The Power of Naming – Creativity in Corporate Designations

They say, “a Rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet”. That clearly, is NOT what current corporates believe in when handing out fancy titles to their employees.
I think there are a few interesting reasons for why they do it:

a) The corporate environment today IS very different from what it used to be in the baby boomer’s times – there are new practices/ departments/ industries that have evolved, with their unique set of problems, and yes, the need for unique designations – so, the whole 24X7 culture that the wave of outsourcing has given rise to, requires its set of designations that address the night shift generation and its requirements. Environment friendliness is another corporate requirement, and has spawned many interesting departments and designations.

b) I think as companies grow, they also want to be creative about rewarding people – so, not for everyone is a vertical rise to the top – that’s just not possible – hence, a lateral move, with an interesting designation tacked on, may help motivate people further. (It’s the classical answer to how does an organization deal with Peter’s Incompetence Principle)

c) Finally, I think it is just good marketing – interesting names for departments are an effective PR tool – you get written about, and you achieve branding!

Some interesting designations that come to mind are the following (EmPower colleagues, please feel free to add on more that you know of):

• Diversity Marketing Manager – Wendy’s International
• Vice President of Environmental Innovation – The Home Depot
• Manager of Natural Resource Use – Ben and Jerry’s
• Chief Sustainability Officer – DuPont
• Chief Culture Officer – Google (they do a “happiness survey”!), Kanbay etc
• Chief Hacking Officer – eEye Digital Security
• Chief Ethics Officer – Dell
• Chief Demonstration Officer – Cisco
• Chief Competitive Officer - Sun Microsystems
• Chief Privacy Officer – IBM
• Chief People Officer – Extreme Logic

Ofcourse, names and naming are fairly serious business in the corporate world. Do read what an EmPower Managing Partner wrote some time ago on brand names.
http://www.blonnet.com/catalyst/2002/08/15/stories/2002081500050100.htm
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/catalyst/2002/08/22/stories/2002082200100200.htm