A Radical Idea

3 March 2008 - 8:21am

OK, so bear with me everyone. I was thinking, what if we, as a collective planning community, made a conscious decision to change the title of our profession? This is such a huge, diverse field, encompassing so many different occupations. I'm so sick of the question "What does a planner do?". We need a better moniker. Or some of us do. I haven't figured that part out yet. And I don't have a better title in mind either. But think of it. We need something like this: doctor, teacher, etc. If you say "I'm a doctor" or "I'm a teacher", people immediately identify with that, and ask the presumable follow-up "oh, of what?"
We need something like that. If we could turn "planner" into that, it might work, but I'm afraid it's too trite. People either automatically associate such a common word with other planners; day planner, wedding planner, etc., or they hear planner and immediately associate it with administrative beaurocracy and glaze over, (maybe they'll ask what a planner does, leaving you to flounder with "do I answer with my own job description or a generalization").
So, am I off my rocker here, or am I on to something? What do you think?