The revisionist thinking on two key officer spots, plus getting bearish on titles.

The COO role is “transforming radically in corporate America”, says a new report from The Conference Board. With “only a small percentage of leading U.S. companies currently employing a COO,” the report finds the position “evolving from the number two spot in a company to a leadership "on demand" role that changes focus with changing business strategy.”

Also changing is the CMO role, according to a joint study from Forrester Research and recruiters Heidrick & Struggles. Surveying over 130 chief marketers from $100 million-plus companies, “The Evolved CMO” finds marketing heads wanting for greater influence in their organizations.

Key wish list items include “more involvement in business strategy development and increased P&L responsibility.” Startling, perhaps, is that many CMOs say they are “completely distanced” from their customers.

An evolved CMO, says Heidrick & Struggles, “acutely taps into customer needs and evangelize them throughout the organization…to drive growth and strategy for the business.”

Speaking of evangelists, what about “title inflation”? Born of forces such as the Internet and Enron, there are comprehensible modern seats such as the chief officers for diversity, environmental, cultural, and yes, blogging. But do you have a chief apology officer, a director of chaos, a chief geek, a CEO of Love or a minister of progress? Apparently, these were/are live titles, at legit houses such as AOL and Berkshire Hathaway.

Resist the smirk (they posted total revenues of $437 million in FY2006), but at St. Louis-based Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE: BBW), the corporate suite includes a chief operating bear and a chief workshop bear. And you thought a bear market was a bad thing.

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