Change the name of your organization
Names are a central feature of our lives. In a very real sense, without names we are unknowable. Names tell us who and what, sometimes even where.
The use of a person’s name indicates some contact with or acquaintance with that person. To “know” a person is to know their name, even if it is preceded by “Mr.” or “Miss” or “Mrs.” To know a person well is to use their first name. To know a person very well is to use a nickname or some other endearing personal term. Americans name people, places, things, and organizations for deeply philosophical reasons, frivolous purposes, and practical concerns. Sometimes we give organizations multi-word names because the words create a meaningful acronym, for example, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, MADD. Or we choose a name simply because it’s unique and we like the way it sounds, eg Google.
For most Americans, names are practical, if not always philosophical.
In ancient times, people also bestowed names for all of these reasons, with the possible exception of acronyms. But usually people in ancient cultures gave names because the name had some special meaning. The names were more than a label.
Names were often given as symbols of some significant event or characteristic in the person’s life. Names often represented the essential nature of a person and could reveal some aspect of a person’s innermost being. Eve was the “mother of all living.” Names were often changed in biblical times to signify a new beginning. Abram became Abraham and Sarai became Sarah. Jacob became Israel. A newborn baby was named Ben-oni, “son of sorrow” by a dying mother, Rebekah, but was quickly renamed Benjamin, “son of the right hand,” by a loving father, Jacob. Jesus renamed Simon the rough fisherman Peter.
Name changes were part of the history of the college I was privileged to lead for a few years: Grand Rapids Baptist College and Seminary (GRBC&S). In 1941, an evening Bible school was founded as the Grand Rapids Baptist Bible Institute. With the growth of the students and the educational program, the name was changed in 1959 to Grand Rapids Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary. Later, the term “theological” was dropped when Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary was established as a separate but related graduate school with the same Board of Trustees and president.
In 1972, the college’s name was changed again from Grand Rapids Baptist Bible College to Grand Rapids Baptist College. This new name described the expansion of the academic program from a biblical college curriculum (with majors in Bible and Music) to a Christian liberal arts college curriculum (with Bible, Music, History, Biology, English, Business Administration, Education and various other specializations). ). But the new name still suffered from some limitations. For example, it was geographically restricted to one city. The school’s long-standing nickname continued as “Baptist College”, which tended to send the message that non-Baptists need not apply. And the school’s name was still regularly confused with or a derivative of the earlier name, Grand Rapids Bible College, or the more convoluted Grand Rapids Baptist “Church.”
This name confusion was particularly problematic because it tended to perpetuate the institution’s previous mission as a Bible rather than a Christian liberal arts college. So in the spring of 1992, the Board of Trustees once again authorized a study for consideration of an institutional name change. After a preliminary review, the Board of Trustees in the fall of 1993 voted to implement a process to determine the best name for Grand Rapids Baptist College. At that time, the Board also voted to keep the name, Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary.
One of the wisest decisions the Board ever made was to allow me, the President at the time, to announce the Board’s decision immediately, to announce it as a “study” rather than a name change. fiat complied, and announce it as a study to consider what might be the “best name” for the school. On a political level, this meant several things: that voters learned about a possible name change without being excluded from the process, which gave many of them time to acclimatize, and that people thought that the old or current name, GRBC, was the “best name” were not eliminated from the process, because it was still possible that the Board would eventually reaffirm that name.
Over the next several months, students, staff, constituents, and the public were invited to submit name ideas or suggestions. Perhaps the funniest introduction was the name “Hobbes”, for the political philosopher Thomas Hobbes. This created a local joke that Calvin College, a quality higher education institution, is only three miles from GRBC&S on the same road. Had the Board selected Hobbes as the college’s new name, locals would forever have referred to “Calvin and Hobbes” on East Beltline Ave.
In March 1994, the GRBC&S Board of Directors reviewed about one hundred and thirty names in four categories: geographic, theological, historical, denominational, narrowed the list down to three names, including GRBC, and ultimately decided to rename the university “Cornerstone College”. “The name Cornerstone College fulfilled a practical need for a name that would reduce confusion about the college’s mission. But it was also philosophically anchored in Christian symbolism and biblical meaning.
In Ephesians, Paul refers to Christians as “members of the family of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is well coordinated and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord” (2:18-21). Jesus is the “tested stone” who makes “judgment a measuring line, and justice a plumb line” (Isaiah 28:16-17). Jesus Christ is the “Living Stone” and Christians, “as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house… through Jesus Christ… the chosen and precious cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:4-9).
A cornerstone is also the key building stone or block in a foundation by which all other stones or blocks are measured. A cornerstone speaks of the permanence of values such as truth, faith, beauty, virtue, righteousness, justice, freedom, peace and love.
By any objective measure, the new Cornerstone name was a resounding success. Students took to it quickly, if not immediately, and the area business community and public responded with admirable enthusiasm. Alumni reaction was mixed at first, as is to be expected for any university name change, but in a relatively short time, most alumni joined. The main value in the new name was its message that a new wind was blowing in the institution, one that was looking forward and positioning the school for the future.
In the fall of 1998, after an internal academic process and interaction with the appropriate state authorities, the Board of Trustees voted to change the name of the school again, this time from Cornerstone College to Cornerstone University. At the same meeting, the Board and administration agreed to announce the new status in April 1999, unaware that the school’s basketball team would win the NAIA Division II Men’s Basketball National Championship in March of that year. This unplanned PR giveaway created a much larger media platform than would have been available because a national championship is remarkable and attracts attention at any level of sport.
The university avoided a backlash from those who might have dismissed the change as a cheap way to get the brass ring, probably because, in the end, it made sense. The university had been growing, the national championship didn’t hurt, and a well-conceived marketing campaign garnered positive attention. The campaign featured billboards throughout the city displaying a small sprout of green spring corn in a plowed field, the new name, and the phrase “Think big, think big.” Easy. People understood it and they liked it.
Organizational name changes should not be considered lightly. Nor should they be avoided at all costs, because the potential cost may be the loss or even premature demise of the organization. Name changes offer a unique opportunity to send a message to constituents, customers or the general public. New initiatives, new products, new services, or better yet, a valuable new vision can be written in people’s minds when an organization changes its name.
What’s in a name? The future of your organization.