Why do you need a glossary? In any business, if you don't know the terms, you've already got one hand tied behind your back. A glossary is a necessary tool if you want to really be a contender in any given industry or service job.

Glossaries are available from vendors online for every eventuality. Business leaders might look for glossaries in the following situations:

1. For brushing up on the hip jargon for any new endeavor that an executive or entrepreneur is entering for the first time, where a concise business glossary can really come in handy.

2. For bringing an administrative staff up to speed on whatever their clients are likely to be talking about.

3. As part of a comprehensive plan for continuing education across a company or business.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find a business or real estate glossary for your field

For navigating the battery of terms used in big business, including real estate, find comprehensive guides to the type of business you are involved in to effectively outfit yourself with the best educational aids to become a player in your sector.

I recommend: Get real estate glossary, tips and more at ForeclosureDeals Corporation for getting into that high-current field of real estate, with particular insight into the phenomenon that's making that business even more inscrutable: foreclosure law. For an all purpose guide to sales and management, try the Field Guide to Business Terms available from Alibris.

Get medical glossary guides

Reports show a growing percentage of America's work force is entering the medical field. Whether you're a doctor, nurse, nurse's aid or clerical staff or specialist, you may want to get more familiar with medical terminology to become more able to practice in your field with a glossary of terms tailored to your specific duties.

I recommend: Get Gray's Pocket Medical Dictionary from an online store like Valore Books to pursue the "Gray's Anatomy" of the medical biz. Find a diversity of terms online at MedicalGlossary.org. This site "is designed as a free, browsable resource"

Get a statistics glossary or accounting glossary for dealing with numbers

In almost any kind of business, someone's got to deal with number-crunching, bean-counting and value-peddling. Find helpful guides from digit-savvy writers and editors to get yourself up to speed on the heart of business: financial calculations.

I recommend: Check out the statistics glossary from The Animated Software Company and you can also buy it on CD-ROM. Accounting types can get a financial glossary cheaply at Deep Discount.com, where "EZ accounting terms" books are for sale.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Check out the specs before buying online. If you don't need a detailed guide to a field, but just a brush-up, you don't want to end up purchasing a compendium. Do a quick Table of Contents check when you buy a glossary.