Put simply, risk management is the combination of business processes, technologies, and skills that allow companies to balance short-term and long-term risk exposure, understand the organizational tolerance for failure, pinpoint areas of vulnerability, gauge the costs of precarious business decisions, and forecast the outcomes of these decisions in advance of making them. But all too often, those safeguards are ignored.

The business model of large law firms works – they make a lot of money. Clients could effect radical changes tomorrow in the industry that would unleash a wave of innovation by making significant changes in their buying decisions. They’d be some collateral damage and whether it would aid diversity is another matter. But there would be change aplenty. However, by and large, clients haven’t made those kind of decisions. The bottom line is that law firms are a bit like governments – you get the ones you deserve. The ones you choose. Law firms developed this model because it delivers financially, generally provides a good service and it is what clients signed up to. Is anyone surprised they’re not rushing to change?

Peter Thiel has been teaching a course — CS183 — to Stanford Computer Science students. Fortunately for the rest of us, one of his students — Blake Masters — has been diligently transcribing and sharing the lessons via Tumblr. "This was probably the most interesting university course I've ever taken, albeit remotely and one degree removed, but each week I waited attentively for the next lesson. Thiel's views are unique, often requiring reading and rereading, but his love for 2x2 matrices, power laws and 'secrets' are genuinely thought altering."

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Everyone loves to hate buzzwords, but in the office setting, people are often powerless to resist them.

More businesses are using the word “innovative” to describe what they do, from developing new soup flavors to redesigning packaging.

But are these achievements really innovative?

According to a Wall Street Journal article, firms are not necessarily innovating more than before, say critics; many are simply throwing around the buzzword to show they’re on the cutting edge. They’re following the pack.

Hate buzzwords if you must, but our affinity for them may stem from a basic human desire for acceptance, experts say. Often, people use buzzwords not to convey factual meaning, but to show they belong to a social group, according to socio-linguist Robert Leonard.

“Buzzwords are code words to show you’re an inside member,” says Mr. Leonard, who chairs Hofstra University’s linguistics program. “[They show] you’re part of the ‘hip’ group.”

As a result, we are constantly “manufacturing” new buzzwords, he says.

That could explain the ever-growing list of clichéd corporate buzzwords, including “synergy,” “optimization,” “leverage,” “pivot” and “cross-functional.”

The rank-and-file are guilty of using buzzwords, too: LinkedIn recently compiled a list of the most overused words in members’ profiles and uncovered a few gems, including “dynamic,” “organizational” and “effective.”

Because such catch-all words tend to be vague, they’re usually not the most efficient mode of communication, Mr. Leonard says. Two people having a dialogue about “innovation,” for example, might have completely different perceptions of what the word means.

Readers, start thinking out of the box: What are your least favorite buzzwords? What buzzwords are you guilty of using?

Ars Technica: Africa developing its first supercomputer outside South Africa http://t.co/85rCnbnr by @curthopkins

Ars Technica: Tape lives! Supercomputer to be built with 380PB of tape storage http://t.co/FFp5cPIh by @JBrodkin