Reach out

An expression confected by the Americans as a way of saying "speak to" while conveying an insincere tone of compassion and self-sacrifice on the part of the person uttering it, as if the act of “reaching out” will magically gladden the reachee’s working day, and not compound that person’s already significant existential despair.

Fans of this kind of voguish business-speak should be careful: it is possible to over-extend the metaphor. An unfortunate lady managing director at Goldman once offered to “reach around” a group of operations personnel in London, and was surprised with the enthusiasm with which her offer was taken up.