Managers can think more clearly and decide more effectively to the extent they can differentiate more ideas. A stockpile of ideas, expressed by a richness of words and concepts well understood, gives clarity, nuance and balance to a person’s thinking. That words differ from concepts has been commented on here (See my posts of June 13, 2006; and Nov. 26, 2006 on memes.). Managers’ thoughts are limited by their vocabulary.
This blog has offered many explicit definitions (See my post of Nov. 26, 2006 and references cited.). Implicit definitions or examples also crop up (See my post of April 9, 2006 on contract staff versus temporary staff.). Other posts recognize either the difficulty of a definition or the current lack of definition of terms important in legal department management and consulting (See my posts of Sept. 4, 2005 on “minority counsel;” Sept. 13, 2006 on “management attorney;” and Aug. 21, 2005 on the need for a generally-accepted definition of “significant outside counsel.”). Moreover, a gaggle of terms have yet to be defined on this blog: benefits, culture, evaluations of lawyers, ex pat, general counsel, intranet site, invoice review; pay grade structure, reporting, and total compensation are some that occur to me.