It is important that everyone has letters after their name. On their business card, their auto signature, their LinkedIn profile, pretty much everywhere. To be important, you MUST have some letters.
Or do you?
As Coach Corso says every Saturday morning in the fall, “Not so fast my friend.”
You only need letters that matter.
Letters that mean something to those that see them. Letters that tell others that you worked hard and achieved something important. Letters that your current or future employers respect and will compensate you and promote you because you have them.
Years ago in one of my last board meetings for SportsETA (then the NASC), I created a bit of a stir by refusing to put the CSEE (aka Certified Sport Event Executive) designation on my business card. The leadership of the association at that time wanted to mandate that all board members not only complete the program, but to promote it where possible.
The problem at the time was that there was no academic rigor to the program. Leaders in the tourism industry didn’t give the CSEE designation any credence at the time. So as the son of two educators and with two college degrees in my pocket (whose letters were not on my business card either), I declined the CSEE request.
While that infuriated at least one person in the room, it had some positive effect. We as an association started to think more intentionally about our education programs. Over time the program has become less of a “participation ribbon” and more thoughtful and educational. The program today has a great team leading the curriculum development and they are investing a lot of time and effort into making the professional development offering one of the best in the tourism industry.
No matter your trade, be intentional about where you invest your time and resources when it comes to building your knowledge base. If nobody in your industry values your letters, take a different path.
The current SportsETA program is better than it has ever been and it keeps getting stronger every year. There is more rigor to the program and its industry value is increasing every day. It has come a long way since that board meeting over a decade ago, and more great things lie ahead.
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