And it's even happening in upper management, from the now-commonplace Chief Information Officer to new monikers such as Chief Growth Officer. It's an offshoot of his other role as KPMG Canada's Chief Technology Officer, he says, and the main duties are to facilitate knowledge sharing within the firm. Other companies, however, will proudly brandish their uniqueness with the craziest of titles for staff. Take Toronto-based Internet incubator NRG Group Inc., which has even encouraged employees to make up their own. The practice has its critics.
Nobody knows what that means.
So you're always in this position of trying to explain to people what you do. Maybe, says Jack Penaligon, a partner at Caldwell Partners International, an executive search firm based in Toronto. He points to a recent Caldwell search for a Chief Growth Officer. As he explains it, the job is really a chief administrative position, but requires extra marketing savvy. We also wanted to show that this business was growing.