(FORTUNE Magazine) – Whenever management lingo becomes so pervasive that it creeps into two consecutive FORTUNE cover stories, an exposition is due. And so it goes with "true north."

Last month we wrote of charismatic Bain & Co. chairman Orit Gadiesh, who described true north as a set of principles that directs people to what is virtuous and right. Then a fortnight ago came our cover story on Republican presidential candidate Steve Forbes, whose supply-side fanaticism, we submit, represents the "true north" of his political ideology.

Well before those two, Canadians have celebrated their heading in song: "With glowing hearts we see thee rise, / The True North strong and free; / And stand on guard O Canada, / We stand on guard for thee." Then the puck drops.

The phrase actually serves to clarify a navigational anomaly: A run-of-the-mill compass points to magnetic north, which shifts over time. Only a gyrocompass points to "true" north, an unyielding spot that won't lead ships astray.

But in the late 1980s, Stephen Covey, best-selling author and guru extraordinaire, reoriented the phrase, inserting it into his seminars for business leaders. To Covey, a map is of little use in the changing landscape of our times. A good compass, however, always points north no matter where you are. Only if an organization is gathered around a set of true north principles--you reap what you sow, say--will success follow.

Along comes Foote Cone & Belding, in search of a moniker that reflects the fact that it is not merely an ad agency but a "global communications company." Voila, True North Communications is born in late 1994. The company's annual report says "true north" the phrase is a "standard against which all courses are measured. A clear path across the communications landscape. It is timeless, timely, solid. An immutable principle that cannot be argued or subject to nuance." Got it? "I practically had to write a poem to explain it," says TN's Owen Dougherty.

Then came last year's best-selling memoir True North, by feminist historian Jill Ker Conway. That's when folks at the Covey Leadership Center applied for a trademark for the phrase. CLC executives worry about the dilution factor. "Once everyone tries to hang their hat on a phrase, it can become something that lacks substance," says CLC vice president Roger Merrill. Indeed, that vicar of verity Ollie North tells radio listeners, "your dial is set to true north."

With proponents like that, it's no surprise that Robert Kreitner, an Arizona State University management professor and self-appointed buzzword killer, thinks "true north" has already gone south. "What happens when you get to true north? The needle of your compass just whips around in circles."

--Ronald B. Lieber