owner and CEO

a look up towards the ceiling of the entrance for the pantheon in paris. the exquisitely carved marble contains finely detailed sculptures and impossibly perfect columns (aliens??). for anyone who doesn't know, this is how it feels to talk to someone taller than 6'3".

I drew knowledge from a lot of folks before I started my own business. These conversations helped me feel like this undertaking was possible at a time when I had my doubts. One afternoon, my mentor asked me, "When you start your business, what are you going to call yourself?" The people in my field used a variety of titles to represent themselves. Executive directors, consultants, principal consultants, and the big one: chief executive officer. Each carried a different weight for what was essentially the same job. My mentor is a woman of color with a string of letters behind her name and chief-level positions of her own. She knew I wasn't a fan of titles and would try to be sneaky about mine.

"Be a CEO," she insisted. "You are starting out brand new and by yourself. You will need your future clients to take you seriously. CEO is a title they already know and respect." I considered her advice and ended up deciding on the titles at the top of this post: Owner and CEO of Future Emergent. But I've always wondered: how might the ways we describe ourselves hold us back?

recent history

In 1782, the united states congress used the term chief executive officer to describe a leader of a state. Industrialization or ego helped sweep the term into the business world. Almost 200 years later, the abbreviation CEO made its way to our shores from australia. Within the last few years or so, people started questioning the use of the word "chief" in the title. Was it connected to Native chiefs? Is this a form of disrespect that goes unspoken?

The argument against this sensitivity is that the word is actually french in origin. French settlers used "chief" to describe the leaders of the tribal nations they met. "Chief" derives from the french word "chef" which itself comes from the latin word "caput." "Chef" and "Caput" both mean head, which make senses because my head tends to go "kaput" on Fridays, amirite??

The San Francisco Unified School District was one of the first groups to address the issue in 2022. They renamed their executive-level titles after hearing from local Native American community members. Many tribal members who speak out against the word "chief" do so when it's used in a diminishing way. Lee Bitsóí, a member of the Diné nation and an EdD, thinks it's better to do away with the business term altogether. He tells a story about talking to his mother after he took his first role as a chief diversity officer.

I don't usually describe myself as an owner of a company, but that's more connected to my personal values. I'm resistant to ideas of ownership. Most of the business owners in the news (billionaires) are famous jerks to people doing the real work.

choosing CEO

Why was the title important to me when I started? Back then, I felt like my mentor was right. It's the fastest way for people to understand what I do and for whom. Titles like "consultant" are more neutral but don't convey, like CEO does, that I don't have a boss.

Chief executive officers are often the lead decision-maker at an organization. That's me here. People I haven't met do make assumptions about what I do and who I am. When I was starting out I wanted to show that it wasn't under someone else's banner. And owning a business is hard! I make all the decisions around here (I had to sign a form that says that). I wanted my title to convey that.

outgrowing CEO

Chief is another example of white culture naming something that already had a name. Chief executive officer doesn't describe much by itself. We've used it in business for decades. That usage creates a meaning that we all interpret. But the phrase has impact because we give it impact. Tiaisia O'Brien declined the title when she launched her business co:census. She wrote, "I specifically chose a different term because I wanted to think about the impact of titles in corporate structures." O'Brien relates to Indigenous people through a shared history of oppression and silencing. The word's usage as a slur, intent with disrespect, was enough for her to choose another title for herself. She continued, "One of my biggest goals in creating this company is to show that we can decolonize the systems we've created. This requires conversation and challenging the assumptions that we have historically had." Chief may have benign uses in american culture, but that doesn't forgive the harmful ones.

leaving words behind

I've gotten more serious about finding a different way to describe myself. There aren't many phrases I could use that have the same universal meaning as CEO does. I admit that for a small business still trying to branch out, I'm not well known. I won't have much of a press release when I do change my title. I also believe that our actions are much more important changes than what we call ourselves.

A title change may not be the most important decision I make this year. But at the same time: I'm a writer. Of course words matter. The words we use, and continue to use, can have an impact on the people around us. They can give people insight into who you are and how you present yourself to the world. Actions do a better job of that, too.