The rise of silly C-suite titles

Chief heart officers and chief empathy officers are invading the C-suite, but don't let their titles fool you: they can still fire you

I thought it was an anomaly when, more than a decade ago, my boss, who functioned as chief executive officer, insisted on being referred to as the "chief enthusiasm officer."

His optimistic mien certainly fit the bill. His belief that everything would turn out all right was unshakeable, whether he was conducting a gleeful affair with the head of the company's public-relations firm (and incessantly posting about their home-cooked meals) or hiring — one by one — the "creative geniuses" who were supposed to ride in as the company's savior. (They each inevitably would fall short of the task.) His title and bonhomie were no doubt designed to make the workplace more familial and welcoming, but in practice his brand of happiness made a lot of people distrustful and miserable — not everyone wanted to float on his cloud of magical thinking.

Despite this tepid response, my former boss may have simply been ahead of the curve with this expressive title. Today, wacky C-suite titles are all the rage. Chief amazement officers, chief heart officers, and chief empathy officers are popping up across companies. In a 2020-2021 analysis, LinkedIn researchers found 51 variations of titles that began with "chief." They also found that titles like chief people officer and chief happiness officer were gaining in use.

While they might be popular, feelings-centric job titles do little more than try to paper over a fundamental part of work: its transactional nature. Your company might operate more compassionately because it hired a chief heart officer, but at the end of the day it's still a business, and that person can still fire you.

What does a chief amazement officer do?

Shep Hyken is the chief amazement officer at Shepard Presentations, a public-speaking company he founded in 1983. For decades he's forged an identity as a customer-service speaker and author, helping companies build relationships with their customers and employees. Hyken started going by his current title at least 10 years ago, switching over from the simplicity of "speaker and author."