It sure is getting crowded in the C-Suite these days! The conference rooms and board rooms probably aren't big enough to accommodate all the new C-title influences that are roaming around the corridors of the corporate world today. They're everywhere you look and across every job competency you can imagine.
If transforming your enterprise is the strategy du jour, you can tap into a CTO - Chief Transformation Officer. Worried about security? Trust your information architecture and digital data to a Chief Security Officer. They're not easy to find and will probably set your company back $300k plus.
Education and training are always vital elements of future enterprise success. There is a proliferation of new titles in the training sector. If you need knowledge, like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, hire a CKO - Chief Knowledge Officer. If you employ a strategy of "life long learning", a Chief Learning Officer fits the bill. Need to put a tent around all things training? A CTDO is for you. That's Chief Training & Development Officer to the uninitiated.
As customers become fewer and spend less, C-Suite attention is all about the customer. Hasn't the customer always been right? Yes. If you believe in this fundamental truth, there are now CCO's - Chief Customer Officer's, but the role is expanding to own the entire customer experience through Chief Commercial Officers. They have the enviable task of owning the responsibility for every aspect of dealing with customers, from sales and marketing to customer service and product development. Isn't this what the CMO's - Chief Marketing Officers - were being tasked with? There is a distinct blurring of C-Suite roles and responsibilities. If all this is dizzying to consider, you can always call on the CHRO - Chief Human Relations Officer!
You can be sure the CCO's - Chief Commercial Officers - will be using CRM (Customer Relationship Management). They need to deliver ROI. If that doesn't work, they can turn to ROO - Return on Objective. They might even take a trip to ROME - Return on Marketing Expenditures.
It makes your head spin. It worked well in the past with only a few C-Suite positions. You have to wonder, with all of these influences and titles, if it runs the risk of driving companies toward the dreaded "group think" mentality. Rather than practicing market disruption, decisions get beaten to death by committee. Companies run the risk of having too many voices at the C-Suite table. CEO's would be best served by employing a trusted Chief Counselor Officer, an influence they could count on to tell it like it is - with no bias, agenda or desire to improve their personal agenda. Think about the role that a consigliore plays in the Mafia. Preferably, this person would be from outside the corporate "family." A voice of reason that many companies sorely lack in today's ultracompetitive market climate.
Jonathan Rickard, former of Adams, Rickard and Mason, used to have the best title on his business card -- "Grand Poobah". Really. I'm sure you've heard this before, but I've gone into companies and have seen their receptionists with nameplates stating "Director of First Impressions". Both titles are probably more influencial with clients and customers than some of the titles above.