• Blog
  • Archives
  • Bio
  • Awards
  • Speaking
  • Book
  • Contact

What's in a name?

Published: Sunday, 10 March 2013

From August 2009 to August 2011, I was the "Founder and Director of Robogals Global".  Before that, my title was "Founder", and we hadn't created "Robogals Global" yet, so I was just the "Founder of Robogals".

In September 2010, our first "Australia and New Zealand Director" of Robogals took her post and subsequently in February 2011, our first "United Kingdom and European Director" took her post.

The rest of my Global team had the title Secretary, or X Manager.  I didn't think too much about the titles.  As long as people were doing their roles, doing a good job and we were achieving results, then I was confident they were content with their roles.

My "Organisational Development Manager" managed the IT Manager, Science Challenge Manager, the Secretary, the SINE Event Managers (for Australia, UK and the USA), was in charge of documenting all our processes and did off jobs here and there to make sure the organisation ran smoothly.

Organisational Development Manager is a pretty cool title, because whenever I look at it, I think the person either (a) is a glorified sales manager, or (b) has a really awesome job because they get to assess the company and suggest improvements.

In August 2011, my organisational development manager approach me and said he wanted a different title to better reflect all the work he does, and so we came up with the title "Operations Director" for him, and "Executive Director" for me.

Since then, there has been an added level of ownership towards Robogals in his enthusiasm and commitment.

I think the lesson to learn from that is that the little things like someone's official title within an organisation matter and have more of an impact than you think.

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • Reasons

    Why, excuses, rationale, justifications, explanations, verbal diarrhoea, reasons, etc. In the end, the myriad and infinite possibility of reasons...

  • 10 Years Young Australian of the Year

    On this day, 10 years ago, I was named the "Young Australian of the Year", by the Prime Minister of Australia, in front of Parliament House, on...

  • Nancy Fairfax Churchill Fellowship

    From January to March this year, I travelled to Germany, the UK, the USA and Jamaica to study "Strategies to get girls interested in science,...

  • Short Black | Sandra Sully podcast

    The lovely Sandra Sully invited me to appear on her podcast, Short Black, after we spoke at Vogue Codes together in 2018.  Check out our conversation here: ...

  • Brains vs focus & time

    Andy Warhol had an IQ of 86, Richard Branson has an IQ of 92, Muhammed Ali has an IQ of 78, and David Ogilvy had an IQ of 96.  They are all below the...

  • Questacon

    Gave a speech for IPAA ACT to 280 people at the CEOs and Young Professionals Network Breakfast.  It was a delight to find my friends at Questacon had a...

  • It’s not you

      If your teacher comments on your work and tells you it can be better; it’s not you, it’s your work.   If the person behind the counter snaps at you...

  • Press for Teleport Brain Control

    Our brain control Teleport got some great press!  It was covered by the Brisbane Times, New Atlas, Mashable, BBC and NowThis. Brisbane Times:  Robot...

  • Asian Society Game Changer Award

    I was named an Asian Society Game Changer Award winner alongside architect IM Pei (Lifetime Achievement Award), movie director Zhang Yimou, and the...

  • SBS Viceland: The Feed

    SBS Viceland’s The Feed did a story with us where Anthony used his brain to control Teleport to see the top storey of his house for the first time,...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top