You know what pisses me? People that label themselves as CEO.
Dictionary.com doesn’t say much: CEO: chief executive officer. Although, I found a more complete definition at BusinessDictionary.com and some funny definitions at urbandictionary.com -if you are in for a quick laugh-.
I also did a quick search on Linkedin to get some grounds to rest my case and these are some of the results I got:
I know personal or referencing info is all blacked out but trust me, I did my homework. Actually, one of these guys is the “CEO” of a link farm (spam site for short) and none of them run a place with more than 2 employees -CEO included-.
Lately, I’ve been seeing many people opening a shop (clothing, sporting goods, internet businesses, furniture) and then appointing themselves as CEO of X.
Really?! You are a CEO, awesome dude. What a rocketing career! Do you feel qualified to run IBM or HP now? … mmm… I thought so…
My first problem with fake CEOs
What’s the rush to put CEO on your resume? Evidently it’s your objective, but seriously; how many people do you think would take you seriously? If you’ve started your own small business, firstly, there is really no need for titles, at least until you grow bigger. Secondly, don’t you think that manager/owner is more than enough?
The word CEO has social and cultural implications that go beyond the descriptive vacuity of dictionary.com’s definition. Ask someone to brainstorm around the word CEO and see what they associate it with. Naming yourself king of your 1 man kingdom only makes you a fool in front of “serious” people.
Reality check
If you wanna get technical, the CEO is the corporate title for the executive with the chief decision-making authority in an organization or business. So these guys are partially right. They have the chief decision-making authority of their venture but that’s stretching the meaning of CEO a bit too much and here’s why: the magic word is corporate.
If CEO is the desired nobility level, then these guys are playing in the wrong field. CEO is a title for the corporate arena.
“Dressing a monkey in silk does not change the fact that it is still a monkey”
What’s your take?
Article by Fernando
This is my blog - I write about careers, talent management and organizational development. I've been featured at Monster.com, Alltop, WeBlogBetter and BloggingPro among others. I hope you leave this blog with more than you arrived and I look forward to discussing your ideas and projects with you. See you in the comments section.
Fernando has written 230 awesome articles for us at Fernando Tarnogol – Careers Blog
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
“CEO” just sounds good. Once you have you “company” set up, the temptation is probably too much. And then there’s the lack of good alternatives to the word…
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Kinda lame to call yourself CEO when you’re only starting up a company, IMHO.
-Jon
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Funnily and technically – anyone can actually be a CEO. All one needs to do is set up a business entity – even if the entity is simply a sole proprietorship.
And who can blame these folks – it is so exciting and tempting to label oneself “CEO”. Heck, I wouldn’t mind such a title myself. And if I were more enterprising, I probably would have started something even if just to call myself a CEO!
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January 8, 2012 at 9:23 pm
Hi Amanda,
Agreed that technically speaking, anyone can be a CEO; but what do you think about the social implications of using such a label when you don´t have a humongous company to back up your claim?
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Oh-oh, you made me laugh at your last words “Dressing a monkey in silk does not change the fact that it is still a monkey”. There is nothing wrong if you want to become CEO because we all are entitled to become one as we desire not in the company but in your own career, in your own self and of course in your own business.
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February 16, 2012 at 7:07 am
Couldn’t agree more with this haha, I’m never going to label myself even if one of my online business’ do take off.
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