Resident Scholar

Corporate and governmental bureaucracies place great stock in job titles. After all, a Senior Correspondent has it all over a plain Correspondent (even if every Correspondent is Senior like on the "Daily Show"). Throw in a few magic terms like "Global", "Multimedia", "Sustainability", or "Champion" and you've got a business card that will surely win you a free lunch in the weekly drawing from the fishbowl at Chili's. Who can resist a Senior Global Multimedia Sustainability Champion?

Sometimes, less is more, even regarding job titles. NPR interviewed the man holding the title of "Resident Scholar" at the Federal Reserve this morning. Radio being "The Theater of the Mind", I attempted to visualize what a Resident Scholar would look like. Would he wear an academic robe and a mortarboard hat to work each day? Would he proudly don a necktie in his "house colors" like the Gryffindors at Hogwart's? As a "resident", would he sleep in a cozy little nook carved out among the money bags in a Federal Reserve vault to be available 24 / 7 for scholarly consultation? After his grueling residency, can he be accredited as a Scholar in Private Practice, like a medical doctor?

I contend that with job titles, less is actually less. If I'm the Chili's manager running the weekly business card drawing, I would give that free lunch to the Senior Global Multimedia Sustainability Champion with the $100 hair cut dressed in corporate casual rather than the Resident Scholar in the rumpled cap and gown. If he were a Senior Resident Scholar, it might be a different story.