Chris Fields, Fire Hydrant to the Corporate Dogs
It’s my invented job title; the one I have always wanted to place on my business card because I have lived it, learned from it, and want to share the experience to help others realize their full potential more quickly.
Thinking about job titles, I’m reminded of a story from my technology industry days, when I heard about a VP Research at a telecommunications company who had his business card prominently displayed on his desk. His title: Head, New Shit.
More recently I started thinking about the convergence of two things: 1) the increasing influence of our personal brand on work life, which requires us to stand out from a crowd; and 2) how job titles tend to pigeon-hole people or a position within an organization. There’s an expectation of what you will do, and how you will think, attached to a position title.
In the world of municipal government, I think the job title is constraining new and more ambitious ways we need to think about community building and our future amidst accelerating change and the need to be more competitive. Take the title – Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). We all know the “poobah” title. It’s normal convention. However, “administrative” often (not always…don’t get offended) translates to pursuit of excellence in minding the store. Pick any number of descriptors that result: pedantic, predictable, operational, steady. For most communities, this approach settles into a routine around ruffling the fewest feathers and working to sustain the longevity of the job.
But what if your community needs to be operating out of a different store? Or a next generation store?
What if I said you were a CIO – a Chief Imagination Officer? (with apologies to Chief Information Officers….I want to abscond with your title). Wouldn’t that title have people looking to you to generate an ambitious pathway for your community’s future? Sure – you have to cover all the bases of running a tight operational ship, but the title itself asks you to focus 20-30% of your job on pursuit of the exceptional.
If I’m an HR Manager I’m really not that. I’m a Talent Enabler. If I’m a Director of Planning I’m really not that. I’m a Community Builder. If I’m a Grader Operator I’m not that either. I’m a Safe Roads Specialist.
I would love to see a genre of job titles emerge that are focused on the mission not the minutiae. Make the title – even if it’s only your working title – not about what you do but what you stand for and why you matter.
If we’re focused on the mission perhaps we’re more focused on seeking solutions to challenges, which lies at the heart of a more strategic and compelling future for communities.
Or…get rid of the titles for special missions. Magic happens when people conspire to be great and step out of silos. It’s rare but it happens; a community I worked for created internationally award-winning policy by willing to let go of power titles like Director, Manager, or Councillor – and the associated barriers they create – in development of a deeper strategic mission.
In the words of the novel Animal Farm: “All words are equal, but some words are more equal than others.” What’s in a name? Everything. It’s time we broke from conventions.