• to drink the Kool-Aid - v., 1. To believe or to emphatically voice belief in a company strategy, product, or slogan. 2. To have or to claim to have a high degree of loyalty and trust in a company executive, often when others have voiced the opposite view.

In today’s politically correct workplace, many employees are careful to avoid talking to co-workers about controversial subjects and social taboos such as religious cults or mass murder. Today’s piece of corporate jargon is a rare exception to this norm.

The source of the expression “to drink the Kook-Aid” is the hideously tragic Jonestown Massacre — when religious cult leader Jim Jones killed himself and over 900 men, women & children by poisoning them with cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. (Actually, it wasn’t Kool-Aid, it was “Flavor-Aid,” a powdered sugary drink mix very similar to Kool-Aid).

Although the cult members were certainly under duress to drink the poison, the murderous event is sometimes portrayed as mass suicide. It’s this image of blind, suicidal loyalty to cult leader Jim Jones that inspires the use of the phrase today to refer to corporate loyalty and enthusiasm.

It’s perhaps not surprising to hear the term used derisively, to imply that a person’s loyalty is clouding sound judgment, as in this hypothetical scene at a corporate all-hands:

SPEAKER: “I sincerely believe that the CEO’s new idea to shut down all corporate operations, sell all of our corporate real estate, and use the money to purchase three magic beans is a fabulous idea that just can’t fail!”

AUDIENCE MEMBER (to a co-worker): “Wow, the speaker has really been drinking the Kool-Aid, don’t you think?”

Oddly, though, it’s not uncommon to hear the phrase often used in a positive or enthusiastic way, even by the Kool-Aid drinker him or herself, as in:

“Maybe I’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid, but I honestly believe that when we introduce our newest product, the Bass-O-Matic ‘76, this will increase our company’s share of wallet.”

Fun with corporate jargon:

When people use this phrase at work, they’re probably not thinking directly about the Jonestown Massacre. Perhaps they aren’t even familiar with Jonestown. If you hear this phrase used in a lighthearted way and you’re in a particularly sinister and antisocial mood (and if you don’t care about keeping your job), you might consider innocently asking “drink Kool-Aid? What does that mean?” and forcing the speaker to actually explain the source of the jargon. Once the speaker has to explain the disgusting meaning of the phrase, you can make an awkward situation worse by reacting with maniacal laugher in the style of Amy Sedaris: “Jonestown? That’s hilarious!”