Everyday Office Jargon · Vice President level

"Pie in the sky idea"

"Pie in the sky idea" describes a proposal that sounds appealing but is unrealistic or unlikely to be achievable given current constraints.

Say this instead: unrealistic idea

How "Pie in the sky idea" shows up at work

The phrase does double duty: it dismisses the idea while sounding open-minded about it. Most often deployed by the person in the room who has not had a new idea in some time.

Buzzword

A free tier for all enterprise customers is a bit of a pie in the sky idea given our margins.

Plain English

A free tier for all enterprise customers is unrealistic given our margins.

Corporate Rank: Vice President · Category: Everyday Office Jargon

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