Wacom Wunderkind? PowerPoint Prodigy? The list is long. But listen pal, if you are calling yourself a PowerPoint Prodigy, you need to sit down and face the front. There's no need for that kind of ostentatious behavior in a creative industry like ours. These new clever descriptors to describe your business prowess have birthed a tricky trend. Tricky because not all trends are supposed to stick. Look at Mara Louw on Idols. In fact, look at Idols.
Your email signature that lists you as the organisation's Dynamic Paradigm Facilitator is very exciting - to you and maybe one other daffodil on the planet (your Gran). Then you take it to the next level and hit the town talking about it to anyone who will listen. Creepy. It smacks of trying too hard to be cool and we all know what happens when you do that. Well not me, obviously, but most people.
These are some very real and active titles in the mix right now.
It's all about context
Some titles and name badges are best kept for agency drinks on a Friday. Internal company relations are such a powerful forum for team morale and a great place to boost that wunderkind who genuinely doesn't expect that he is a wunderkind. It doesn't mean you have to change his job title, redesign his brand within yours and reprint his business cards (if you're still doing that).
It means that you have a fantastic opportunity to create an internal culture that is unique to those who eat, sleep and breathe the organisation - internally. It doesn't have to match how you project yourself to your clients based on the services you're selling. It also tells your team that you know them and that you've seen and heard the parts of their personalities that make them unique.
Here's the thing: if you start convincing your impressionable team that these swank new titles are cool, they will start putting them on their CVs. And to move on with something like Erection Engineer is like having a wine-fuelled brainwave at 2am and expecting the 'artful' scamp you drew to wow your audience come presentation time. So I've heard.
Think about that CV landing on top-shop hot-shot's desk with the title that got you so excited you actually wet yourself. He/she won't agree. Promise. It's like Romy & Michelle's '...we invented post-its....'. It's awkward and it's creepy - and so is your dodgy job title.
Ergo, don't take yourself too seriously. There must be a way to keep the spirit light while you keep people thinking but while being clear about the difference between what's smart versus what's simply stupid. Unlike one tepid who took all this very seriously and complained to the ASA about Johannesburg calling itself a World Class African City. It wasn't me. So don't get me wrong: I do believe in the value of titles. They are important for defining goals, accomplishments and a structure within the organisation - even if yours professes to embrace a flat one. If for nothing other than for process-driven deliverables, they certainly have their place. Still, it doesn't have to be brain science, but if you insist on frolicking with the flowery options of (en)titlement, changing your title as often as your mood swings is easy. Simply log onto bullshitjob.com/title and have a ball.
Dylan Balkind
Director of Chaos
PS: What do you think? Smart or simply stupid?
