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The newly appointed richest man in the world, Elon Musk, has been given a new position to match his wealth. Although his empire spans multiple industries, he is shedding the CEO title in only one of the companies under his control, choosing the Technocking title from electric vehicle maker Tesla.
For Musk, Technoking’s responsibilities are no different from those of a traditional CEO, according to the Wall Street Journal, as the industrial billionaire will remain in office. Former Tesla CFO Zack Kirkhorn will also make the same extra leap by changing its official name to Tesla’s Master of Coin. (His actual work is not expected to change.)
Musk and Kirkhorn gave themselves silly titles because they are powerful people who do everything, but aside from a few clickable headlines and giggles from Musk’s army of aides, the titles themselves mean nothing. And, oddly enough, this is true for most jobs.
Technocking teaches a little lesson for all of us, regardless of our calling: job titles rarely, if ever, explain your actual work. Since you won’t soon be waving a business card with some disrespectful headline to start a conversation when you are talking to someone about your job or even interviewing, it’s better to emphasize what you are doing .
Names do not mean the same across organizations
Being a senior vice president of sales for a faceless corporation does not mean that your responsibilities will accurately reflect those of a senior vice president at another.
What you do for a living is an inevitable topic of conversation. If you really want to talk about it, you have to go into the details, and not just offer a three-word answer, for example, “I’m a lawyer.” Everyone has a vague idea of what a lawyer entails, but the actual little things of a career always differ from person to person, even if they technically have the same job on paper.
Be more creative with your explanations
Sure, you don’t need to impersonate a pseudo-influencer on LinkedIn who spews corporate jargon, but feel free to actually explain what you do with a little more color and scope. Because behind many commonplace job titles there is at least some purpose. Of course, we work to pay the bills and not lose our heads, but sometimes there can be something worthwhile in the conversation that clarifies the broader purpose of your work.
As Gene Marks wrote inhis 2018book Entrepreneur , job titles are mostly meaningless and are commonly used to support your ego:
What do you say when people ask you what you do for a living? Are you a “small business owner”? Entrepreneur? “” CEO? “Don’t believe it. You are not that kind of thing. These are just names made up to make people feel more important. This is not what you actually do.
Instead, think about detailing what you are doing. You don’t need to write a speech, but if you’re an immigration attorney, consider saying, “I help undocumented people access legal resources so they can reunite with their families,” or if you’re a programmer, you might say, “ I help build the software that powers popular applications and websites. ” Your title is implied in the synopsis you are proposing. It doesn’t matter if you are a senior web designer or not, there isn’t much of a difference for the person you are talking to.
Make your conversation more interesting
Failure to talk in detail about what you do will lead the conversation to a dead end; or worse, you risk at best confusing yourself and at worst appearing pretentious. It is unlikely that you will become the owner of the title of Technocking or Supreme Emperor of Bills anytime soon, but luckily, you still have a lot to talk about besides your title.