In the past 3-4 years I have been amused reading CVs of applicants or profiles in sites like LinkedIn. You ask why? Well for one I am entertained when I read a 23–24-year old’s CV and I discover titles such as CEO (Chief Executive Officer) or CTO (Chief Technical Officer) of such-and-such start-up company! And then there are those profiles that take the person through the age of 28-30 with a long myriad of executive titles, founder, co-founder, co-CEO, etc.
“What is the problem”, you say? Well, I guess nothing if you consider giving yourself the title of CEO for a one-man or a two-people company is meaningful. I happen to not think so. Why are we so attached to these grandiose titles which almost any half-endowed brain can see through their artificial glitter? Why can’t these people describe better what they do than try to focus the reader’s attention on their TITLE?
Now before discarding my comment as irrelevant, read me out. Yes, I understand in these modern times and with the trend in trying out ideas through creating start-ups, it is inevitable that we have loads of very young CEOs and other titles decorating the CVs of many young people. I also understand some of those have led to great companies (Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are the most famous ones, but there are many non-famous ones as well), but frankly don’t you get tired of seeing the title CEO being too easily spread in CVs and profiles by very young people without much meaning behind it?
Yes, I understand that entrepreneurship and business initiative are part of North America’s fundamental culture, but the other day I was thinking: are we getting to the stage where 13 year old children no longer sell lemonade in the summer in their neighborhood, but they are co-CEOs of a refreshment supply company; or the high school kid no longer mows lawns to make some pocket money, but he/she is the founder of a landscape service company, and so on and so on? And all these people have been CEOs multiple times before they have reached 25. But then again, maybe in the future these tasks will have been automated.
Paris, May 3, 2021,
Zeejay