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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Calling yourself a CEO AIBU?

181 replies

Namechange144 · 04/08/2022 13:50

Sorry I’ve name changed for this.

Went to a new local cafe yesterday with a friend I’d not seen since before Covid. She quit her corporate job at the start of lockdown and started a gym - think group classes and some personal training sessions. Not a gym you’d go to independently exercise.

We got speaking to the cafe owner about the cafe and other things and he asked us what we both did, friend said ‘I’m a CEO’, I looked slightly surprised and said ‘a CEO?’ in what I guess was a slightly questioning tone. She then responded ‘Yes it’s a chief executive officer’ , I obviously knew what it stood for but I didn’t say anything else and the convo moved on.

AIBU to think you shouldn’t really refer to yourself as a CEO unless you are one in the traditional sense? Am I behind the times here, can you be a CEO of exercise classes? Surely you’d just say I’m a PT and have my own gym.
Friend is really nice so I feel like a bit of a bitch but I can’t help but think it’s a bit of a weird thing to say and wondered if it was just me that found this a bit odd.

OP posts:
Alfenstein · 04/08/2022 13:59

YANBU

She isn't a CEO but a business owner

If anything business owner is 'better' than CEO but me thinks your friend just wanted to feel important.

A bit pathetic but hey ho

WhereAreMyAirpods · 04/08/2022 14:00

YANBU but it's just the same as the people who are in a MLM/Pyramid scheme and give it the whole CEO, bossbabe, business owner shite.

Self inflated idea of their own importance. For whatever reason, your friend doesn't think PT or gym owner seems grand enough. People are going to know that if she's sitting in a cafe in her gym gear mid-morning that she is not a CEO and will therefore just look stupid.

Sunshineona · 04/08/2022 14:01

Yanbu. That’s not how the term CEO is normally used, sounds like she was showing off. Unless she reports to a board of directors. “I run a gym” or “I have my own business, exercise stuff” would have been a more honest reply.

StillHappy · 04/08/2022 14:01

It’s very silly and boastful.

SalviaOfficinalis · 04/08/2022 14:03

I own/run a fitness business would be a more normal way of describing it.

justasking111 · 04/08/2022 14:03

I have a friend who emigrated to America she's been vice president in so many jobs I can't keep up

WeAreAllLionesses · 04/08/2022 14:04

Well it's correct in that she's in the top position in her company. She can call herself what she likes so YABU.

Tonysopranosghost · 04/08/2022 14:06

That's so cringy, i feel bad for her.

Does she think owning a gym puts her at the same level as the cafe owner or something? Like that's a bad thing?

I don't think it is by the way, I'd love to own my own business.

Anothernamechangeplease · 04/08/2022 14:07

I would expect a CEO to report to a Board of Directors.

Anothernamechangeplease · 04/08/2022 14:08

WeAreAllLionesses · 04/08/2022 14:04

Well it's correct in that she's in the top position in her company. She can call herself what she likes so YABU.

She's in the only position in her company!Grin

tickticksnooze · 04/08/2022 14:09

Isn't there a BBC series called "CEO secrets" that is basically just business owners like her? Some of them are probably bigger businesses but that's the vibe I get from it - that "CEO" is being used interchangeably. Maybe that's the kind of thing she's been watching or reading.

Thatiswild · 04/08/2022 14:10

My oh actually is a CEO in the traditional sense and they would never say that to another person. I’ve literally never heard them say it out loud, it’s cringy to say it in these circumstances. It could potentially be true if she has a board of directors etc etc but sounds unlikely.

Anothernamechangeplease · 04/08/2022 14:12

Thatiswild · 04/08/2022 14:10

My oh actually is a CEO in the traditional sense and they would never say that to another person. I’ve literally never heard them say it out loud, it’s cringy to say it in these circumstances. It could potentially be true if she has a board of directors etc etc but sounds unlikely.

Surely he has to say it sometimes?Confused

Doesn't he have to introduce himself in work meetings, and don't external contacts want to know who they're dealing with?

BitOutOfPractice · 04/08/2022 14:13

She can call herself what she likes. But that doesn’t mean she should. Really cringey.

bringonthesunshinefinally · 04/08/2022 14:14

No different to someone with a PHD calling themselves a doctor and getting their post addressed to Dr Smith etc Yes I know two friends who do this. Harmless but hilarious.

Sexnotgender · 04/08/2022 14:16

That’s weird, is she embarrassed that she runs a fitness business?

MisgenderedPaul · 04/08/2022 14:18

I don't work anymore, but have just sold 2 dresses on Vinted. Was just wondering what I should say when people ask what I do. 😀

Anothernamechangeplease · 04/08/2022 14:18

bringonthesunshinefinally · 04/08/2022 14:14

No different to someone with a PHD calling themselves a doctor and getting their post addressed to Dr Smith etc Yes I know two friends who do this. Harmless but hilarious.

I think this is completely different tbh. I don't have a PhD but I do know that people work bloody hard for them. They have earned the title "doctor" and it's perfectly normal for them to use it - expected, actually, if they work in academia.

Slogging to earn a title over many years, and having that appropriately validated by experts in your field, is rather different from slapping on a label for yourself that doesn't really require any external validation or achievement at all.

MrsHa · 04/08/2022 14:20

bringonthesunshinefinally · 04/08/2022 14:14

No different to someone with a PHD calling themselves a doctor and getting their post addressed to Dr Smith etc Yes I know two friends who do this. Harmless but hilarious.

It's very different.

WhereAreMyAirpods · 04/08/2022 14:21

A PhD is a doctor though. An academic Dr, not a medical one. I would absolutely use that title if I was entitled to.

Someone who runs a gym is not a CEO. I am a self-employed sole trader, my company is me. No employees. Does that make me a CEO too?

littlepeas · 04/08/2022 14:22

It’s hilarious and embarrassing. My sil runs 4 exercise classes per week and calls herself the ‘director’ of her small business.

neverbeenskiing · 04/08/2022 14:23

No different to someone with a PHD calling themselves a doctor and getting their post addressed to Dr Smith etc Yes I know two friends who do this. Harmless but hilarious.

It's completely different!

DPotter · 04/08/2022 14:23

bringonthesunshinefinally

No different to someone with a PHD calling themselves a doctor and getting their post addressed to Dr Smith etc Yes I know two friends who do this. Harmless but hilarious.

Straight question - why do you think this is hilarious ? Earning a PhD gives the person the right to call themselves 'doctor'. It's sort of a protected title. I can't call myself Dr DPotter as I don't have a PhD or a medical degree.

littlepeas · 04/08/2022 14:23

bringonthesunshinefinally · 04/08/2022 14:14

No different to someone with a PHD calling themselves a doctor and getting their post addressed to Dr Smith etc Yes I know two friends who do this. Harmless but hilarious.

Don’t see the issue here.

lickenchugget · 04/08/2022 14:23

Ugh, my ex SIL used to refer to herself on Facebook as ‘CEO of XXFamily Household.’ She was a SAHM

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