Does your job title change your character? There is an antidote for that

Some people defines themselves with their job titles. They believe that, the title they “earned” is a very important quality of them and they start to live with the title and live for the title. 

The title becomes the goal of their life and they start to deviate from who they are and they transform into someone else. 

Some behaviors these people show are as following 

• They are identifying themselves with their job title
• They think talking a lot about their job is an important thing
• They stop listening to their team members
• In the team meetings they are the ones who always says the final word
• They believe that they know the best when it comes to their work
• They think that they deserve more respect because they have the “title”
• They believe that they have to mention their job title anytime and anywhere. Even their  jokes become about their job?
• They stop socializing with people who are at a “lower” position? (according to their “title standards”)
• They think that without them the organization will collapse and the are the ones who keep it running?  

If you are showing at least to 2 of the behavior above I have some bad news for you. Your job is capturing your character and your life.

If you are defining yourself with your job and with your title, who will you become after you lose that job or that title?

The antidote to this problem and the way to keep your identity is to be humble. Unfortunately, humility is seen as a weakness but on the contrary, it is a very string trait. In the article that was published in Forbes Jeff Hymen talks about the importance of humble leaders. He mentions that: “A number of research studies have concluded that humble leaders listen more effectively, inspire great teamwork and focus everyone (including themselves) on organizational goals better than leaders who don’t score high on humility.”

“Humble leaders understand that they are not the smartest person in every room. Nor do they need to be. They encourage people to speak up, respect differences of opinion and champion the best ideas, regardless of whether they originate from a top executive or a production-line employee.”

“When a leader works to harness input from everyone, it carries through the organization. As other executives and line managers emulate the leader’s approach, a culture of getting the best from every team and every individual takes root.”

In short, don’t let your job or job title define who you are, do listen your team members, build good relations with your colleagues and friends, do not brag about your job or title and most importantly; be humble, be down to earth. This is the way not only for having successful business results but also for having much better interpersonal relations. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffhyman/2018/10/31/humility/?sh=407df82c1c80