What is in the Designation !

When I joined Public Relations Deptt at a PSU, as per the typical nomenclature of PSU, I was only a Astt General Manager, even after my so many years in the system and virtually managing Public Relations as well Advertising,  I used to look up with envy at the visiting VPs and C-level Executives with their big fancy titles. Prior  to this assignment, in my naiveté, success was heavily tied to going from a Manager, to a Chief Manager, to Astt GM, Dy GM, Chief GM, to a Managing Director, and so on all the way up to Chairman. 

Almost 35   years later, I realize how little those titles mean when I now judge a person's level of success. After meeting plenty of 24-year-old Vice Presidents of tiny companies -- or even more to the point, very experienced and respected directors -- titles mean much less to me now than they did when I first entered the business world. Now I judge personal success on the excellence of the organization I'm working for, how engaged am I with my day-to-day tasks, and if I'm personally satisfied at the end of the week with the work I'm doing.

The digital industry has thrived being the new kid on the block and shedding legacy ways of doing business. In the early days of digital, the traditional teams joked that you could tell who the digital guy was in the room by who was wearing jeans and had facial jewelry. This trailblazer attitude has certainly extended to the job title forum -- would "guru" be acceptable in any other industry?

Silly job titles are not so silly to the folks behind them. Gentleman named Adam Broitman is currently chief creative strategist of Something Massive. However, when a few years ago, his title was "Partner and Ringleader" at Cir.cus so I thought he'd be perfect to comment on this little quirk of our business.

"I have always felt that it is a bit odd for agencies comprising of three people to have a CEO or Managing Director -- something about that just seems disingenuous," Broitman said. "Given that fact, the fact the name of the company was Circ.us it just seemed like a good idea to forgo traditional titles. After all, John and I (my partner who was also Ringleader) were ultimately responsible for everything, so no title would have properly captured the essence of what each of us did on a daily basis. On top of all of this, John and I are a bit snarky and while we take our work seriously, life is too short to take things like titles seriously." 

To demonstrate this point,  see the titles of the following companies and designations :

Ass-kicking Analogies

Marketing Ninja  
Don't laugh. He's standing behind you right now ready to pounce with his nunchucks.

Brand Warrior 
Okay, I admit I'd be a little intimidated knowing that I was going to have to interview with that lady for a job.

Senior Road Warrior Marketing Intern 
I guess it sounds a lot better than "unpaid intern."

The Social Media Badass
  These social folks can slap on anything to "social media" and make it a title. Other titles I came across were Social Media Genie, Social Media Rockstar, Social Media DJ -- even Social Media Vixen! Ooh la la!.

The master mentality

Digital Overlord
  This has got to be a creative guy, right? My gut tells me this is definitely a creative guy.

Direct Mail Demi-God   
I would think an omnipotent, all-knowing being would have had the sense to get out of traditional media by now.

Mobile Sensei (and Planner)
I like that he added "and planner" to the title. He must have realized the sensei part was confusing.

Enlightened leadership

Chief Visionary Officer
   This "vision" is 20/20 when the campaign starts and blind as a bat when it tanks.

Chief Marketing Guru    
Personally, I think the "guru" card has been played out. It's just not creative enough for someone who has reached spiritual enlightenment.

Deep thoughts

Chief Thought Provoker
   Honestly, this sounds like that smelly guy in the office who doesn't understand why people laugh at the "Battlestar Gallactica" toy set on his desk.

Chief Thinker
      Not a lot of thought put into that one. Maybe they're trying to demonstrate that they spend more time thinking about their client's business and less about their title?

Founder, Chief Creative, Inspiration, and Elation Officer      
OK, we get it -- you're important. But honestly, it sounds like someone needs a hug.

Chief Instigation Officer
   You looking at me? Grrrr..

Random and hilarious

Chief People Herder   
Sounds like he could be replaced by a border collie.

Director of Fundom
   My personal favorite! I'd love to party with that dude but not really sure if I want him to steward my multi-million dollar marketing budget.

Faith is the King

Chief Faith Officer at Future group