4 ms·
> Edit: Nadella said re: how MS looks at acquisitions (http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/13/11920306/microsoft-ceo-sat... http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/13/1192030
by tanzam75 10y ago
> Edit: Nadella said re: how MS looks at acquisitions (http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/13/11920306/microsoft-ceo-sat... http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/13/11920306/microsoft-ceo-sat...) "Is this asset riding secular usage and technology trends?" - anyone know what that means?
In general English, "secular" means "non-religious."
In MBA-speak, "secular" means "non-cyclical."
An example of cyclical growth would be ExxonMobil between 2004 and 2007. They couldn't keep up this growth, because it was due entirely to swings in the price of oil.
An example of secular growth would be Google between 2004 and 2007. They were able to ride the trend of advertising moving online. (Advertising is a cyclical business, but Google won't feel it until advertising stops moving online.)
Nadella is saying that he believes LinkedIn is riding a sustained trend.
- neilc 10y ago> In MBA-speak, "secular" means "non-cyclical." It's not "MBA-speak"; this sense of the word "secular" is used in economics, time-series analysis, astronomy, etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_variation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_variation
- sonthonax 10y agoWhat's the etymology of that?
- PlaneSploit 10y ago1250-1300; < Medieval Latin sēculāris, Late Latin saeculāris worldly, temporal (opposed to eternal), Latin: of an age, equivalent to Latin saecul (um) long period of time + -āris -ar1; replacing Middle English seculer < Old French < Latin, as above
- kensai 10y agoIn fact: century in Italian is "secolo"... :)
- heneryville 10y agoIt comes from the Latin saeculum which is a period of time longer than a person's life. Rome used to hold the secular games, which was an event so big, it'd never be seen again in a person's lifetime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_Games https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_Games
- opiuse 10y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saeculum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saeculum A saeculum is a length of time roughly equal to the potential lifetime of a person or the equivalent of the complete renewal of a human population. The word has evolved within Romance languages (and Swedish) to mean "century".
- ClashTheBunny 10y ago> The word has evolved within Romance languages (and Swedish) to mean "century". Doesn't that come from centum (100) like cent and centurion?
- saint_fiasco 10y agoThat's for Germanic languages. In Romance languages the words for century look like "seculo", "siglo", &c.
- carlob 10y agoWhat they meant is that in Romance languages century is a cognate of secular: secolo in Italian, siècle in French, siglo in Spanish…
- capote 10y agoAnd secol in Romanian ^_^
- tanzam75 10y ago> It's not "MBA-speak"; this sense of the word "secular" is used in economics, time-series analysis, astronomy, etc. Of course it's MBA-speak. MBA-speak does not mean that they invented the word, or that only MBAs use the word. It just means that MBAs prefer to use the word where another one would do. Nadella could have talked about "long-term trends" or "ongoing trends" or "sustainable trends." However, he chose to use "secular trends." His fondness for jargon makes him harder to understand. Another example of MBA-speak is "synergy." The OED traces "joint action, cooperation" to 1632, and "a combined effect which is greater than additive" to 1904 ("synergism"). The first listed MBA-speak usage of the term is a 1981 article in The Economist on brokerage mergers. Does that mean that "synergy" is "not MBA-speak" because the term is also used by scientists? Of course not! It just means that the MBAs adopted a term that others had already been using. I would place "secular" into the same category as "synergy." The OED traces its astronomical usage to 1801 and its economics usage to 1895. Its first appearance outside a scientific context is in 1973, in an article in The Daily Telegraph on interest rates.