Business Cards

An interesting view of business cards:

6) Break the rules, particularly corporate ones (but don’t get fired). I had two cards that weren’t approved by the corporate branding department. They always got conversations started (one had a drawing done by Hugh Macleod — I made those specifically for speaking at Google’s Zeitgeist conference. The cards matched my slides I used at that talk. The business cards were so popular that people came and asked for them cause someone else showed them mine).
7) Be different. One of my favorite cards? Matt Mullenweg’s. It says simply “1. Go to google.com. 2. Type in “Matt.” 3. Press “I’m feeling lucky.” (It also has his phone number on it). Or, Kelly Goto’s card looks like a BART ticket (subway in San Francisco).

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I have found this to be completely true. When I got to Microsoft, I had a number of "controversal" cards made up (until the facists in corporate stopped me). One said "Rocket Scientist" and another said "Evil Genius". All in good fun. Then, HR got a hold of me and gave me the following rules:

Allowed:
Name
Standard Microsoft Title as listed in the GAL (Global Address List)
Prefix Dr. or suffix Ph.D. (but not both)
Phone Number
Cell Phone Number
Corporate FAX Number
Corporate Address as listed in the GAL
I am allowed to have cards made in Braille

Not Allowed:
Anything with the words CEO, CFO, Gates, Ballmer, Mad, Evil, Chief, Love, McLove, Mc Sassy, Pope, Sieg Heil, President, Nastiest, Horse, Savage, Bottom, Top, Go-Go-Gaget, Super, Super Science, Super Duper, Father, Reverend, King, Queen, Czar, Master, Commander or Most Brutal

Me, I still think this leaves a *lot* of room. Unfortunately, all my cards orders need to be co-signed by my HR representative.

Sigh....