Media mogul and EbonyLife CEO, Mo Abudu, has weighed in on how younger people should address older or more senior individuals, stressing that she does not approve of being addressed casually by her first name.
Abudu stated her position during an interview with media personality Toke Makinwa on Toke Moments, where she explained that her traditional upbringing influenced her views on respect and the appropriate way to address people older or senior to them.
“I am very traditional. I was brought up in Ondo by my grandmother. You can’t be calling me by my first name anyhow. I won’t take it,” she said.
Her remarks come against the backdrop of an ongoing debate in Nigeria over workplace etiquette, particularly whether younger employees should address senior executives by their first names.
The conversation attracted public attention after a trainee at a UBA Graduate Management Accelerated Programme ceremony addressed the bank’s Group Chairman, Tony Elumelu, as ‘Tony’.
Elumelu subsequently corrected the trainee and instructed her to use a more formal mode of address.
Abudu’s comments align her with those who maintain that age, experience and professional standing should influence the manner in which individuals communicate with one another.
The media executive also addressed the different ways successful women can be characterised compared with their male counterparts.
She noted that a woman perceived as aggressive or highly ambitious in the business world could receive a more favourable description if she were a man.
“If I was a man, they wouldn’t say I was a shark,” she said.
