Jeremy recently asked LinkedIn’s Chief Information Officer (CIO) Network Group: “What is more respected: Job Title or Job responsibility?”
Here’s how I answered:
Different things matter to different people and, as those who’ve commented have already shown, cogent arguments can be made for either case.
Note, though, that Jeremy’s question begs a deeper consideration as it relates to one’s opinions, publicly or privately expressed.
Our opinions are our biases. And our biases affect how we work with (and relate to) others. Our biases also affect how others work with (and relate to) us.
It’s unavoidable.
So close your office door, take a few moments, and consider how your biases are, quite likely, undermining your relationships and diluting your impact, up, down, and across your company’s hierarchy. Consider how you interact differently with people simply because they happen to have:
- More title than responsibility
- More responsibility than title
- Neither title nor responsibility
- Both title and responsibility
And consider the cost to you, your organization, and the important work you’re all doing, in terms of problems not being solved and opportunities not being realized.
My opinion (that is, bias) is that CIOs (present and future) simply do not have the luxury to give anyone they work with the short shrift — ALL of your interactions must be purposeful and powerful.
Anything less is disrespectful to both your title and responsibility.
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