Hiding Behind Your Title

I met with a friend over coffee and brought her by Company X to meet a few co-workers. Out of courtesy, she asked two of my colleagues what they each did at our company. Marci answered by saying, “I do day to day widget management”, describing what she was actually doing without giving out her title. Jan responded, “Well, today my title is Director of X and Project Management”.

It occurred to me that I’ve done that, simply blurted out a job title instead of explaining what I do. And at that moment I also realized how ridiculous it sounds. In some ways, we are hiding behind a title. Is it the idea that we can throw out a big title? Do we feel too busy to stop in our tracks and say what value we bring? Maybe we don’t really know how to give our personal elevator speech where we can summarize what we do in 10 seconds. Or, is there hidden self doubt, where we are feeling the impostor and do not want to believe, or show, our fear?

Whatever the reason, if you have done this before, please share. I’m still processing why I’ve actually done it… maybe my ah-ha will happen upon reading your comments!

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