• 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

  • Holding a successful meeting

    Make sure everyone is clear about the meeting time and location. If you are the one hosting the meeting, show up. Woody Allen has a quote, “80% of...

  • Writing my memoirs

    Today I asked myself, what do I want to have achieved in life by the time I’m 50? I wrote down all the major things I would be proud to have...

  • Tech Schools Ambassador

    I've been named the ambassador for a Victorian Government education initiative called Tech Schools! Tech Schools are shared learning centres...

  • You admire the things you can't do

    I've noticed in contests I've been on the judging panel for that those who have an expertise in a field, are more critical of entries that cross...

  • I have what Barack Obama and Steve Jobs have

    Yeah, I know. I’m so cool, and I’m so lucky. I have DNA, flesh, blood and bones. Barack Obama and Steve Jobs are truly two icons of our time - men...

  • When?

    When are you going to apply for that grant? When are you going to start your assignment? When are you going to start your advertising campaign? When are...

  • I've done what I've done

    When I became Young Australian of the Year a year ago, I wanted to give as many speeches as I physically could, I wanted to contribute to the...

  • Special Visitors

    During our summer working out of the Engineers Australia Victoria office, we had some special visitors. Minister Merlino, the Deputy Premier and...

  • Woman in STEM

    For National Science Week, I spoke at the Super STEM Careers event about my career in STEM.

  • G20 Brisbane Global Cafe

    Spoke about my robotic arm at the G20 Brisbane Global Cafe.

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top