Titles

This post by the Fiery Irish Rose is fantastic. I always love her no bullshit approach to writing. She outlines what titles really mean. My personal favorite quip is “Executive Director: You’ve been with the company forever. But, you suck at managing people and haven’t come up with an original, trail blazing idea, in well, ever. We can’t promote you to VP, but after so many years, we had to give you something.” This holds true for Sr. Director and Sr. Manager on the client side.

Me, I’m not concerned by title. I care a lot more about the role. For example, if you called me “Head Janitor,” but paid me $1,000,000 a year to run the operations of the company, I’d be perfectly fine with that. In my career, I’ve held the titles of:

QA Analyst
QA Specialist
QA Manager
Producer
Sr. Producer
Interactive Producer
Sr. Engagement Manager
Interactive Account Supervisor
Interactive Marketing Manager
Interactive Account Director

I’ve never felt limited by the title, because I never perform the expected duties of the title. I go over and beyond. Sometimes that means I’m proofing pages, editing HTML, managing TV projects, etc. I’m fine with it because my mindset has always been, “come to the office asking yourself if this were my company, how would I help it grow.” When you approach your morning like that it’s easy to feel ok about dressing up a room, cleaning up that room, or simply being a scribe in a meeting.

We need to focus more on roles and less on titles because realistically, people know who has the skills and who doesn’t. If your title is VP Marketing, but people think you’re an idiot, your title isn’t going to help you out much. The flip side is true. I’ve worked with people at the “coordinator” level that I’ve respected more than people 6 levels above them. We’re smart and we take notice of what you do and how you do it. And, we’re not fooled by your title. If you want respect, earn it.

Ok, now all that said, there is one title I really want: Supreme Allied Commander.

Dwight Eisenhower had the title during WW II. He was essentially in charge of not only the U.S. troops, but the troops for our allied nations. That’s responsibility. No, I’m not suggesting I want to join the military, but I am suggesting that his role is the type of responsibility I want in my career.

Opinions And Ramblings By Adam Kmiec On All Things Media