A few months back, I blogged about the decision-making process that I went through when changing our company's name to BusinessRx. As we continue to settle into our new name, I've been questioning the conventional wisdom of just about everything. We've developed a great logo, a great start on our new web presence and all of the new materials that a small business needs (letterheads, envelopes, cards) have been designed. The last details for us to work out on having our business cards printed are:
- Should we have a 2-sided card?
- Should we put the same conventional titles on these cards as we did our last cards?
The second detail is what I want to blog about today. I've never been entirely comfortable with being "Owner", "President" or "CEO" of my company. Our organization doesn't have a traditional top-down hierarchy like many others, so why should we use those terms to describe ourselves? In addition, there's always the more esoteric argument that these titles don't really define who we are, but rather what we do (with little accuracy). So, if not "President", what?
I started thinking -- about our attitude, and the way we want to position ourselves in the marketplace. We want to be young without being foolish or cliche, hip without looking obvious, and most importantly -- we love to talk about software -- so we want people to ask us about that. Since we view software as a unifying force that bonds everything together in the modern world, we get an opportunity to talk about software when someone asks us just about anything. So, instead of trying to think up titles that describe what we do, we've decided to use titles that better define who we are. I've asked each team member to think about this and come up with at least 5 workable titles that describe them -- preferably something little known that they are proud of. Here are some ideas for mine:
- Brandon Kelly / Married a triplet and finally got his big family.
- Brandon Kelly / Wrote his first interpreted scripting language in Pascal at age 11.
- Brandon Kelly / Once obsessed over a software project so much he didn't shower for a week.
- Brandon Kelly / Likes to watch Star Trek re-runs while he codes.
- Brandon Kelly / is pretty sure he suffers from a mild form of OCD
These probably could use some work, but the idea is to communicate some personal accomplishment that shows value in having a conversation with our team members. I've been told some of the big-wig suits may not fall in love with this more than personal, not-so-sterile approach. When I consulted Jules Allen (a self-described Pragmatist) about this concern, he had this to say:
I like the way you think -- as always. I picked that title as there's a great line from Dennis Miller that goes something like this:
"...and I'm a pragmatist. Which means that anybody who doesn't agree with me is an ***."
I've always liked that.
My advice is never to censor your personality or the way you interact with the world. Sure, you might not appeal to some brand of suits but, frankly, who wants to work with them anyway? If they won't or don't get that part of you what else are they going to miss? You might not see yourself as such but you're a creative dealing in ideas.
My strapline for Allen Labs, LLC, is "We suck a lot less than most consulting companies." People universally love it. Initially I thought it might not be received so well and I was completely wrong. In a business where consultants are afraid of being themselves they edit their personalities down to the blandest common denominator. Make it easy to stand out. Have a differentiator.
Don't forget that we're all human. We're drawn to confidence, enthusiasm, we all have lives outside of work, and put our trousers on one leg at a time.
I love the conversation starters and I'm stealing that idea.
We're still going through this process, so I'm eager to hear back from my readership about this idea. Furthermore, if you have ideas about titles, or would like to share your perspective on your job title, I'd love to hear about that too.