Recently, I wrote a post on social media based on a large financial services group having promoted 92 executives as MD, and asked whether “MD was the new VP”, a reference to a lot of banks and other companies designating relatively young (and inexperienced) executives with an impressive-sounding designation. While I do not doubt the worthiness of people carrying a certain title, there seems to be a trend in recent years of liberally handing out impressive job titles.
I started my career in advertising over 30 years ago, as a Trainee AE (Account Executive), and it took me over three years to become a Senior AE (the fourth rung from the bottom), and I was considered a top performer! There were several rungs above me (in the Account Management function) before one got to the then-coveted Account Director designation.
Cut to even 10 years ago, and one often found folks in agencies with a couple of years of experience handing out cards (yes, they did that a decade ago!) saying Director
It makes one wonder what titles these same people will carry 10 or 15 years into their careers. While I do not have the answer to this question, let me share what I think may be driving this fast-tracking of titles (some even call it “title inflation”) in the advertising business and elsewhere too:
1. Better titles are cheaper to give out than monetary raises: Doing so may prevent people from leaving for greener pastures, and so can be a smart retention tactic by companies.
2. Executives may step up into their new, better job title: A bigger, more impressive title makes people feel good about themselves and more responsible and accountable overnight (an assistant manager becoming a Head
3. Career tracks and career ladders have evolved: It’s true that career tracks today are unlike what they were 20 years ago or even 8-10 years ago. Today, young folks in the workforce are impatient to climb the older, more conventional career tracks and neither are they willing to commit to a career timeframe. In fact, one sees total career switches being made, with growth coming from doing different things rather than from doing the same things (and growing while doing them).
4. Job switches are more frequent, and often lateral in nature: Another truism of the workforce today is that people switch jobs frequently, and often as nonchalantly as they switch mobile phones. Rather than spend years in a company and a role, today more and more people move on once they feel they have accomplished something, completed a project or feel their learning curve is flattening. This frequent job switching usually means that they move into a new organisation in a lateral role rather than a higher one. While monetary increments may be limited for a lateral switch, one way organisations reward new joinees, and the individuals themselves feel valued is by getting a “higher”, more impressive job title.
5. The start-up culture is permeating wider: Young start-ups are usually lean, flat organisations with very little hierarchy and often just one or a few people doing a particular function e.g., social media management, marketing, e-store management etc. In such cases, it probably makes sense to designate that one person managing a function with a generous title, rather than build an artificial ladder for that person to climb. It also helps with the external facing image created of the team where their real experience may be limited.
6. Titles improve image and perception: This is particularly true of external facing roles, where often decision-makers are cagey about interacting with people who are considered “junior” and therefore lacking the authority and credibility that a person with a more impressive title might. A Sales Director is likely to be taken more seriously than a Sales Manager, as would a Head – Copy from an ad agency as against a senior copywriter.
7. Titles are meaningless and less: At one point, one’s title defined who one was and how the world was meant to see the person. Today, titles themselves do not define success nor are they seen as the most important part of one’s life or what one strives for. When titles are liberally demanded and given, they start losing their charm and gravitas. It’s much like a mobile phone, that you stop craving once it’s widely available and lots of people start flaunting it.
8. They earned it, they are worth it: Finally, there is an additional truth to the way many organisations still work and how they hand out titles. In these, anyone getting any title must truly earn it and be worthy of it. So even if dozens of people get promoted to MD, it is probably because their new roles have a width of responsibility and accountability that can only be demanded from an MD-level person. Likewise, fast trackers who outperform their peers and even typical career progression norms are given titles that seem beyond their years. Or very high-potential freshers from marque colleges who often after their induction program are given relatively higher titles than their predecessors were a decade or so ago.
So, does a better title mean a better executive? What do you think?
The writer is an independent digital and marketing advisor who’s often designated contractor/ vendor by clients because “What’s in a title anyway?”. Views expressed are personal.