If you work at a large company -- question about senior mgmt

[v]

By large company, I mean Fortune 1000 or so.

Let's assume that you and your colleagues are just regular employees, and there's someone in very, very senior management named Billy (yes, that's a nickname that he uses professionally) Smith, and there are few if any other people named Billy at your company.

1.  When people are talking about him (in a sentence like "We'll need to send this report to [    ]"), what do you call him?  Billy?  Billy Smith?  Mr. Smith?

2.  How about if a regular Joe employee who doesn't work with him often was talking to him -- what would that person typically call him?  

Wondering what the prevailing culture is...

[gt7301b]

Either Billy or Smith, but I admit just calling someone Smith sounds weird. I've always called females in senior management by their first name, never their last.

[Deleted]

Is there something wrong with the name (or even nickname) of Billy?

I'd address them by their name, so in this case Billy.

[Cicero]

Billy. Even if he wasn't the only Billy. If you needed to clarify you'd say Billy Smith.

Talking to them? Even with the CEO it would be first name.

[kadams767]

Aug 27, 2015 16:48:29 GMT -5 @blissoff said:

Is there something wrong with the name (or even nickname) of Billy?

I'd address them by their name, so in this case Billy.

Lol, yes. Grown adults with a nickname like a Billy sounds so funny to me in a professional setting. I'd still address them by their preferred name, but I'd snicker a bit in my head. Kind of in a "I can't believe someone who still goes by Billy is the gd CEO of a company and I'm just a peon" way.

[MNH2013]

We have that a lot and we go by last name. Oh Smith ( usually pretty distinct last names) needs this.

[v]

I'm asking because I've been at 3 clients recently where "Mr. Smith" was mentioned. Which seems a bit 1960s to me? The CEO of the client I was at today is a household name for the CNBC crowd so maybe there was a bit of a wink wink there, but at the other two companies I would not have known who the people were talking about without context.

At my company, it would undoubtedly be "Billy" whether you're talking to or about the super senior management people (or even important company messages will be sent as "Message from Billy regarding [ ]") -- but we can be kind of folksy and the company prides itself on informality so I'm not saying that's normal either.

The law firms I've worked at (totally different world, I know) -- At the first firm, the heads were known by their first names when discussed together but because there were 900 partners with those names (but some of the older partners were called "Mr. [ ]" by their secretaries -- 1960s). At the second, everyone called the head "Bill Smith" but there were 900 Bills at the firm.

[vagrrrl]

We always use first names whether speaking about the person or speaking with the person.

[v]

There is nothing wrong with the nickname Billy. I chose it because 2 of the guys I'm talking about here are 60-something year old Fortune 500 c-levels who go by what I would consider to be similarly nickname-y nicknames professionally.

[moolarkey]

We are completely first name when talking about anyone.

[megataco]

I'm picturing this scenario with Dick as the name in question.
I think for fun (and in my head), coworkers would say Dick or Mr. Dick, but in person, I'd go with last name.

[AAM2012]

Aug 27, 2015 19:10:17 GMT -5 moolarkey said:

We are completely first name when talking about anyone.

Ditto. If there is more than one person with the same name then most know who we are referring to depending on the topic/context. If I ever see a "huh" look then I clarify with last name.

[tripleshot]

Our CEO is referred to by his first name most of the time. We're a very large Fortune 25 company.

[imojoebunny]

First names. I had a boss named Dick for a while. I could not do it.... I had a fun nickname for him that he liked. We ended up being friends long after he bossed me. Never called him Dick.

[mccallister84]

We talk about the head honcho and use his first name - because it's a pretty ridiculous name. No one ever called the old top guy anything but Dr. X

If you ever talk to him in person it is most definitely Dr. Y.

[crashgizmo]

DH's company is a Fortune 1000 for sure, and everyone is a first name until you get to the top. Then, for whatever reason it's a first and last name. The other day, DH was like "I had a call with Mark Chapman (not the real name)" and I was like, yeah I know Mark, I did shots with him in the Caribbean at your Presidents Club trip. But for whatever reason, it's always first and last name.

[LoveTrains]

I use first name.

However I also work in education and it's not uncommon for us to say Mr or Mrs/Ms last name but I think that's because we are so used to hearing it from the kids. Also we use Mrs which is kind of weird at work sometimes.

[just]

I alway go by first names in a work (non-customer) situation. I've done it with surgeons and CNO's when I was an admin and now do it to chancellors, provosts and presidents. I will say that a central part of my role is to create a collegial relationship with people who don't usually look at my position as an equal or unfortunately, sometimes even 'worthy', so this is one of my hills to die on.

Having said that, I always refer to professors, chancellors, etc with their designation when speaking to students and student workers whether in their presence or not.

[gtkim]

Aug 27, 2015 17:16:26 GMT -5 @littlemoxie said:

We call our CEO by his first name. I don't think we'd do it to his face, but when talking about him, sure.

Talking to him? I don't know. I guess Mr. Last name.

This is us.  We call every senior executive by their first name when talking about them, but to their face I'd probably be more formal.

[cosmowife]

Aug 27, 2015 20:11:05 GMT -5 imojoebunny said:

First names. I had a boss named Dick for a while. I could not do it.... I had a fun nickname for him that he liked. We ended up being friends long after he bossed me. Never called him Dick.

My boss is Richard. Nearly everyone calls him Dick or Dickie other than the young (i.e., under 40) segment of our office.

[Velvetshady]

I deal with things that have to go up the chain for approvals all the time. Generally, more of the executives get called by their last name only when spoken about but their first name directly--mostly because it reduces confusion on which Dick or Jane is meant. Partly because we seem to have some executives with last names that are fun to say:)

I've been on calls where exes are called Mr/Ms and they ask to be called by their first name. Usually that leads to them being called Sir/Ma'am instead. But then I work with a lot of retired/former military so it's habit to them.

[thatgirl2478]

I used to work for Walgreens in the Corporate office.  When we needed to refer to Sr Level management we just used their first name, or whatever they preferred to be called.

[oreos]

Billy.

I don't think I've ever used "Mr. Last Name" or just "Last Name" outside of court or formal documents.

[sadlebred]

I used to work for a large Fortune 500 company that still had a more formal culture. Senior Execs (CEO/CIO level) were always Mr. Smith or Mrs. Jones unless they said "Please call me Dick/Mary." Most asked to be called by their first names after introduced to you. When referring to them in conversation, they were still Mr. Smith or Mr. Dick Smith and Mrs. Mary Jones. With tens of thousands of employees, there may have been 100 Dicks and 100 Marys, so it helped distinguish who you were talking about.

[lizrd7579]

I call them by their first name. If I'm referring to them, sometimes I'll use first and last name, especially if they're not in my area. We've had a few men we call by their last name when referring to them, but not to their face (they have a first name like Mike- very common). I've never called someone Mr or mrs at work.

[Deleted]

I worked in the federal government and we called our Minister by his last name, but all the bosses we actually dealt with by first names.

[ewall]

There's a lot of overlap in first names so we refer to senior management by last name in most cases. If we are speaking directly to them, we call them by their first name.

One of our execs went from "Billy" to "William" with his most recent promotion. It seems so fake and forced because he's been "Billy" for the past 25 years or so.

[niq]

Is this someone where you've only seen their name in the Employee Directory?

I worked with an Andy very high up at a certain e commerce company, he went by Andy or his last name, but going by last names was somewhat common for VP and above.

ETA at my most recent job, there were so many duplicate first names that I started calling everyone "Mr. Lastname" to disambiguate.

[pamela]

Our company is generally informal so its first names. With one exception I can think of where he is always referred to like Joe K

[StephaniePlum]

At the CEO and level below, it's all first names if someone is talking about them. Below that, it's first and last name. No one uses Mr or Ms- ever.