🔥 Rented title, owned character: In Community #74

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“I rent my title. I own my character” – Thasunda Brown Duckett

I’ll be the first to admit that titles at work were always something that mattered to me.

As a high achiever with big career goals, I put a lot of my energy into doing great work that wouldn’t just elevate the brands and communities I worked with – it would elevate my own visibility and reward me with that next promotion.

In fact, when I wrote about my neurodivergence and its impact last week, part of this was realizing how it had helped me achieve what I did over the years.

I distinctly remember being proud to say I was the youngest in the company’s history to be promoted to a supervisor level at my advertising agency and then the youngest ever to reach the associate director level after that.

Why was that so important?

Don’t get me wrong – it was something I worked hard to achieve, and it felt good to be recognized. As I switched from agency life to the brand side though, the importance of my specific title began to become less clear, as I saw the breadth of the work I was doing began to shift. And I saw how relationships dictated my trajectory so much more than a title.

It wasn’t just what I did. It was how I did it.

A conversation over breakfast one day with one of our C-level leaders brought me clarity.

She said that the company under-titles people and that by leaving the company, I’d likely be considered for VP-level positions. She encouraged me to have conversations at other companies, just to get a feel for myself.

I’d never had a VP title before. My eyes widened at the prospect.

Sure enough, as I spoke with CMOs at other companies, without me even asking, they started telling me about VP roles on their team. What I realized was that they weren’t concerned with what my title had been up until that point – they were looking at my experience, expertise, and critically, my character.

👉🏽 What would I be able to bring to their business?

👉🏽 What would I add to their team culture?

👉🏽 What was it about me that stands out and would help drive outstanding results?

Duckett, the President and CEO of TIAA, said it best:

“No matter what happens, when I leave one job and go into another, I walk away with my ownable assets.”

Those assets? Curiosity. Grit. Tenacity. Those are owned.

So take a moment to consider for yourself – what are your owned assets? What goes with you wherever you go, regardless off your job or title? What is it that helps you stand out and deliver outstanding impact?

In the last two newsletters, I’ve included a quick poll to get some human intelligence (HI!) from readers like you. I’ve gotten great feedback, and as this newsletter and the community evolves, I’m looking to hear from you even more. So take a minute and let me know by selecting one of the options below – and if what you have in mind isn’t listed, just send a note to [email protected] to let me know.

Let’s make sure to keep writing our own narrative. For all of us – not just the few.

In Community is not funded by outside investors or owned by a large corporation. At a time when our communities and the mere idea of being different puts so many of us under fire, your direct support means more than ever.

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In community,

Fahad