richard Osborn, Mary UHL-Bien, and James Hunt. 2012. Organizational Behavior. 12th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 4.
(1) “Every act of will is an act of self-limitation. To desire action is to desire limitation. In that sense, every act is an act of self-sacrifice. When you choose anything, you reject everything else.”
—G. K. Chesterton, English-born Gabonese critic, essayist, novelist, and poet (1874–1936)
(1) “Every human has four endowments—self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom... The power to choose, to respond, to change.”
—Stephen R. Covey, American writer of business books
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Participating on a highly visible project management team with a C-level manager on the team is an invitation to circle the drain with your career; it’s a no-win proposition.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “George Bush will join John Quincy Adams as the only other son of a president to win the White House. He also joins Adams as one of only four men who won the job despite losing the popular vote. Bush also plunges head-on into political uncertainty that could circumscribe his success.”
—Sherman, Mark, Ken Herman, and Cox Washington Bureau. 2000. “Now the Work Begins: President-Elect Bush Faces Big Building Job with Little Time, News. Atlanta Journal Constitution, December 14.
Collocates to: activities, boundaries, social, power, tenure, trying
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) By circumventing the executive committee, the CEO knew he was taking a huge career risk.
—Ghadar, Fariborz, John Sviokla, and Dietrich Stephan. 2012. Why Life Science Needs Its Own Silicone Valley, Idea Watch. Harvard Business Review (July/August): 25.
(1) “The Image is more than an idea. It is a vortex or cluster of fused ideas and is endowed with energy.”
—Ezra Pound, American editor, poet, translator, and critic (1885–1972)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “One of the main responsibilities of a mentor is coach the protégé through the nuances of a new task or give a challenging assignment intended to stretch a protégé beyond his or her comfort zone.”
—Johnson, W. Brad, and Charles R. Ridley. 2004. The Elements of Mentoring. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 4.
(1) “Although hiring managers typically put premium on analysts’ quantitative skills, outstanding coaching skills are more valuable. Instead of simply answering questions as they arise, people-oriented data experts can provide informal ongoing training to employees in departments outside their own increasing the organization’s overall insight IQ.”
—Shah, Shvetank, Andrew Horne, and Jamie Capella. 2012. Good Data Won’t Guarantee Good Decisions, Idea Watch. Harvard Business Review (April): 24.
—Albert Einstein, American, theoretical physicist (1879–1955)
(1) Bob was able to coalesce more than 100 diverse stakeholders into an effective, efficient company asset.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “A few progressive companies have been able to coax better performance from their teams by treating their sales force like a portfolio of investments that require different levels and kinds of attention.”
—Steenburgh, Thomas, and Michael Ahearne. 2012. Motivating Salespeople: What Really Works. Harvard Business Review (July/August): 71.
(1) “Happiness is like a cat. If you try to coax it or call it, it will avoid you. It will never come. But if you pay no attention to it and go about your business, you’ll find it rubbing up against your legs and jumping into your lap.”
—William Bennett, American author and politician (1943–)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “EMCF’s ability to collaborate with industry peers created substantial benefits for society and set an example for others—notably the Obama administration, which found the pilot and inspiration for its Social Innovation Fund...”
—Tierney, Thomas. 2011. Collaborating for the Common Good. Harvard Business Review (July/August): 38.
(1) “A traditional project management approach would not work for the proposed project. Success depended on bridging dramatically different national, organizational, and occupational cultures to collaborate in fluid groupings that emerged and dissolved in response to needs that were identified as the work progressed.”
—Edmondson, Amy C. 2012. Teamwork on the Fly, Spotlight. Harvard Business Review (April): 74.
(1) In today’s global economy many businesses must practice co-opitition which is collaboration with not only intra departmental groups but also vendors, suppliers, stakeholders, NGOs, and, in some cases, competitors.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “On October 25, 2005, the Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Erickson announced the acquisition of key parts of Marconi’s telecom business—thus starting a wave of deals that would reshape the global industry. Many competitors responded to the news by initiating similar moves. Alcatel and Lucent merged in 2006; Nokia and Siemens combined their telecom equipment units the following year.”
—Keil, Thomas, and Tomi Laamanen. 2011. When Rivals Merge, Think Before You Follow Suit, Idea Watch. Harvard Business Review (December): 25.
(1) “What has once happened, will invariably happen again, when the same circumstances which combined to produce it, shall again combine in the same way.”
—Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States (1809–1865)
—Kanter, Rosabeth. 2011. How Great Companies Think Differently. Harvard Business Review (November): 68.
Collocates to: chain, center, central, control, post, structure, under
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(1) “Great companies have three sets of stakeholders: customers, employees, and shareholders—in order of importance...the board should communicate that formula to the shareholders so they understand the greater good that the company represents.”
—Horst, Gary. 2012. Business Advisor, CEOs Need a NEW Set of Beliefs. HBR Blog, September 21.
(1) “Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want.”
—Dianne Feinstein, American senator (1933–)
(1) “Start with good people, lay out the rules, communicate with your employees, motivate them and reward them. If you do all those things effectively, you can’t miss.”
—Lee Iacocca, American, business executive
(1) “Mayor Bill Akers of Seaside Height, NJ now removed from the whirlwind of Hurricane Sandy’s ferocity, and with the benefit of hindsight, the major says he has his regrets. He could, he says, have stopped by one of the shelters to speak to residents personally. He would have communicated information sooner.”
—Star Ledger. 2012. Dan Goldberg Responses to Sandy: From Great to Galling, In Perspective, Middlesex Edition, November 11.
Collocates to: able, ability, effectively, information, language, ways
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(1) “Self-professed conservatives comprise about 40% to 45% of the electorate.”
—Paul Weyrich, American conservative political activist and commentator (1942–2008)
(1) “Remember, that of all the elements that comprise a human being, the most important, the most essential, the one that will sustain, transcend, overcome and vanquish obstacles is—Spirit!”
—Buddy Ebsen, American character, actor, and dancer (1908–2003)
(2) elaborate; begin life; dream; form; make up
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(1) “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a nation, conceived and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
—Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States (1809–1865)
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(1) “Research conducted in the auto industry shows that when people see a detailed prototype, something odd happens: they concentrate on the prototype’s form and function, forgetting to attend to any remaining ambiguities about the problem the product is meant to solve or the obstacles in the way.
—Leonardi, Paul. 2011. Early Prototypes Can Hurt a Team’s Creativity, Innovations. Harvard Business Review (December): 28.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “This is the very devilish thing about foreign affairs: they are foreign and will not always conform to our whim.”
—James Reston Scottish, journalist (1909–1995)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Metaphor—“A man’s faults all conform to his type of mind. Observe his faults and you may know his virtues” (Chinese proverb).
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(1) “Self-discipline is an act of cultivation. It requires you to connect today’s actions to tomorrow’s results. There’s a season for sowing a season for reaping. Self-discipline helps you know which is which.”
—Gary Ryan Blair, American motivational speaker and author
(1) “We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.”
—Herman Melville, American short-story writer, novelist, and poet (1819–1891)
(1) “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.”
—Steve Jobs, American entrepreneur, cofounder, chairman, and CEO of Apple, Inc. (1955–2011)
(2) bottle; can; put up; store
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(1) The firm’s new energy policy will conserve more than 50 thousand megawatts of electrical power per month.
(1) “The U.S. Department of Defense took an unprecedented step on May 15, 2007, blocking troop access to MySpace, YouTube, and other popular Websites. The official reason was to conserve bandwidth.”
—Fritzon, Art, Lloyd Howell, and Dov Zakheim. 2000. Military of Millennials. Strategy +Business Winter (9): 18.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Parallelism—“In the end we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught” (Baba Dioum, Senegalese environmentalist and poet).
Collocates to: biodiversity, cash, effort, electricity, energy, fuel, heat, help, resources, power, species, water
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(1) “You must consider the bottom line, but make it integrity before profits.”
—Denis Waitley, American motivational speaker and author (1933–)
(1) “The greatest difficulty is that men do not think enough of themselves, do not consider what it is that they are sacrificing when they follow in a herd, or when they cater for their establishment.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet, lecturer, and essayist (1803–1882)
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(1) “Freedom is not worth having if it does not connote freedom to err. It passes my comprehension how human beings, be they ever so experienced and able, can delight in depriving other human beings of that precious right.”
—Mohandas Gandhi, Indian philosopher (1869–1948)
(2) win someone’s love or affection
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(1) “It is more important for a leader to conquer himself than to conquer others.”
—Aristotle, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath (384 BC–322 BC)
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(1) “Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”
—Unknown
(1) “Force does not constitute right... obedience is due only to legitimate powers.”
—Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher and writer (1712–1778)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Metaphor—“Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital” (Thomas Jefferson, American founding father, third president of the United States, 1743–1826).
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(1) If we consolidate the two departments, it will make our operations far more efficient.
(1) “Unlike Alexander, Julius Caesar stepped back from conquest to consolidate his holdings and undertake a radical reform of Roman government and society.
—Forbes, Steve, and John Prevas. 2009. Power Ambition Glory. New York: Crown Business Press, 8.
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(1) These are our complex ideas of soul and body, as contradistinguished.
—John Locke, English philosopher and physician (1632–1704)
(2) blueprint; compose; create; form; piece together; structure
(1) “We construct a narrative for ourselves, and that’s the thread that we follow from one day to the next. People who disintegrate as personalities are the ones who lose that thread.”
—Paul Auster, American author (1947–)
(1) “Consequently I rejoice, having to construct something upon which to rejoice.”
—T. S. Elliot, American-born, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic (1888–1965)
(2) cope; deal with; fight with; oppose; struggle with
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(1) “A universal theory of leadership contends that certain personal characteristics and skills contribute to leadership effectiveness in many situations.”
—DuBrin, Andrew. 1998. Leadership Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 48.
(2) “Never contend with a man who has nothing to lose.”
—Baltasar Gracian, Spanish philosopher and writer (1601–1658)
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(1) “Sometimes it leads me even to hesitate whether I am strictly correct in my idea that all men are born to equal rights, for their conduct seems to me to contravene the doctrine.”
—Benjamin F. Wade, American lawyer and United States senator (1800–1878)
(1) “Yates has denied wrongdoing and said that, with the benefit of hindsight, he would have reopened an inquiry into electronic eavesdropping of voicemail messages. After the hearing, Rupert Murdoch sent News International staff an email saying that the company has taken responsibility, and that the allegations ‘directly contravene our codes of conduct and do not reflect the actions and beliefs of our many employees.’”
—Dodds, Paisley. 2011. Murdoch Rejects Blame for Hack Scandal at Hearing. Associated Press, International News, July 20.
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(1) “Controlling is one of the four functions of management—ensuring that things go well by monitoring performance and taking corrective action as necessary.”
—Schermerhorn, John, Richard Osborn, Mary UHL-Bien, and James Hunt. 2012. Organizational Behavior. 12th ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 4.
—Diane Ackerman, American writer (1948–)
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• Vivid imagery—“No one who, like me, conjures up the most evil of those half-tamed demons that inhabit the human beast, and seeks to wrestle with them, can expect to come through the struggle unscathed” (Sigmund Freud, Austrian neurologist who became known as the founding father of psychoanalysis, 1856–1939).
(2) bring; carry; fetch; get; move; take from one place to another; transfer
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(1) “Advertising doesn’t create a product advantage. It can only convey it.”
—William Bernbach, American advertising executive (1911–1982)
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• Metaphor—“Wealth, in even the most improbable cases, manages to convey the aspect of intelligence” (John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian-American economist, 1908–2006).
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(1) The minority shareholders wanted to convoke a full ownership meeting to discuss the tenure offer.
(1) “On Dec. 1, in direct defiance of Mr. Yeltsin, Mr. Khasbulatov will convoke a full Congress of Peoples’ Deputies at which the President’s powers to rule by decree and to name a government will be severely and possibly fatally challenged.”
—Editors. 1992. Power of Russian Parliament’s Leader Is Becoming Vexing Issue for Yeltsin. New York Times, November 25.
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(1) I was able to corroborate Ken’s account of the incident.
(1) “True ideas are those that we can assimilate, validate, corroborate, and verify. False ideas are those that we cannot.”
—William James, American philosopher and psychologist (1842–1910)
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(1) “The Internet works because a lot of people cooperate to do things together.”
—Jon Postel, American computer scientist (1943–1998)
(1) “Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg.”
—Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, Supreme Allied Commander in WWII (1890–1969)
(1) “Leadership is based on inspiration, not domination; on cooperation, not intimidation.”
—William Arthur Ward, American scholar, author, editor, pastor, and teacher
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Antithesis—“Only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg” (Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, Supreme Commander of allied forces in WWII, 1890–1969).
Collocates to: agreed, authorities, fully, investigation, police, refused, willing
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(1) I want to see marketing and sales coordinate their efforts much better.
(1) “Of all the things I have done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them towards a certain goal.”
—Walt Disney, American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon (1901–1965)
(1) “My experience in government is that when things are non-controversial and beautifully coordinated, there is not much going on.”
—John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States (1917–1963)
(1) “For Hayek, market institutions are epistemic devices—means whereby information that is scattered about society and known in its totality by no one can be used by all by being embodied in prices. It is from this conception of the role of markets that Hayek derives his most powerful argument for the impossibility of successful central planning. Even if the planners are wholly disinterested, they will be unable to collect centrally the information—often ephemeral and local, and sometimes embodied in traditional skills and entrepreneurial perceptions—that they would need to allocate resources and coordinate activities effectively. Hayek’s insight here is truly profound. He grasps that the problem that central-planning institutions cannot solve is not (as his mentor, Ludwig von Mises, supposed) merely a problem of calculation but rather a problem of knowledge. Because the planner cannot know relative costs and scarcities, the planned economy will in fact be chaotic and vastly wasteful. This is the real explanation for the poverty of all socialist and command economies. Their poverty does not flow from the cultural traditions.”
—Grey, John. 1992. The Road from Serfdom. The National Review 44 (8): 32–37.
Collocates to: activates, agencies, aid, help, efforts, federal, international, response
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(1) “Counsel and conservation are a secondary education, which improve all the virtue, and correct all the vice of the first, and nature itself.”
—Unknown
(1) “The big corporations should also actively counsel the smaller companies about the best practices and standards.”
—de Rothschild, Lynn Forester, and Adam Posen. 2013. How Capitalism Can Repair Its Bruised Image, Opinion. Wall Street Journal, January 2.
(2) consider; deep; hold; regard; view
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(1) “Organization charts and fancy titles count for next to nothing.”
—Colin Powell, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. secretary of state (1937–)
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• Anaphoric—“Many of the things you can count, don’t count. Many of the things you can’t count, really count” (Albert Einstein, German-born American physicist, 1879–1955).
• Metaphor—“We live in deeds, not years: In thoughts not breaths; In feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best” (Aristotle, Ancient Greek philosopher, scientist, and physician, 384 BC–322 BC).
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(1) “The M&A domino effect occurs in industry after industry. It has played out over the past decade in pharmaceuticals, automotive manufacturing and financial services. When a major rival executes a headline-making merger, companies often feel under attack...But is countering with your own M&A always the smartest move?”
—Keil, Thomas, and Tomi Laamanen. 2011. When Rivals Merge, Think Before You Follow Suit, Idea Watch. Harvard Business Review (December): 25.
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(1) As the national organization president, I have to countermand changes proposed by local clubs that violate national bylaws.
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(1) “Dalmar wasn’t just any man. He was a devil! He’d managed to cozen every member of her household, every servant, every employee, till he had them all eating out of his hand.”
—Thornton, Elizabeth. 1990. The Worldly Widow. New York: Zebra Books.
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(1) It is imperative to our mission that we create new products.
(1) Hanna created the new brochure for the sales team.
(1) “We want to get better at designing and developing products. That requires a real self-awareness as a team, and that’s an extremely important part of the culture we want to create here.”
—Hann, Christopher. 2012. The Masters. Entrepreneur (March): 58.
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• Antithesis—“In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true” (Buddha, spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded).
• Parallelism—“If you don’t create change, change will create you” (Unknown).
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Vivid imagery—“A great statesman crosses the Rubicon without considering the depth of the river. Once he or she declares to cross it they must face any challenges and risks during the journey. Fretting on the shore won’t make the dangers go away” (Chang Dal-Joong, Korea Joong ang Daily).
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(1) The concept of crowd funding encompasses an inclusive nonauthoritarian management and provides a clear illustration of the benefit of involving people as stakeholders, rather than positioning people as reluctant customers or obstacles to be confronted and overcome by management.
(2) to tend to; till; work on
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(1),(2) One must learn to cultivate personal contacts in order to build a successful personal network.
(1), (2) “So how does a business leader go about cultivating a winning culture?...Interviews with academics and entrepreneurs yield some universal themes.”
—Haan, Christopher. 2012. The Masters. Entrepreneur (March): 56.
(1), (2) “How do tactically strong leaders learn to develop a strategic mind set? By cultivating three skills: level shifting, pattern recognition, and mental stimulation.”
—Watson, Michael. 2012. How Managers Become Leaders. Harvard Business Review (June): 68.
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• Antithesis—(1) “Who provides the opportunity to cultivate patience? Not our friends. Our enemies give us the most crucial chances to grow” (Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, 1935–).
• Metaphor—(2) “One is wise to cultivate the tree that bears fruit in our soul” (Henry David Thoreau, American essayist, poet, and philosopher, 1817–1862).
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(1) We were forced to curtail the grand opening celebration due to power failure.
(2) “The budget should be balanced. Public debt should be reduced. The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered, and assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome become bankrupt.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, Ancient Roman lawyer, writer, scholar, orator, and statesman (106 BC–43 BC)
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(1) The goals presented by the executive committee were daunting.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Metaphor—“Do not doubt a woman’s power to aid; no toil can daunt a pure affection” (Silius Italicus, Roman council and poet, ca. 28–ca. 103).
Collocates to: did, does, even may, others, would
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A manager with have to deal with much more than what is listed on his or her job description.
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(1) “Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet, lecturer, and essayist (1803–1882)
(1) “The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.”
—George Bernard Shaw, Irish literary critic, playwright, and essayist (1856–1950)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Allow yourself time to decompress and process what has happened.”
—Unknown
Collocates to: necessary, need, place, time
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(1) “Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labor, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can deduce nothing else.”
—Arthur Conan Doyle, Sr. Scottish writer, creator of the detective Sherlock Holmes (1859–1930)
Collocates to: able, can, effects, possible
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(1) “They deem him the worst enemy who tells them the truth.”
—Plato, classical Greek philosopher, mathematician (427 BC–327 BC)
(1) “I deem it the duty of every man to devote a certain portion of his income for charitable purposes; and that it is his further duty to see it so applied as to do the most good of which it is capable.”
—Thomas Jefferson, American founding father, third president of the United States (1743–1826)
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(1) A leader would move to deescalate the crisis rather than test fate.
(1) “The wives of domestic violence, for their part, are very, very feisty. Once an argument is started, they don’t back down. They greet negative statements with negative responses—what psychologists call negative reciprocity. Like their husbands, they don’t deescalate an argument if one gets started.”
—Editors. 1993. Inside the Heart of Marital Violence. Psychology Today 26 (6): 48.
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(1) “I should think that CNN and MSNBC would actually like to have the comfort of knowing that their on-air spouters and sermonizers weren’t total hypocrites, and would defenestrate hosts who violate basic standards. But that isn’t the world we live in.”
—Michael Tomasky, The Guardian
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Morgan Stanley Chairman and Chief Executive James Gorman has been a strong proponent of deferred pay, an approach favored by regulators and risk management experts. Traders are less likely to engage in risky behavior if they know the firm owes them millions of dollars in deferred compensation, according to his argument.”
—Lucchetti, Aaron, and Brett Phibin. 2013. “Bankers Get IOUs Instead of Bonus Cash.” Wall Street Journal, January 16.
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(1) The ability to defuse a potentially tense confrontation is not typically in a manager’s job description.
(1) “Every once in a while, you meet someone who really knows how to ‘read a room.’ This is the individual, usually a seasoned executive leader, who can walk into a tense meeting and sense why two would-be collaborators are butting heads, why a third manager hardly speaks, and why a fourth seems to be protecting some unspoken priority. Then, with a few words, the room-reader can defuse the problem, get people back on track, and move the team to a new level of productivity.”
—Art Kliener, Building the Skills of Insight. Strategy + Business, http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00154?gko=d4421&cid=TL20130117&utm_campaign=TL20130117 (accessed January 17, 2013).
(1) “The House defused one potential debt crisis Wednesday, while a top Republican set the stage for a broader debate over whether it is possible to actually balance the U.S. budget in coming years.”
—Hook, Janet, Corey Boles, and Patrick O’Connor. 2013. Passing DEBT Bill, GOP Pledges End to Deficits, US News. Wall Street Journal, January 24.
Collocates to: anger, crisis, criticism, help, potential, situation, tension, trying
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) She would not deign to discuss the matter in a public forum.
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Metaphor—“Deign on the passing world to turn thine eyes, And pause a while from learning to be wise. There mark what ills the scholar’s life assail—Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the jail” (Samuel Johnson, English writer, 1709–1784).
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(1) “Based upon studies on the practices of 20 leading multinational corporations we conclude that a heavy reliance on first tier suppliers is dangerous and the delegation has gone too far.”
—Choi, Thomas, and Tom Linton. 2011. Don’t Let Your Supply Chain Control Your Business. Harvard Business Review (December): 113.
(1) “Best practice companies such as Apple, Dell, HP, Honda, IBM, LGE, and Toyota do what we just advise: They have approved vendor lists but never completely relinquish decisions about a product’s components and material to top-tier suppliers. They carefully determine which items they should directly source themselves and which they should totally delegate.”
—Choi, Thomas, and Tom Linton. 2011. Don’t Let Your Supply Chain Control Your Business. Harvard Business Review (December): 113.
—Napoleon Bonaparte, French military and political leader (1769–1821)
Collocates to: act, attempt, choice, decision, deliberate, effort, slow, strategy, speed, policy
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) One of the steps a researcher should take is to delimit the scope of the study.
(1) Speech sounds cannot be understood, delimited, classified and explained except in the light of the tasks which they perform in language.”
—Roman Jakobson, Russian linguist and literary theorist (1896–1982)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) I plan to delineate my ideas regarding the new product in my presentation to executive committee.
(1) “Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”
—Thomas Jefferson, American founding father, third president of the United States (1743–1826)
(1) His responsibility was to delineate the scope of internal audits for the board finance committee.
Collocates to: boundary, combinations, limit, sections, scope, used
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Coaching and mentoring demand a multilayered knowledge that mangers don’t need to call their own.”
—Nigro, Nicholas. 2003. The Everything Coaching and Mentoring Book. Avon, MA: Adams Media Corp., 58.
(1) “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”
—Frederick Douglass, American abolitionist, lecturer, author (1817–1895)
(1) “Great organizations demand a high level of commitment by the people involved.”
—Bill Gates, American entrepreneur and founder of Microsoft Co. (1955–)
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(1) “Some teachers who are able to demystify the compositional process by providing sequential instruction in how to compose which helps students capture the spirit.”
—Conway, Colleen. 2008. The Implementation of the National Standards in Music Education: Capturing the Spirit of the Standards. Music Educators Journal 94 (4): 34–39.
Collocates to: attempts, experience, help, process, research, trying
(2) allude to; convey; express; imply; in the name of; mean; refer to
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Accordingly, humanities has come to denote not just poems and stories but all refined art, including painting, music, sculpture, film, and the like. As a result, humanistic now means arty—in other words, refined, cultivated, and effete.”
—Hocutt, Max. 1990/1991. Humanities? No. Liberal arts? Yes. Academic Questions 4 (1): 59.
(1) “In commercial circles, the term ‘Power Center’ has come to denote strip malls dominated by large stores with little space for small merchants.”
—Morganfield, Robbie. 1995. Faith and Finances; Power Center Seen as Model for Urban Life. Houston Chronicle, September 10.
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(1) “Time and health are two precious assets that we don’t recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.”
—Denis Waitley, American motivational speaker and writer, consultant (1933–)
Collocates to: layer, protocol, resources, substances
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Today people who hold cash equivalents feel comfortable. They shouldn’t. They have opted for a terrible long-term asset, one that pays virtually nothing and is certain to depreciate in value.”
—Warren Buffet, American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist (1930–)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) He managed to derail the proposed merger.
(1) “I put less stock in others’ opinions than my own. No one else’s opinions could derail me.”
—Judd Nelson, American screenwriter and producer (1959–)
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(1) “God is the name by which I designate all things which cross my path violently and recklessly, all things which alter my plans and intentions, and change the course of my life, for better or for worse.”
—Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and psychologist (1875—1961)
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(1) “When people described their personal best leadership experiences they told of a time when they imagined an exciting, highly attractive future for their organization. They had visions and dreams of what could be.”
—Kouzes, James, and Barry Posner. 1995. The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 10.
(1) “If you are out to describe the truth, leave elegance to the tailor.”
—Albert Einstein, American theoretical physicist (1879–1955)
(1) “In argument similes are like songs in love; they describe much, but prove nothing.”
—Franz Kafka, German writer (1883–1924)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Great managers have a skill of quickly detecting the strengths in their people.
(1) “It’s hard to detect good luck—it looks so much like something you’ve earned.”
—Frank A. Clark, English author and writer (1943–)
(1) “The Center for Creative Learning staff collected hundreds of peer-performance reviews and health-screening results from CEOs and other senior-level managers. From this data they detected a correlation that a leader’s weight may indeed influence perceptions of leaders among subordinates, peers and superiors.
—Kwoh, Leslie. 2013. Marketing. Wall Street Journal, January 16.
(2) ascertain; clarify; establish; find out; uncover
(3) affect; control; govern; influence; mold; shape
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The success of a strategy will be determined, in larger part, by the manager’s ability to be flexible in the tactics used.
(1) The results of the research are one factor in whether or not we determine to proceed with the new product.
(1) “Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude.”
—Zig Zigler, American author, salesman, and motivational speaker (1926–2012)
(1) “Best practice companies such as Apple, Dell, HP, Honda, IBM, LGE, and Toyota do what we just advise: They have approved vendor lists but never completely relinquish decisions about a product’s components and material to top-tier suppliers. They carefully determine which items they should directly source themselves and which they should totally delegate.”
—Choi, Thomas, and Tom Linton. 2011. Don’t Let Your Supply Chain Control Your Business. Harvard Business Review (December): 113.
(2) make known gradually
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Someone will have to develop the software for this project.
(1) A manager’s role includes developing his or her people to their fullest potential.
(1) “Smaller scale financial models since have been developed, with more advanced techniques including models called Edo and Sigma.”
—Hilenrath, Jon. 2012. Fed’s Computer Models Pose Problems, The Outlook. Wall Street Journal, December 31.
Collocates to: ability, help, plan, program, relationships, skills, strategies, students, understanding
(2) deteriorate
—Dalai Lama, Tibean, high lama in the Gelug or “Yellow Hat” school of Tibetan Buddhism (1935–)
(1) “When a detailed prototype was built, the discussion rapidly devolved into arguments. Everyone kept saying ‘why doesn’t it have this feature or that feature?’ One participant said the haggling went on for years.”
—Leonardi, Paul. 2011. Early Prototypes Can Hurt a Team’s Creativity, Innovations. Harvard Business Review (December): 28.
Collocates to: authority, into, power, responsibility, soon, upon
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The engineering team should devise the solution for the problem.
(1) “Because Zynga and Yelp and online startups with inherently social products, devising their social strategies is relatively straightforward.”
—Pisorski, Mikotaj Jan. 2011. Social Strategies That Work. Harvard Business Review (November): 119.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) First diagnose the problem and then devise a solution to get the equipment running again.
(1) “In India, the Ministry of Agriculture’s watershed management program coordinates NGOs that train government and other NGO staff to evaluate social impacts and diagnose organizational problems.”
—Fisher, Julie. 2003. Local and Global: International Governance and Civil Society. Journal of International Affairs 57 (1): 19–39.
Collocates to: able, difficult, doctors, treat, problems, used
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Jack Trout updated his ideas on positioning consumer products with his book, The New Positioning, co-authored with Steve Rivikin. Trout also began talking about differentiation, in which the focus of the marketing effort is communicating how your product is unique compared to competitive products.”
—Trout, Jack, and Steve Rivikin. 2006. Differentiate or Die by The Marketing Gurus, New York: Penguin Books, 1.
(2) control the course; guide; point the way; show the way; steer
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Directing is one of the four primary functions of management.
(1) “The results you achieve will be in direct proportion to the effort you apply.”
—Denis Waitley, American motivational speaker and author (1933–)
(1) “In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.”
—Anthony Robbins, American advisor to leaders
(1) “Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which direct them.”
—Napoleon Bonaparte, French general, politician, and emperor (1769–1821)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Our company disburses thousands of dollars in college scholarships every year.
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(1) “As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being.”
—Carl Gustav Jung, Swiss psychotherapist and psychiatrist who founded analytical psychology (1875–1961)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Antithesis—“The first point of wisdom is to discern that which is false; the second, to know that which is true” (Lactantius, North African, early Christian author, 240–320).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Too many fancy words will just discombobulate simple people.
(1) The frenzied pace of commodities trading can leave one discombobulated.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The protesters can continue to argue but their points will not discomfit me, my mind is made up.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “In Atlanta, Delta, Newell-Rubbermaid, and Equifax have boosted contributions to defined contribution plans such as 401(k)s. Coca-Cola and SunTrust are among companies replacing their traditional pensions with cash-balance plans. # Coca-Cola and SunTrust say the moves aren’t pension freezes since they’re switching to cash-balance plans, which are also defined-benefit plans. However, in filings with the Securities Exchange Commission, both companies disclose that they have frozen or are freezing portions of their older pension plans.”
—Grantham, Russell. 2009. Traditional Pensions All But Retired; Financial Crisis Forces Firms to Freeze Plans, NEWS. Atlanta Constitution and Journal, July 5.
Collocates to: companies, declined, details, information, failed, required, status
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “When men are full of envy, they disparage everything, whether it be good or bad.”
—Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Roman senator and a historian of the Roman Empire (AD 56–AD 117)
(1) “But the disparaging of those we love always alienates us from them to some extent. We must not touch our idols; the gilt comes off in our hands.”
—Gustave Flaubert, French writer (1821–1880)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Propaganda has a bad name, but its root meaning is simply to disseminate through a medium, and all writing therefore is propaganda for something. It’s a seeding of the self in the consciousness of others.”
—Elizabeth Drew, American political journalist and author (1935–)
(1) “The actions performed by great souls to spread, promote and disseminate knowledge to every strata of society is a great service to mankind.”
—Sam Veda, American, yogawear designer (1945–)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Beware of dissipating your powers; strive constantly to concentrate them. Genius thinks it can do whatever it sees others doing, but it is sure to repent every ill-judged outlay.”
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German playwright, poet, novelist, and dramatist (1749–1832)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Metaphor—“To penetrate and dissipate these clouds of darkness, the general mind must be strengthened by education” (Thomas Jefferson, American founding father, third president of the United States, 1743–1826).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The shortness of life cannot dissuade us from its pleasures, nor console us for its pains.”
—Marquis de Vauvenargues, French moralist and essayist (1715–1747)
(1) “Cultures contain many cues and inducements to dissuade the individual from approaching ultimate limits, in much the same way that a special warning strip of land around the edge of a baseball field lets a player know that he is about to run into a concrete wall when he is preoccupied with catching the ball. The wider that strip of land and the more sensitive the player is to the changing composition of the ground under his feet as he pursues the ball, the more effective the warning. Romanticizing or lionizing as individualistic those people who disregard social cues and inducements increases the danger of head-on collisions with inherent social limits. Decrying various forms of social disapproval is in effect narrowing the warning strip.”
—Thomas Sowell, American writer and economist (1930–)
(2) perform well and receive recognition
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?”
—Confucius, Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher (551 BCE–479 BCE)
(1) “Every man’s life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.”
—Ernest Hemingway, American writer (1899–1961)
(1) “Learn to distinguish the difference between errors of knowledge and breaches of morality.”
—Ayn Rand, Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter (1905–1982)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Practice easing your way along. Don’t get het up or in a dither. Do your best; take it as it comes. You can handle anything if you think you can. Just keep your cool and your sense of humor.”
—Smiley Blanton, American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst (1882–1966)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) It is important for the speaker to not divagate from the critical point with too many side issues.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) He did a one-eighty in his political beliefs when he grew a little older.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Shana really did her homework in preparation for the job interview.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Fed officials are well aware of the flaws in the computer models. Chairman Ben Bernanke himself documented the importance of finance fragility in his days as an academic. “
—Hilenrath, Jon. 2012. Fed’s Computer Models Pose Problems, The Outlook. Wall Street Journal, December 31.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Voters go to the polls with an unusually clear choice in U.S. economic policy: We can double down on the current approach in hopes that bigger government will create jobs, or we can adopt growth policies that are more market-oriented and less government-centered.”
—Malpass, David. 2012. Romney, Obama and the Economic Choice, Opinion. Wall Street Journal, November 6.
(1) “Leading figures on both sides doubled down on their positions in interviews that aired Sunday. They blamed each other for the current standoff, reflecting the talks that House Speaker John Boehner (R,. Ohio) told Fox News Sunday have gone nowhere.”
—Paletta, Damiah. 2012. Fiscal Cliff Talks at Stalemate, US News. Wall Street Journal, December 3.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio in a conference call Wednesday told fellow Republicans to avoid drawing lines in the sand. ‘We don’t want to box the Whitehouse out.’”
—Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2012.
(1) If you have been negotiating in good faith and have been truthful, yet the other side continues to hold on to untenable positions, you may have to draw a line in the sand and be prepared to walk away.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
—Buddha, spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded
(1) “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”
—John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the United States (1917–1963)
(1) “This Is No Place to Dream Small”
—Ad headline for NY state in Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2012
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) In Virgil’s Aeneid, the souls of the dead drank from the waters of the River Lethe to erase the traces of their past lives before they could be born again into new bodies.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “We herd sheep, we drive cattle, we lead people. Lead me, follow me, or get out of my way.”
—General George S. Patton, American general in World War I and II (1885–1945)
(1) “Enthusiasm releases the drive to carry you over obstacles and adds significance to all you do.”
—Norman Vincent Peale, American protestant clergyman and writer (1898–1993)
(1) “Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.”
—Jack Welch, American chemical engineer, business executive, and author (1935–)
(1) “We are all driven to acquire goods that bolster our sense of well-being. We experience delight when this drive is fulfilled, discontentment when it is thwarted.”
—Nohria, Nitin, Boris Groysberg, and Linda-Eling Lee. 2008. Employee Motivation a Powerful New Tool, Honing Your Competitive Edge. Harvard Business Review (July/August): 81.
(2) to mark the ears of livestock for special identification
(3) to set a distinctive mark on
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The manager earmarked those funds for a future project.
Collocates to: ban, money, process reform, request, spending
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) There are too many young people coming out of college today who don’t want to earn their wings in the traditional manner as a generalist but rather by specializing in a highly individualized role.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Hajj recalls introducing cinnamon rolls to Dubai. ‘There are a lot of foreigners there who know what we were about’, he says, ‘but we had to educate the locals with heavy sampling.’”
—Daley, Jason. 2012. New Market Opportunities. Entrepreneur (March).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “In other words, ‘apartheid’ becomes shorthand for the most egregious instances of systemic and overt racism that necessarily and automatically educe (or should educe) severe international condemnation.”
—Editors. 2005. The Ethnicity of Caste. Anthropological Quarterly 78 (3): 543–584.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”
—1 Thessalonians 5:11
Collocates to: entertain, heal, inform, mortify, power
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) The strategic plan is now in effect.
—Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, philosopher, and physicist (1623–1662)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Metaphor—“Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet, lecturer, and essayist, 1803–1882).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “...opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin. This policy shall be put into effect as rapidly as possible, having due regard to the time required to effectuate any necessary changes without impairing efficiency...”
—Morris J. MacGregor Jr., Integration of the Armed Forces (1940–1965)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Vivid imagery—“...when it is such as we have been more accustomed to contemplate This opinion is indeed plausible at the first view, because it may be said that we go half-way to meet that Author, who proposeth to reach an end by means which have an apparent probability to effectuate it; but it will appear upon reflection, that this very circumstance, instead of being serviceable, is in reality detrimental...” (John Ogilvie, “An Essay on the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients”).
Collocates to: able, design, intent, necessary, justice, policy, purpose
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The test of leadership is not to put greatness into humanity, but to elicit it, for the greatness is already there.”
—James Buchanan, 15th president of the United States (1791–1868)
(1) “When you make speeches you elicit expectations against which you will be held accountable.”
—Bill Bradley, American retired NBA basketball player and senator (1943–)
Collocates to: design, information, likely, questions, response, sympathy
(1) “Every effort for progress, for enlightenment, for science, for religious, political, and economic liberty, emanates from the minority, and not from the mass.”
—Emma Goldman, Lithuanian-born American international anarchist (1869–1940)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Simile—“Speech emanating from a pure heart and mind of learned men and scholars are naturally pure just like water of a river.” (Yajur Veda, one of the four canonical texts of Hinduism, the Vedas. By some, it is estimated to have been composed between 1000 and 600 BCE.)
Collocates to: from, light, rays, seem, sound
(2) put or take passengers aboard a ship or airplane
(3) begin a journey
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “One company that has embarked on an ambitious program based upon the results of a skills-gap analysis is the division of the United Kingdom’s Health Services that serves London.”
—Hancock, Bryan, and Dianna Ellsworth. 2013. Redesigning Knowledge Work. Harvard Business Review (January/February): 62.
(2) fix in the mind or memory
(3) insert a code, virus, or a routine for monitoring into a software program
(4) assign an observer to a group
—Calunic, Charles, and Immanuel Hermerck. 2012. How to Help Employees “Get” Strategy, Communications. Harvard Business Review (December): 24.
(1) “What accounts for the overwhelming importance of top managers to embeddedness? We believe the explanation is twofold. Senior leaders should have a unique understanding of their company’s strategy; there may be no equal substitute when it comes to communicating and discussing it. And their position at the top is powerfully symbolic, giving them more credibility and authority than others have.”
—Calunic, Charles, and Immanuel Hermerck. 2012. How to Help Employees “Get” Strategy, Communications. Harvard Business Review (December): 24.
(1) “Embedded in the five fundamental practices of exemplary leadership discussed above are behaviors that can serve as the basis for learning to lead. We call these the Ten Commandments of Leadership.”
—Kouzes, James, and Barry Posner. 1999. The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publisher, 17.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Alexander the Great embodies the ‘my way or the highway’ brand of leadership, something very different than the Xenophon’s style. With this approach, you are either an ally or an enemy, there is no middle ground.”
—Forbes, Steve, and John Prevas. 2009. Power Ambition Glory. New York: Crown Business Press, 6.
(1) “Laws that do not embody public opinion can never be enforced.”
—Elbert Hubbard, American editor, publisher, and writer (1856–1915)
(1) “If we want the world to embody our shared values, then we must assume a shared responsibility.”
—William Jefferson Clinton, 42nd president of the United States (1946–)
Collocates to: culture, essence, ideals, institutions, principles, spirit, values
(2) cling to; enfold; hold; hug
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Large companies, taking a page from start-up strategy, are embracing open innovation and less hierarchical management and are integrating entrepreneurial behaviors with their existing capabilities.”
—Anthony, Scott D. 2012. The New Corporate Garage. Harvard Business Review (September): 46.
(1) “For some firms, history can be instrumental in transforming cultures that are no longer useful. Cultural change, we know, can be extremely difficult for people to embrace.”
—Smith, George D. 2012. Your Company’s History as a Leadership Tool. Harvard Business Review (December): 47.
(2) make one stronger and more confident, especially in controlling his or her life and claiming his or her rights
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “I’m slowly becoming a convert to the principle that you can’t motivate people to do things, you can only demotivate them. The primary job of the manager is not to empower but to remove obstacles.”
—Scott Adams, American cartoonist (1957–)
(1) “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”
—Bill Gates, American business magnate and philanthropist, former chief executive and current chairman of Microsoft Co. (1955–)
(1) “Fear does not have any special power unless you empower it by submitting to it.”
—Les Brown, American big band leader and composer (1912–2001)
(1) “In most companies, cultural resistance to empowering employees to use technology is system wide.”
—Bernoff, Jeff, and Ted Schadler. 2010. Empowered. Harvard Business Review (July/August): 95.
Collocates to: America, individuals, people, students, women
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Many foreign companies attempt to emulate American manufacturing but never manage to match the quality.
(1) “What do we lose by another’s good fortune? Let us celebrate with them, or strive to emulate them, That should be our desire and determination.”
—Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Indian spiritual leader (1926–2011)
(1) “When you see a worthy person, endeavor to emulate him. When you see an unworthy person, then examine your inner self.”
—Confucius, Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher
(1) “Former Deloitte & Touche chairman Michael Cook courageously resigned from a males-only club frequented by his customers when he made a public commitment to the advancement of women. Other firms later emulated Deloitte’s women’s initiative.”
—Kantor, Rosabeth. 2011. Courage in the C-Suite. Harvard Business Review (December): 38.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The 1648 settlement at Westphalia though setbacks were many and vicious, enabled procedures fostering what eventually would be ‘the international community,’ a term curled many a lip in the midst of the twentieth-century world wars.”
—Hill, Charles. 2012. Notable & Quotable, Opinion. Wall Street Journal, December 1.
(1) “Still, creating a system that enables employees to achieve great things—as a group—often comes down to the work of a single leader.”
—Hann, Christopher. 2012. The Masters. Entrepreneur (March): 58.
(1) “Moral courage enables people to stand up for a principle rather than stand on the sidelines.”
—Kantor, Rosabeth. 2011. Courage in the C-Suite. Harvard Business Review (December): 38.
(1) “Employees are motivated by jobs that challenge and enable them to grow and learn and they are demoralized by those that seem to be monotonous or lead to a dead end.”
—Nohria, Nitin, Boris Groysberg, and Linda-Eling Lee. 2008. Employee Motivation a Powerful New Tool, Honing Your Competitive Edge. Harvard Business Review (July/August): 81.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) If you enable others, you begin a process of enabling yourself.
—Swami Vivekananda, Indian spiritual leader of the Hindu religion (1863–1902)
(1) “Leaders must encourage their organizations to dance to forms of music yet to be heard.”
—Warren G. Bennis, American scholar, organizational consultant, and author (1925–)
(1) “Our analysis, to our knowledge, the first of its kind, found that firms that indiscriminately encourage all their customers to buy more [by cross selling] are making a costly mistake: A significant subset of cross-buyers are highly unprofitable.”
—Shah, Denish, and V. Kumar. The Dark Side of Cross-Selling, Idea Watch. Harvard Business Review (December): 21.
(1) “Big business can do more to support smaller enterprises in their supply and distribution chains. To encourage small and medium-size businesses on the basis of their productivity rather than their experience or size would help establish the idea that everyone has a stake in the capitalist system.”
—de Rothschild, Lynn Forester, and Adam Posen. How Capitalism Can Repair Its Bruised Image, Opinion. Wall Street Journal, January 2.
Collocates to: designed, development, efforts, growth, investment, policies, students, teachers
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Never give way to melancholy; resist it steadily, for the habit will encroach.”
—Sydney Smith, English clergyman, essayist (1771–1845)
Collocates to: land, on upon, rights, territory
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The world of the 1990s and beyond will not belong to ‘managers’ or those who can make the numbers dance. The world will belong to passionate, driven leaders—people who not only have enormous amounts of energy but who can energize those whom they lead.”
—Jack Welch, American chemical engineer, business executive, and author
(1) “We look at the dance to impart the sensation of living in an affirmation of life, to energize the spectator into keener awareness of the vigor, the mystery, the humor, the variety, and the wonder of life. This is the function of the American dance.”
—Martha Graham, American dancer, teacher, and choreographer (1894–1991)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Reformers sought to strengthen certain measures while their opponents sought to repeal or enervate some provisions of the 1985 Defense Authorization Act. This fight became part of the work on defense authorization in 1986.”
—Wirls, Daniel. 1991. Congress and the Politics of Military Reform. Armed Forces & Society (Transaction Publishers) 17 (4): 487–512.
(2) to arrange for the services of; employ; hire; mesh
(3) to arrange for the use of; reserve
(4) to draw into; involve
(5) to attract and hold; to employ and keep busy; to occupy
(6) to mesh together
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.”
—Plato, classical Greek philosopher, mathematician (427 BC–327 BC)
(1) “In motivating people, you’ve got to engage their minds and their hearts. I motivate people, I hope, by example—and perhaps by excitement, by having productive ideas to make others feel involved.”
—Rupert Murdoch, Australian American media mogul (1931–)
(1) “Not to engage in the pursuit of ideas is to live like ants instead of like men.”
—Mortimer Adler, American philosopher, educator, and editor (1902–2001)
(1) “Hike to the top floor of Thayer Hall, and you will find Lieutenant Colonel Greg Dardis engaging small groups of firsties in discussions of classical-leadership theory, dissecting such leading-edge thinkers as Morgan McCall and Peter Senge.”
—Hammonds, Keith. 2006. Grassroots Leadership: U.S. Military Academy from: Issue 47, June 2001, Fast Company’s Greatest Hits, Ten Years of the Most Innovative Ideas in Business New York: Penguin, 173.
Collocates to: activities, behavior, conversation, dialogue, likely, students
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Goodwill engenders good will.
(1) “Test ideas in the marketplace. You learn from hearing a range of perspectives. Consultation helps engender the support decisions need to be successfully implemented.”
—Donald Rumsfeld, American politician and businessman (1932–)
(1) “For Mark Leslie, CEO of Veritas Software, it all came down to trust. ‘I believe if you want to be trusted, you have to trust’...But the value of engendering trust is greater than the cost of being betrayed sometimes.”
—Hann, Christopher. 2012. The Masters. Entrepreneur (March): 56.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “For Good Eggs, a San Francisco-based tech start-up aiming to enhance local food systems, a process of self-examination forms the very basis of the company’s culture.”
—Hann, Christopher. 2012. The Masters. Entrepreneur (March): 58.
(1) “It is important to note, however, that on the basis of current research and specific conditions (ophthalmologic or age), appropriate magnification—through the use of low vision devices and large print—can enhance the reading performance of individuals with low vision.”
—Russell-Minda, Elizabeth. 2007. The Legibility of Typefaces for Readers with Low Vision: A Research Review. Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness 101 (7): 402–415.
Collocates to: ability, learning, performance, students, understanding, quality
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself. He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it.”
—Ambrose Bierce, American writer, journalist, and editor (1842–1914)
(1) Leaders enlist followers by appealing to a common vision, hopes, and dreams.
Collocates to: aid, help military, support, trying, volunteers
(2) make safe; secure; protect
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Despite genuine efforts to ensure fairness, some business may be inadvertently overlooking bias that creeps in at initial job placement. Others may underestimate early managers’ impact on employees’ career trajectories. And others may have neglected the topic of gender equality in recent years, considering it an issue of the past.”
—Carter, Nancy, and Christine Silva. 2010. Women in Management: Delusions of Progress, Idea Watch. Harvard Business Review (March): 21.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “No matter how enmeshed a commander becomes in the elaboration of his own thoughts, it is sometimes necessary to take the enemy into account.”
—Winston Churchill, British politician, best known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War (1874–1965)
(1) “They come here, they don’t know the can’ts because they’re fleeing things that are generally worse. And they see this place as the land of opportunity, and they come here and they—they—they enmesh themselves in it, and many of them do quite well—much better, in many cases, than some who are born and raised here.”
—Rush Limbaugh. 1996. Radio discussion. EIB network, January 18.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Good actions ennoble us, and we are the sons of our deeds.”
—Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Spanish writer (1547–1616)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “I did envisage being this successful as a player, but not all the hysteria around it off the golf course.”
—Tiger Woods, American professional golfer
(1) “Running for President is physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually the most demanding single undertaking I can envisage unless it’s World War III.”
—Walter F. Mondale, American politician, lawyer, and vice president (1928–)
Collocates to: ability, difficult, impossible, situation, seems
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) If you could envision the best customer service operation, what would it be like?
(1) “The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.”
—Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austrian-born American actor and governor (1947–)
(1) “The heroes of the world community are not those who withdraw when difficulties ensue, not those who can envision neither the prospect of success nor the consequence of failure—but those who stand the heat of battle, the fight for world peace through the United Nations.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey, 38th vice president of the United States, U.S. Senator from Minnesota (1911–1978)
(1) “The world is changing...Networks without a specific branding strategy will be killed...I envision a world of highly niched services and tightly run companies without room for all the overhead the established networks carry.”
—Barry Dillar, American media executive (1942–)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “I rather would entreat thy company To see the wonders of the world abroad, Than, living dully sluggardized at home, Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.”
—William Shakespeare, English poet and playwright (1564–1615)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “An important part of Chief Executive Ron Johnson’s Strategy at JC Penney has been to eschew sales and promotions in favor of everyday low prices.”
—Lahart, Justin. 2012. Penney Must Endure Pain Before Gain, Ahead of Tape. WSJ Money & Investing, November 9.
(1) “In their own ways, Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama embody the obsessions of modern liberalism. Each holds an advanced Ivy League degree. Each believes he would make better choices for others that they could for themselves. Each has consequently eschewed the gradual and modest—the unglamorous improvements that might have better prepared Staten Island, for a dangerous storm.”
—McGurn, William. 2012. Sandy and the Failures of Blue-Statism, Opinion. Wall Street Journal, November 6.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) Be careful how many causes you espouse because you may have trouble remembering which side of an argument you are supposed to be on.
(2) ascertain; authenticate; confirm; corroborate; determine; cause something to be recognized; find out; prove; show; verify
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Leaders establish the vision for the future and set the strategy for getting there; they cause change. They motivate and inspire others to go in the right direction and they, along with everyone else, sacrifice to get there.”
—John Kotter, American, former professor at the Harvard Business School, an acclaimed author (1947–)
(1) “College football ad deals also give marketers the chance to establish a presence on college campuses, notes marketers such as GM’s Chevrolet brand.”
—Bachman, Rachel, and Mathew Futterman. 2012. College Football’s Big-Money, Big-Risk Business Model, Marketplace. Wall Street Journal, December 10.
(2) hold to be; consider; regard
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Dozens of recent experiments show that rewarding self-interest with economic incentives can backfire. When we take a job or buy a car, we are not only trying to get stuff we are also trying to be a certain kind of person. People desire to be esteemed by others and to be seen as ethical and dignified. And they don’t want to be taken as suckers.”
—Bowels, Samuel. 2009. When Economic Incentives Backfire, Forethought. Harvard Business Review (March): 22.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: 1) It’s completely impossible. 2) It’s possible, but it’s not worth doing. 3) I said it was a good idea all along.”
—Arthur C. Clarke, English writer (1917–)
(1) “Merchandisers, by embedding subliminal trigger devices in media, are able to evoke a strong emotional relationship between, say, a product perceived in an advertisement weeks before and the strongest of all emotional stimuli—love (sex) and death.”
—Unknown
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Whatever enlarges hope will also exalt courage.”
—Samuel Johnson, English writer (1709–1784)
(1) “Just once in a while let us exalt the importance of ideas and information.”
—Edward R. Murrow, American broadcast journalist (1908–1965)
—Richard Thalheimer, American business executive
(1) “Rarely do the followers exceed the expectations of the leaders.”
—Unknown
(2) be better, greater, or superior to others in the same field, profession, endeavor
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Allow yourself to be inspired. Allow yourself to succeed. Dare to excel.”
—Unknown
(1) “Those who are blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else. It’s the people with follow-through who excel.”
—Mary Kay Ash, American businesswoman, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics (1915–2001)
(1) “I founded Wang Laboratories to show that Chinese could excel at things other than running laundries and restaurants.”
—An Wang, Chinese-born American computer engineer and inventor (1920–1990)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Vivid imagery—“By evening, there were still groups fighting in the outlying neighborhoods. Fires and looting were involved and a certain amount of gunfire. Nobody could say when it began to quieten, but by nine P.M. the streets were silent and the fires had been extinguished. White billowy clothes, sheets mainly, blew around the streets for a few days before they were all picked up. Need I excogitate upon this? (Wayne Wightman, Wayne. 2008. A Foreign Country. Fantasy & Science Fiction 115 (6): 7).
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “I’m disappointed we won’t get the witnesses, because they exculpate my client.”
—Frank Dunhan, American lawyer (1946–2006)
Collocates to: any, also, client, defendants, people, responsibility
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “It is easier to exemplify values than teach them.”
—Theodore Hesburgh, American, priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame (1917–)
Word Used with Rhythm and Imagery
• Parallelism—“There is only one way in which one can endure man’s inhumanity to man and that is to try, in one’s own life, to exemplify man’s humanity to man” (Alan Paton, South African writer and educator, 1903–1988).
Collocates to: activities, character, leadership, spirit, values, ways
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The most excellent and divine counsel, the best and most profitable advertisement of all others, but the least practiced, is to study and learn how to know ourselves. This is the foundation of wisdom and the highway to whatever is good. God, Nature, the wise, the world, preach man, exhort him both by word and deed to the study of himself.”
—Pierre Charron, French 16th-century Catholic theologian and philosopher (1541–1603)
(1) “I exhort you also to take part in the great combat, which is the combat of life, and greater than every other earthly combat.”
—Plato, classical Greek philosopher, mathematician (424 BC–327 BC)
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Robert E. Lee was generally described as antislavery. This assumption rests not on any public position he took but on a passage in an 1856 letter to his wife. The passage begins: ‘In this enlightened age, there are few I believe, but what will acknowledge, that slavery as an institution, is a moral &; political evil in any Country. It is useless to expatiate on its disadvantages.”
—Blount, Roy. 2004. Making Sense of Robert E. Lee. Smithsonian 34 (4): 58.
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “Some Republicans remain terminally uncomfortable with issues involving race. One can still find those who regard black Americans as a group apart—poor, exotic, faintly criminal, and not fully equipped for life in polite society. In the grips of remorse, these Republicans act like white liberals: anxious, guilt-besotted, stricken by low self-esteem. They try to expiate their sins by behaving like what Peggy Noonan once called ‘low-rent Democrats.’”
—Snow, Tony. 1992. The Race Card. New Republic 207 (25): 17–20.
Collocates to: against, desire, helped, sins, guilt
Word Used in Sentence(s)
(1) “The art of statesmanship is to foresee the inevitable and to expedite its occurrence.”
—Charles M. de Talleyrand, French statesman (1754–1838)