Icarus Factor

The third installment in a series of spy novels (a follow-up to the best-selling The Icarus Domination), detailing the actions of a rogue CIA operative looking to infiltrate an international cyber-terrorist cartel.

It’s also a way to describe an overly ambitious company project. Basically, it represents a way to throw shade at a firm's management, by way of fancy references to mythology.

In Greek myth, Icarus and his dad, Daedalus, built wax wings to escape from prison. The dad told Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, or else the heat would melt the wings. Once flying, though, Icarus got carried away and started jetting around recklessly. Eventually, he flew too high and the heat melted the wings. Long fall, then boom. No more Icarus.

In business, this story is used as a metaphor for management plans so grandiose they threaten the company. Building too many franchises at once, requiring an insane amount of debt. Taking on a giant rival with an expensive product launch. Betting the company's entire payroll on one hand of blackjack at a Vegas casino. That sort of thing.