Stoos Network (part 4): Name & Identity

Apart from our stakeholders and the core idea another topic I suggested at the Stoos Gathering was the name and identity of the movement that we feel ourselves part of.

• How should we call ourselves, when we feel part of the same group of people who are trying to modernize management around the world?
• What could be the name of follow-up events, when we organize any?
• How should we brand our social network groups and Twitter stream?

I raised these questions a the start of the world café session on Friday, near the end of the event. In several sessions of 15 minutes the participants suggested many words they felt good about, and they dot voted on their favorites. Some of the least sucky ones were:

Transforma, Cattle List, ValYou, Sparkle, Innov8,
Stos Spirit, Leadership Trust, Stampede,
Intelective, Leadership Craft…

… and there were many more.

But despite five or six 15-minute sessions of brainstorming, the participants could not come to a consensus on a word or name that could properly represent us. None of the words we came up with represented the passion we feel for organizational transformation.

Kati Vilkki then hosted one session trying to formulate the “identity” of the movement. And although parts of the description that emerged ended up being incorporated in our communiqué, it didn’t help us come to agreement on a name.

And thus we decided to stick with Stoos as a placeholder term for a while. And we use Stoos Network as the name of the LinkedIn group, until somebody comes up with something better.

What do you think?

• Is Stoos Network good enough for now?
• Should we ask the network to come up with a name for itself?
• Is there an existing brand that applies to our movement?

If there is a better name for us I hope it will somehow present itself.

Tomorrow: Stoos Network (part 5): Complaints & Complexity

Yesterday:  Stoos Network (part 3): Core Idea

For more information: Stoos Network website, Stoos Network group