Leadership is so much more than your title. 

Your title is a description of your role, not a privilege to hold over the heads of those under you. So many times we get caught up by the title of a person, rather than caught up in the value they provide; the perspective they see and the skills they’ve developed. Unfortunately, it’s too easy to make a judgment simply by the title you see (or don’t see) next to their name. 

What if we saw our titles in our work, our family, and our communities not as our privilege to wield over one another, but as the description of our responsibility?

What kind of families would we have if we saw each member fulfilling a vital role to make the family unit succeed? And in our workplaces? Too often, well-meaning leaders in corporate offices attempt to make the best decisions to better their remote teams without taking the time to ask what the frontline people really need.

How many dollars have been wasted simply because we didn’t actively value the title–the role and responsibility–of the people we’re in charge of?

Just last year, I had a huge plug in my kitchen’s drain pipe. I mean, so plugged we had to detach the bottom of our kitchen sink from the drain in order to wash dishes. With a bucket below the sink to catch any water use, we spent a few weeks sorting through how to unclog the pipe.

So we called in help. We reached out to people whose titles describe their value in fixing a drain: the plumber. You see, I want to know how to fix clogs and do a good job, but if it goes deeper than 12”, I’m just in too deep. Know what I mean? So when the plumber comes, I show them what is happening, and then submit to their authority in all things drains and clogs. They provide their expertise, their knowledge, and their experience to me, and then wait for my decision. Unless I get the information from the plumber, I can’t make the best decision I need to fix our drain. 

Now, when the plumber comes in, I don’t assume I know what they are going to say. How silly would that be? I’m paying them to come and then listen to my inexperienced opinion, as if I forgot they are the ones in it every single day? But on the flip side, how outrageous would it be if they were to come into my house and start ripping out the pipes, drilling into my foundation, fixing the potential problem without submitting to my decision as the home owner?

This is a simple example of how the homeowner and the plumber are both needed to make the decision; both have a role to play in getting the pipes unclogged. Their titles describe their work.

And both are valuable.

What about on your team, in your sphere of influence? Do you know your role? Do you know others’?