HR Besties: Our Top Ten Most Memorable Cringe Corporate Speak Moments
HR BESTIES
HR Besties LLC
4.8 • 586 Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How many of these have you heard in your workplace, Besties?
- Open kimono
- New sheriff in town
- Out of pocket
- Too many balls in the air
- Bang it out
- More to come
- Executive presence
- Ducks in a row
- We're like family
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Tune in to "HR Besties," a business, work and management podcast hosted by Leigh Elena Henderson (HRManifesto), Ashley Herd (ManagerMethod) and Jamie Jackson (Humorous_Resources), where we navigate the labyrinth of corporate culture, from cringe corporate speak to toxic leadership. Whether you're in Human Resources or not, corporate or small business, we offer sneak peeks into surviving work, hiring strategies, and making the employee experience better for all. Tune in for real talk on employee engagement, green flags in the workplace, and how to turn red flags into real change. Don't miss our chats about leadership, career coaching, and takes from work travel and watercooler gossip. Get new episodes every Wednesday, follow us on socials for the latest updates, and join us at our virtual happy hours to share your HR stories.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | We have a lot on the agenda today. Let me kick it off then with cringe corporate speak. |
| 0:10.0 | The cringe corporate speak for today is open kimono. So if you want to be sexist and racist in two words, use that in the workplace. |
| 0:24.0 | I have a physical reaction when I hear it in the workplace. |
| 0:27.2 | It is something that I've heard my entire career. |
| 0:30.2 | And I don't know if it's because I've been in manufacturing, heavy industrials, production, ops. |
| 0:35.6 | Like, you know, like things. |
| 0:36.7 | I don't know why. Or I've just worked with a bunch of creepers. Shout out creepers. But, but that one just kind of, oh, you know. Can you, okay, so for those that are thinking, what's that? I, I, I've, you have had the pleasure of never hearing that in your career. Lee, how do you tend to hear that in a sentence? It means real talk. |
| 0:56.1 | Like, you know, we got to be really open about something. Let's be transparent. You know, |
| 1:00.3 | I'm just going to lay all my cards out. I'm just going to put all the data on the table, right? |
| 1:04.7 | So let's just get open kimono about this topic. You know what I mean? Or, hey, let's be open |
| 1:10.1 | kimono. |
| 1:15.6 | And it's just like permission to basically open up your shirt and get naked is what that is saying. I mean, no subject line I should have had is I'm about to open your kimono. |
| 1:20.0 | Exactly. |
| 1:20.4 | People would have opened my kimono. |
| 1:22.6 | That is an alternative. |
| 1:25.3 | But Jamie, thoughts? |
| 1:27.3 | I thank youly have never heard that. |
| 1:30.4 | Really? |
| 1:30.9 | Oh my gosh. |
| 1:32.3 | Yes. |
| 1:32.8 | I've thankfully never heard that. |
| 1:34.2 | I'm happy for you. |
... |
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