The Kmiec Ramblings

Tag Archive: Titles

Why Age Is Still More Than A Number

Written on January 28, 2011 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising

Mayor Bloomberg of New York City recently appointed Rachel Sterne as the city’s first Chief Digital Officer. She’s 27. A few months ago Maureen Sullivan was named AOL’s Chief Marketing Officer. She’s 28. The backlash these two women have ensured is nothing short of staggering. And the topic of conversation is about their age. Because, you know…they’re soooooo young. Well, at least that seems to be the prevailing thought. Not surprisingly, the feedback is coming from people over the age of 30.

The reason I left Fallon was because it was clear my age…rather my youth was holding me back. I came back from a business trip in San Francisco with Macromedia (now Adobe). It was a great set of meetings. I was 22 at the time and had been working with Fallon as a full time employee for 4 years. I was leading all the interactive work for the account at the time. My boss and mentor sat me down and explained to me that Macromedia had asked for someone to replace me. Not, because of my performance. They asked for someone with more “salt and pepper.” That’s right a progressive internet and software development company, had a problem with my age and youth. Sad, really. Fallon of course backed the decision, making it an easy choice to leave when I was recruited by an internet startup company in Chicago. The rest is history.

I’m 31 now. No longer ashamed of my age. And let me tell you for a long time I was most definitely ashamed. I kept that information hidden. Why? Because there are people out there, even today in 2011, who still believe that age some how maps to experience and ability. Sorry, I just don’t buy it.

Instead of dissecting the age of Rachel and Maureen, shouldn’t we be dissecting their qualifications? After all, isn’t age just supposed to be a number?

Tags: Age, Career Search, Job Seeking, Politics, Titles

Titles

Written on October 21, 2008 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising

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This post by the Fiery Irish Rose is fantastic. I always love her no bullshit approach to writing. She outlines what titles really mean. My personal favorite quip is “Executive Director: You’ve been with the company forever. But, you suck at managing people and haven’t come up with an original, trail blazing idea, in well, ever. We can’t promote you to VP, but after so many years, we had to give you something.” This holds true for Sr. Director and Sr. Manager on the client side.

Me, I’m not concerned by title. I care a lot more about the role. For example, if you called me “Head Janitor,” but paid me $1,000,000 a year to run the operations of the company, I’d be perfectly fine with that. In my career, I’ve held the titles of:

QA Analyst
QA Specialist
QA Manager
Producer
Sr. Producer
Interactive Producer
Sr. Engagement Manager
Interactive Account Supervisor
Interactive Marketing Manager
Interactive Account Director

I’ve never felt limited by the title, because I never perform the expected duties of the title. I go over and beyond. Sometimes that means I’m proofing pages, editing HTML, managing TV projects, etc. I’m fine with it because my mindset has always been, “come to the office asking yourself if this were my company, how would I help it grow.” When you approach your morning like that it’s easy to feel ok about dressing up a room, cleaning up that room, or simply being a scribe in a meeting.

We need to focus more on roles and less on titles because realistically, people know who has the skills and who doesn’t. If your title is VP Marketing, but people think you’re an idiot, your title isn’t going to help you out much. The flip side is true. I’ve worked with people at the “coordinator” level that I’ve respected more than people 6 levels above them. We’re smart and we take notice of what you do and how you do it. And, we’re not fooled by your title. If you want respect, earn it.

Ok, now all that said, there is one title I really want: Supreme Allied Commander.

Dwight Eisenhower had the title during WW II. He was essentially in charge of not only the U.S. troops, but the troops for our allied nations. That’s responsibility. No, I’m not suggesting I want to join the military, but I am suggesting that his role is the type of responsibility I want in my career.

Tags: Job Advice, Money, Salary, Titles