Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Do Your Acronyms Work?

Let's say, hypothetically, that you create a new position in your company and call it Chief Administrative Officer. So far, so good.

Next, let's say that - for lack of a better moniker - the group adopts that title as it's name.
For example, if you were going to have a planning session for that group, you might hang a sign on the door saying C.A.O. Planning.

Based on the above scenario, I learned something new about myself.
I learned that I'm wired differently than about 85% of my peers.

A couple of days ago, in a meeting, I referred to our group as 'CAO' (pronounced the only way I thought possible, 'cow'). I drew nothing but blank expressions from my teammates.
One member finally asked me, "What's a cow?".
(Cue 'Airplane'-style joke here, "It's a mammal that produces milk, but that's not important right now!")

I thought it was obvious, but upon further investigation, I found that only one other person (out of about 20 people) had made the leap from C.A.O. to 'Cow'.
Didn't anyone else watch "GET SMART" when they were growing up?

Anyway, I kinda like the name.
I always wanted to be a CAO-boy ('76-style, not '05-style).
Some find it a little 'unbusiness-like', however.

So, the lesson?
Read your acronyms aloud... they may surprise you...


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