• 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

  • Aipoly at Singularity University

    Aipoly aims to help the blind navigate the world. Our first application enables blind people to take a photo of their surroundings, and have it...

  • Think about you, think about me

    People don't think about you.  They're too busy worrying about how you think about them.

  • 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...

  • Choose Maths

    Choose Maths is an exciting 5 year, national project designed to empower and encourage Australian students (in particular girls) to pursue...

  • Clarity in thought

    Clear away some space and time for yourself. Without the pressure of someone bursting in and occupying your space. By giving yourself the time and...

  • Being your word

    If you tell people you are going to be at X location at X time, people take your word for that. If you’re not there, they decide that next time,...

  • Orlando

    I went to Orlando and gave three speeches in 4 days! I spoke to Baxter Healthcare virtually about failure - my failures, failing fast, failing...

  • Anything is Possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders

    Engineers Australia and Engineering Heritage Australia decided to feature me as one of 100 Australian engineering leaders in their book, “Anything...

  • create magazine cover

    I spent the summer working out of the Engineers Australia Victoria office with 20 university students.  As a result they put me on the front cover of...

  • 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...

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Scroll to Top