A look at the Tony Elumelu first-name controversy, analysing corporate hierarchy, cultural adaptation, and why workplace nuances require situational intelligence.
The viral exchange between billionaire business leader Tony Elumelu and a young graduate trainee has ignited an intense online debate regarding corporate etiquette, generational divides, and respect.
When the young lady opened her question with “Good morning, Tony,” Elumelu promptly corrected her, stating he does not subscribe to “Oyinbo life” and prefers to be addressed as “Mr. Elumelu” or “T.O.E.”
While critics and defenders continue to clash across social media, we should go easy on the young executive trainee. She was not being deliberately insolent; she simply misread the room.
Egalitarian vs. Honorific workplaces
Workplace cultures exist on a wide spectrum. On one end lie deeply honorific institutions built on strict hierarchies and formal titles. On the other end sit egalitarian organisations—often modelled after global tech firms and modern multinationals—where first-name basis is encouraged across all tiers.
As a professional, your primary duty upon entering any organisation is to study the environment, identify its unspoken rules, and adapt.
Decades ago, I transitioned from the traditional newspaper industry—which maintained a strict honorific structure—to a firm operating on a fully egalitarian model. There, every employee addressed the business owner by his first name. During one of my earliest public outings with him, he introduced me to the audience as “my colleague.” Coming from a background where department heads routinely referred to subordinates as “my staff,” that was a fascinating shift.
We routinely held meetings with clients old enough to be our uncles and aunts, yet our communication remained professional, equal-level, and informal. Raised in Yoruba culture—where honorifics and plural pronouns are automatically extended to anyone older—adjusting required conscious effort. But in corporate environments, you either adapt or stick out.
My superior at the time, a polished executive with decades in top-tier multinationals, would cringe if “Sir” or “Ma” slipped into an email to a client. He embraced that flat corporate structure and enforced it rigorously.
The trap of “ambivalent” workplace cultures
Conversely, I have also worked in environments so deeply honorific that using the second-person pronoun “you” when speaking to the business owner was viewed as insubordination. Executives referred to one another as “Oga” followed by their first name. In such a setup, addressing a chairman by his bare first name would be considered a career-ending error.
Perhaps most challenging are organisations that operate on an ambivalent culture—egalitarian by day, honorific by night.
I once consulted for a firm where staff addressed the business owner by her first name during meetings with clients to project a flat, modern structure. However, the moment the Zoom call ended, everyone immediately reverted to “Madam” or “MD.” Failing to read those shifting nuances carried swift consequences.
A masterclass in corporate context
The modern workplace is a complex ecosystem. Context, audience, and setting dictate boardroom etiquette every day.
Viewed through this lens, the young trainee’s mistake becomes understandable. She simply applied modern, flat-hierarchy corporate rules to a traditional setting where age, authority, and formal titles take precedence.
If anything, the incident serves as an unforgettable masterclass for young professionals on the importance of reading corporate culture, understanding situational context, and testing the waters before stepping to the microphone.
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