lev·er·age [lev-er-ij]

Origin:  Leverage is a noun describing the power derived from using a lever, itself a word derived from Latin, levare (to raise).  To anyone who might have slept through fifth-grade science, a lever is a simple machine that allows the transmission of force through a rigid bar that pivots on a fixed point, or fulcrum. 

This is entirely irrelevant to its meaning when you overhear a vice-president use it in the cafeteria.

Office usage (valid and infrequent):

• “to invest through borrowing” - The use of a loan or credit to make an investment, generally in order to reap greater gains, though not always.  e.g. They entered a leveraged position to open a new warehouse; He’s taken out a second mortgage and maxed out three of his credit cards! He’s leveraged out the ass.
• “to gain advantage” - Often used in a scurrilous context, whereby a point of fact, data or circumstance is used to make a weak position into a strong one. e.g. These photographs of him banging his secretary will give us the leverage we need!

Office usage (hazy and frequent):

• “to make use of a resource” - Vocal shorthand for phrases such as “Call and ask for the help of”, “draw from the knowledge available in” and/or “pick up and use.”  e.g. Leverage Tony Soprano from waste management, he’ll know what to do; Leverage that shovel from a ditch-digging perspective.

Office usage (idiotic and constant):

• “go-to utility substitute verb” - A two-syllable, meaningless phoneme used whenever a business leader needs to punch up mundane-sounding verb phrases (such get, talk to, think about, build, do, make, fuck) with an offical-sounding word (such as leverage, leverage, leverage, leverage, leverage, leverage, leverage).  With connotations that imply advantage (at a sophisticated level) and work (at a basic level) it functions interchangably as a noun or verb, with the implication of  Do something, but without articulating any specific action.
• E.g.  Leverage your teammates!; or How do we leverage this new training process for my team’s selling skills from an execution standpoint?

Homework:

Compose five examples of the use of the word leverage that you have experienced among your business peers.  Attempt to derive, from context, what actual verb or noun they were attemping to convey, before their brains shut down.