That’s the title that I have chosen for my new role at Alterian. For the past four months I’ve been the Chief Community Officer. I love that title because it encompasses my leadership across this broad range of areas at Techrigy:

  • product marketing
  • brand building
  • product development
  • training (team & customers)
  • quality assurance
  • customer service
  • new business development
  • sales (high level augmentation)
  • operations

My vision is that the Community Manager should work cross functionally. As you can see, Aaron Newman, CEO of Techrigy, gave me much freedom in that regard. Our startup grew so fast (over 800% in 10 months) and I enjoyed taking the lead in scaling and putting processes into place as we needed them.

Now it is time to evolve my new role within Alterian. This past week I was introduced to people in many departments. It felt a bit like I was working cross functionally across two companies! :) Tomorrow I will travel to the UK to meet the various teams and start planning the integration.

I was asked to choose a title and they encouraged me to be creative. Does it matter? Well it does to me when I have to explain what’s on my business card. My friend & previous employer, Shashi Bellamkonda chose ‘Social Media Swami’. That’s a great conversation starter! :) And if you know @ShashiB, you know that it totally suits him!

I almost chose Director of Community Strategy and Choreography. Choreographer provides a nice visual of one leading a dance. But I wondered if it was too abstract?

So I went with ‘Director of Community Strategy and Architecture’. The ‘Community Strategy’ aligns with my personal brand. I think that that’s important. I’ve invested a lot in that & it’s equated with Connie Bensen.

I will put ‘Community Strategist and Architect’ on my business cards. Architect is a nice solid word for community builder. You know how I dislike the term Community Manager. I’m continually building community within my organization and without. Community Architect also encompasses the work that I’ll be continuing with SM2 as a product and my involvement in the social media industry. I’ll also be contributing to the integration of SM2 into Alterian’s products.

Is your title representative of what you do? Does it matter? What if you could choose one? What would best suit your philosophy and attitude?