Hate me, rate me, don't abbreviate me...

Erospolis takes a break from lively social life and reflects on the international and local corporate world with its acronyms, euphemisms and cultural traps.I lost my sense of reality and language with the word ?CPO.?

Oh, like anyone who has spent a couple of years in the corridors of the corporate world, terms like CEO and COO are second nature to me. I am reasonably well-versed regarding the job descriptions of CFOs, CIOs and CMOs, too. After some years in business, I came to the conclusion that the COOs consider themselves as CEOs in waiting and that a CEO is a COO+. In other words, the chief executive officer is the chief operations officer who also has to deal with shareholders, labor unions, regulatory framework and also do a bit of PR and representation on the side. 

The CFO is the one who holds the pulse strings, so never get on the bad side of one. He or she can spring some difficult numbers on your budget during a heated meeting and bring a frown on any CEO?s face by talking of ROIs and NOIs (i.e. Return on Investment and Net Operating Income). 

But what in heaven?s name is a ?CPO?? After checking the name attached to the title, I worked out that it was the chief people officer ? the new term for the human resources director, which was, a decade ago, personnel director. I stored the term away for future use as a conversation stopper at dinner parties: ?So you do people??

Company-speak

Back when I took my baby steps in the corporate world, it was difficult enough to keep up with the titles, but company jargon was worse. In my first month in office, my line manager, the nicest of all bosses, asked me in her kind voice: ?Can you BRAG your PDP for our 121??

I must have looked so amazed that she re...