In 2008, with the economy mired deep in recession, Jeff Immelt, the chairman and CEO of GE, was under pressure to cut costs and restore the company’s momentum after lacklustre results. He felt the need to press a reset button that would restore GE to its glory days. In his letter to his shareholders this February, he went further and described what he called “the reset economy”.

Mr Immelt must have been serious because he used the word “reset” nine times in eight pages. The reset meme also appeared in a speech by Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer to the US House of Representatives Democratic Caucus Retreat on the same day that Mr. Immelt published his letter, and in a letter accompanying SAP’s sustainability report from CEO Léo Apotheker.