Your Job Title Is Not What You Do or Who You Are

Hi Neil, I’m Colin. What do you do? I’m a Project Manager.

Hi Sarah, I’m Colin. What do you do? I’m a Marketing Analyst.

Hi Simon, I’m Colin. What do you do? I work in HR.

Hi Brenda, I’m Colin. What do you do? I’m an IT Manager.

At every event I speak at this is what I hear time and time again when I introduce myself to people. There’s no more uninspiring way to introduce yourself than by telling people your job title or whereabouts in the organisation hierarchy you sit.

Your job title is the thing on your job description, the thing you put on LinkedIn to demonstrate the roles that you’ve had and it’s the thing you put on recruitment websites so that people can easily find people with similar job titles.

Make no mistake though, this is not what you do or who you are.

You are more than these two, three (or however many!) words. You have more personality, experience and skills than these words can convey. You are working on complex things, have a great deal of influence (often more than you realise) on the outcomes of projects, large and small. You have passions, insecurities, fears, goals and emotions.

Of course, sometimes in social situations we get nervous and it’s hard to string a coherent sentence together. So rather than have to think on the spot, it’s easy to default to the thing on our business card or email signature. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With a little creativity and some practice we can all get better at introductions.

Introductions are important. They allow you to communicate who you are and what you do in a way that’s interesting and engaging to the other parties in the conversation. An introduction gives you the opportunity to build the foundations for a relationship. Of course, if that’s not your goal then they also give you the opportunity to rehearse something so that people move on to someone else quickly!

All good relationships, however, start with a well thought out introduction. Something that describes what you do that’s honest and understandable. Something that opens the door to further questions and demonstrates that you’re a human being just like they are.

In order to craft an introduction, ask yourself the following questions:

• What do you actually do on a daily basis?
• What value do you add to the people around you and the organisation(s) you work with/for?
• What are your aspirations?
• What are some words you want to avoid saying?

This is an exercise I often start with in workshops or executive sessions to build connections between the people that are attending. It’s a great internal and external exercise and for those of you with kids it’ll help them too! Providing they’re interested in the first place that is…

Here are some examples from recent workshops:

• I provide insights into numbers so I don’t have to worry at night (CFO)
• I inspire and motivate a group of disparate people to do something they don’t quite understand yet (Project Manager)
• I fix things that are crucial to people’s office lives (Facilities Manager)
• I make sense of the complex so customers get what they need (Business Analyst)
• I push sh*t up a hill whilst trying to protect those behind me! (CEO!)

Of course, you could say that this is just a load of smoke and mirrors, but it’s a creative exercise to provide some insights into people’s daily lives. It helps to build empathy and humanity and bring everyone just a little bit closer together. It also stops people from hiding behind their titles too!

Me? I help individuals and teams around the world to transform the way they get things done and I do that through public speaking, facilitated programs and books. For the rest of the time I’m someone’s son, brother, husband and Dad who enjoys watching his football and baseball teams… but only when they win.

A job title is not what you do or who you are. How can you be more creative with your introductions?