AboutWarren D. Miller Expertise I believe I can answer nearly any question about business writing. That goes in spades if the target audience is a lay readership. I make my living writing and speaking. N.B.: I DO NOT ANSWER QUESTIONS MARKED 'PRIVATE' because I believe that knowledge should be shared, not hoarded. I also believe such questions are likely to be submitted by people trying to cheat. In addition, don't waste your time asking me to write something for you. You don't learn anything if I do that. I'm happy to critique something that YOU write, of course. That's the best way for you to learn how to write well.
Experience My profession is business valuation, which means appraising businesses whose shares are not publicly traded. This requires in-depth knowledge about a number of disciplines, including economics, finance, strategic management, accounting, anthropology, statistics, and psychology. The left-brain part of me must conduct rigorous research and financial analysis. The right-brain side must then separate what matters from what doesn't and then explain it all in writing (and in everyday English) to people (usually business owners, but sometimes judges and juries) who do not have the expertise that I have been lucky enough to acquire over the years. I love what I do and consider myself fortunate to live in a country where I can do what I love doing and make a nice living doing it. I am glad to help with writing issues, but NOT, please, with any valuation, business consulting, or other non-writing questions.
Organizations CFA Institute, American Society of Appraisers, Strategic Management Society, Academy of Management, Institute of Management Accountants
Publications My writing has appeared in the Harvard Business Review, American Fly Fisher, Business Valuation Review, CPA Expert, Academy of Management Executive, CFA Digest, and others.
Education/Credentials MBA - Oklahoma State U. (1991);
BBA - U. of Oklahoma (1975);
Chartered Financial Analyst designation (2006)
Accredited Senior Appraiser (2006)
Certified Management Accountant
Certified Public Accountant (1992)
Awards and Honors Business Valuation Volunteer of the Year (2001) - American Institute of CPAs
Winner - Statewide Humorous-Speaking Contest - Oklahoma - Toastmasters International (1971)
Question QUESTION: Is it legal to use designators from non-accredited certifications as suffixes in a signature block, such as
Joe Smith, SSBM, VBLSS, CPI (meaning Six Sigma Green Belt, Value Based Lean Six sigma, or continuous Process Improvement), simply because you took an on-line one week course and printed out the schools's certificate? The on-line training center has responded that it is a non-registered, non-accredited program, but does have an ISO certification.
I have an employee that I am advising against doing so, but cannot tie my advice to any legal or professional standard.
I hope the question is clear. Please advise.
Thank you,
Darrell Peebles
ANSWER: Dear Darrell--
When I saw "CPI" there, I thought it mean "Consumer Price Index." I've never known "CPI" to stand for anything else.
Now, when you begin your question with "Is it legal. . .", then we're not in the Technical Writing arena. You're asking me to practice law. I'm neither licensed nor qualified to do that, so I won't. I'd be putting myself in legal jeopardy if I did.
What I can tell you, however, is that there are a lot of common-sense reasons NOT to put such designations after one's name. Before I share with you what those are, however, I'd like for you to share with me the context in which your employee proposes to use these "designations." Is s/he signing documents on your company's letterhead? Putting them on a business card?
One other question: When you say, "I have an employee," that suggests to me that you might own the company or have an equity interest in the company. If that is not true, please clarify for me what your role is AND, if you don't mind, (a) how many employees the company has and (b) what kind of business activity it conducts.
In this age of alphabet soup after people's names, you've raised an excellent and interesting question. I can't answer it from a legal standpoint, but I have some other thoughts that I think you'll find helpful.
Take care. I look forward to hearing back from you.
Warren
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QUESTION: Warren, I have no equity. I'm a manager, and this person is an indirect subordinate. The company is contracted to the Dept of Defense, and the employee wishes to impress others by her e-mail signature. I'm sure she would take it to the business cad level if not checked.
Both her supervisor and I advised her that she should not use the alphabet letters unless her certificates come from a registered or accredited source. Since both he and I share such accreditations, we know she has not 1/2 the knowledge such a certification suggests.
I hope this information helps you to provide some guidance. If there is a site that might provide legal input, that would be helpful. I have a feeling you will also help me to resolve this. Thanks in advance, Warren.
Darrell
Answer Thank you, Darrell. That background color is extremely helpful. Let me offer some strong management advice to you and, especially, to her supervisor.
Alphabet soup and falsification of credentials is common in America today. There's a clown in my professional community who has the nerve to list--count 'em--twelve (12) designations after his name. He has everything but B.F.D. after it. What an idiot.
Now, to your situation: In the first place, from an ethical and professional standpoint, using such designations is, at best, misleading and unprofessional. Whether it creates any legal issues is, as I said before, not an arena in which I'm qualified to comment. I can certainly tell you that if I got an e-mail from her with that rubbish after her name, I'd be probing to find out the nature of her "certifications." And if I then found out that they were trivial, I would e-mail her supervisor, and probably the CEO of your company, just to make sure my message got through, that I think the employee is an ethical midget, that under no conditions would I consider doing business with your company, and that I intend to tell my story to other people who might be in position to do business with your company. If I had a blog--which I will by the end of this month--I would also say that if the employee doesn't apologize and withdraw her bogus designations from her e-mail signature, I will blog about it, with her name and the company's name up in lights.
Now, if I were her supervisor, I would TELL her in WRITING in no uncertain terms that she is not to use those designations in any company-related correspondence and that, if she does, I will either put her on probation or terminate her immediately. I would also tell her that I'm putting a copy of the written communication to her in her personnel records and that I'm copying the company's outside labor counsel on this matter.
At a minimum, Darrell, what we're dealing with is an employee with lousy judgment. In our shop, we want such employees to be working for our closest competitor, and we'll do everything we can to get them there, including writing a recommendation letter. There are just some employees a good company cannot afford to have, and I believe this woman is one of them.
If the supervisor will not summon the spine to reign her in, then, if the supervisor worked for me, I'd tell her or him that either s/he does it or I'm going to put her/him on probation. You might think that these are overly strong reactions. I think they're not. In DOD work, in particular, the last thing you need is an unguided missile of an employee who can bring ugly publicity to your company and, thereby, to her co-workers. Rein her in, and rein her in HARD. Her inflated ego won't understand anything else. And if she quits, TERRIFIC!
Please do me a favor by completing the rate-the-expert e-mail you'll receive about the same time you get this reply from me. Your ratings and, especially, your comments help me do a better job of helping folks like you who ask such interesting questions!
Hope this is helpful. Please write again anytime.
Warren
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I should clarify one statement I made above, Darrell: When I said I'd write a recommendation letter for such an employee, I did not mean to imply that what I said in it would be anything other than absolutely true. Every statement would be. There just wouldn't be anything negative in it. Yeah, it's a sin of omission, and some might quibble with the ethics of that.
However, I would probably say something like, "Having Ms. X around will certainly make a difference in your company." Heh, heh. How's that for ambiguity?? :-)
Thanks for your nice comments. I do appreciate them.
