But if you’ve ever been unlucky enough to catch your boss air-punching a mirror before a big meeting or been chastised for being too aggressive during a presentation – right after you’ve been implored to show more backbone – you’ll know that internalising these tedious martial metaphors often feels like the only choice. Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office, the bestselling manual that tells us to swap girlish second-guessing for militant goal-seeking, and Lean In, Sheryl Sandberg’s case for quashing your fears to step into opportunities you’re not prepared for, might be considered as essential to success as a well-cut power suit, but their vision of female empowerment still addresses a workplace shaped by masculine hierarchies. The first time I worked out that invoking a piece of jargon in lieu of articulating my feelings meant that men I reported to would take me more seriously, my internal facepalm couldn’t match the thrill of cracking a secret code. “Surround yourself with a Plexiglass shield,” writes Dr Lois Frankel in Nice Girls. “If you’re offered a seat on the rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on,” Lean In helpfully suggests.

– Why we shouldn’t succumb to workplace jargon – My latest piece in Daily Life