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On LinkedIn, Is the Title of 'CEO' too Pretentious?

by czilbersher
30 replies
In this day and age, I'm guessing the answer is 'yes' since I'm a sole proprietorship--a small Internet Marketing consulting company. Any thoughts on the best title that doesn't sound too 'mom & pop', too pretentious' or too 'BS-ey'? ... yet conveys honesty, seniority and experience? (I know...it's a tall order.)
#ceo #linkedin #pretentious #title
  • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
    I don't care about titles. Titles don't really tell me what you can or can't do. Some CEOs are great leaders. Some are utter morons. Ditto for just about any other title. You can't judge a person's qualifications by their title, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

    Go with CEO or President or Owner or whatever, and then concern yourself more with conveying your expertise through insights and content, not whatever title you may have.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Brian
    Founder sounds a little less pretentious than CEO or President but that's just me.
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  • Profile picture of the author MichaelHiles
    CEO isn't pretentious. It's a real function as well as a title, and you're simply calling it what it is.
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    • Profile picture of the author TJ Kazunga
      Originally Posted by MichaelHiles View Post

      CEO isn't pretentious. It's a real function as well as a title, and you're simply calling it what it is.
      Exactly - a title itself can't be pretentious, only the person behind it.

      If you call yourself CEO and come across as a tit then sure, you will be pretentious.

      Conversely, call yourself Master and give out authoritative and useful content and all of a sudden people don't care what you call yourself, they just like your stuff.

      Besides, what are people gonna say "oh no - he calls himself CEO, I just can't bear it... let me not connect to him..."

      I mean really...
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    I'm reading a book by Eric Karjaluoto (cool blog of his at ideasonideas - Eric Karjaluoto discusses design, brands and experience) -
    he's funny, insightful and a bit vulgar. He says it's stupidly
    pretentious to pretend your company is big by calling yourself
    the CEO when you've only got a 2-3 people there.

    These days, having a small, customer-responsive company is
    cool - and you can use it to your advantage if you don't pretend
    you're somebody you're not.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
      Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye View Post

      These days, having a small, customer-responsive company is cool - and you can use it to your advantage if you don't pretend you're somebody you're not.
      One of the downsides to using a title that is generally reserved for larger organizations is when someone gets the opinion that you are heading up a company many times larger than you really are only to find out you're simply self-employed.

      There is no way to get your credibilty back after that kind of exposure. CEO is generally a corporate title that works better if your business is also a corporation as well as substantial.

      Cheif Cook and Bottlewasher is really what you are when you're self-employed, so CCB may be the way to go.

      Ymmv...

      ~Bill
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    • Profile picture of the author TimGross
      Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye View Post

      I'm reading a book by Eric Karjaluoto (cool blog of his at ideasonideas - Eric Karjaluoto discusses design, brands and experience) He says it's stupidly pretentious to pretend your company is big by calling yourself the CEO when you've only got a 2-3 people there.
      It depends what you're doing and who your business relationships are with. For example, when I was working out a partnership agreement with one of the big-3 search engines and when I was working out payment terms with a publicly-traded advertising company, using titles turned out to be very important.

      For the search company, they would only DO partnership deals with companies of a certain size or larger, and for the advertising company, they would only extend credit terms to businesses large enough that they believed they could trust to be stable (ie, "we'll bill you for your advertising at the end of the month instead of making you pay upfront")

      In both cases, the use of titles was extremely important when dealing with them, because I was dealing with a culture where titles were important.

      With that said, I do snicker when I see something like, "Mark Jones is President and CEO of Mark Jones, Inc." When your company is named after yourself, Founder or Owner seems more appropriate.
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      • Profile picture of the author LB
        Originally Posted by TimGross View Post

        It depends what you're doing and who your business relationships are with. For example, when I was working out a partnership agreement with one of the big-3 search engines and when I was working out payment terms with a publicly-traded advertising company, using titles turned out to be very important.

        For the search company, they would only DO partnership deals with companies of a certain size or larger, and for the advertising company, they would only extend credit terms to businesses large enough that they believed they could trust to be stable (ie, "we'll bill you for your advertising at the end of the month instead of making you pay upfront")

        In both cases, the use of titles was extremely important when dealing with them, because I was dealing with a culture where titles were important.

        With that said, I do snicker when I see something like, "Mark Jones is President and CEO of Mark Jones, Inc." When your company is named after yourself, Founder or Owner seems more appropriate.
        You make a valid point. There are many social hierarchies within the business world. Sometimes titles are very important.
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    I've known some CEOs of small companies who spend all their
    days doing management and CEO stuff. They don't spend
    half their time coding and half running the business - all they
    do is run the business.
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    • Profile picture of the author Bill Farnham
      Originally Posted by Loren Woirhaye View Post

      I've known some CEOs of small companies who spend all their days doing management and CEO stuff. They don't spend half their time coding and half running the business - all they
      do is run the business.
      Yup. To me, CEO implies your job is running the business as opposed to being the one who does all the work.

      ~Bill
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  • Profile picture of the author Scott Kennedy
    You are the owner, so say so. If you had a company with shareholders who appointed you, then you would be a CEO.
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  • Profile picture of the author SurviveUnemployment
    I prefer Master of the Known Universe.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andy Fletcher
    My favourite job titles I've used on Facebook are "Director of Awesome" and "Poker bum at Degenerates Inc".

    For my new startup we're currently all "Directors" because our accountant said we should be ... that'll be changing ASAP.

    Life is too short to take it so seriously. Lighten up and pick something that describes how you really feel about your job.

    And don't listen to any accountants that tell you it's "unprofessional". That's just code for "I don't have a sense of humour".
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  • Profile picture of the author jacktackett
    The answer imho depends on the purpose of the title. Ego? go for it. Getting new business - will the prospect finding out you're a one man show cause issue - I think so. Future employment? Hard to get a directors or managers job way down the line from CEO in the future - the question is always - why are they downsizing themselves so much? Linked In is more a business to business network - so take that into account.
    Personally if going for another title I would use founder or cofounder than owner - but that's just me. unfortunately, I've not found a lot of testing from folks like gartner or Marketing Sherpa to provide input on this topic.

    Personally I use the title VP and Co-Founder. It provides a lot of maneuverability to me in the future and gives me the credibility to work with customers and vendors.

    good luck!
    --Jack
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  • Profile picture of the author Superior Content Creation
    I remember in The Four Hour Workweek, Tim Ferris said that calling yourself "CEO" screams startup. I'm not saying the man has all the answers, but it's certainly a point to take into consideration.
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  • Profile picture of the author dv8domainsDotCom
    I'll take the title of "nobody" if people find sincerity and honesty over CEO.

    Anyone else bugged when "entrepreneur" is wafted around like cheap Chanel? That one gets me! Hehe
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  • Profile picture of the author Amy Carczak
    CEO sounds too pretentious and makes you
    sound small instead of big.

    "Speak softly but carry a big stick"
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  • Profile picture of the author webpageguru
    Over here in Aussie the title "General Manager" or "GM" is another way of signifying authority but without sounding pretentious. However a GM is generally not usually the owner of a business, just someone in senior Management. I don't personally think theres much wrong with CEO.
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  • Profile picture of the author IM Ash
    Entrepreneur seems to convey an innovative, creative business person with leadership qualities. And there is a subtle air of respect that surfaces when someone calls themselves and Entrepreneur.
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  • Profile picture of the author peter.max
    CEO is a designation generally used by public corporation where they appoint the person that is ultimately responsible (legally) for all aspects of the business. It is the Executive Officer, appointed by the shareholder board to hold this specific office.

    It has changed lately with smaller business trying to look bigger than what they are, using this same title.

    I take the CEO of a non listed business with a pinch of salt. Just my view
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    • Profile picture of the author Martin Luxton
      A agree with Bill. Something along the lines of 'generally dogsbody' is more appropriate than CEO.

      'Founder' also strikes me as pretentious.

      Proprietor seems to fit the bill.

      On the other hand, so many people these days seem to be taken in by bull**** that maybe "CEO, Founder and World Saviour" could work really well.


      Martin
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  • Profile picture of the author eflo
    I have fun with my titles nowadays. My current business card says "important marketing dude."
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    • Profile picture of the author rosetrees
      Why do you have to say CEO or owner or founder or whatever.

      My linkedin profile job title says what I actually do! Much more helpful if people are searching for your skills. None of the titles in the first sentence tell me anything.

      If I want to hire an SEO expert, or a web designer, or a copy writer or an IM consultant - I want their profile to tell me that immediately.

      What's wrong with "internet marketing consultant"?
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  • Profile picture of the author CDarklock
    I like to use "General Operations Director."

    If you're the kind of person who's impressed by titles, this sounds important enough, but not too important. You may be a director of operations, but it's not some specific operation; it's the operations in general. At the same time, it's not like you're a VP or chief officer of anything.

    And if you get the joke, you'll snicker about it and I'll know we can go out for drinks later.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kezz
    I'd go with a "no" for CEO if you're solo.

    I look at it this way. The "C" stands for Chief. A Chief by definition has followers or people at their "command". If you don't have followers, you can't be a chief.

    The reason it comes across as pretentious is that everybody knows it doesn't add up calling yourself a Chief if you're the chief of nobody.

    So I'd go with calling yourself what you are. Owner or Manager will do the trick just nicely without rubbing anyone the wrong way.
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  • Profile picture of the author Nic Lynn
    Generally, yes, so don't do it. Call yourself an "owner" or "partner" depending on your business structure.
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  • Profile picture of the author sdentrepreneur
    If its your company, I would go with President or Owner. You can optimize your LinkedIn profile with keywords to be found when people are searching for experts in certain industries.
    You can also create a Company Profile on LinkedIn. I use my LinkedIn profile like a online resume and I send it potential clients who need references. James Hickey - LinkedIn
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  • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
    Hmmm.... Why are you asking us?

    "Owner and Marketing Strategist" - How could you have said it any better than you did on your site? I think that is a brilliant title.
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