(Over the Line is an annoying business term and is just one of the 212 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Effuse, Confuse, and Overuse detailed in the hilarious must-have guide for every workplace: The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room. Available right now on Amazon.)

Over the Line

Ah, another sports term used in business. Is there anything more cliché? Lazier? More annoying?

Doubtful.

Over the line, as in, “I need you to take this one over the line,” is a lame, rah-rah attempt by the weakest of weak managers out there to motivate you by regurgitating something they heard their junior varsity football coach say decades ago.

Oh, how the inadequate among us miss those glory days.

Unable to actually hold people accountable, drive results, or deliver anything close to real leadership, the worst managers in our midst resort to hackneyed sports analogies and phrases in some feeble attempt to persuade their charges to do more… to win, if you will.

Using over the line to describe a successful outcome is, well, over the line… the annoying line, anyway.

Replacement phrases: Finish; Complete

See also: Pick Up the Ball and Run with It

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The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room is available on Amazon