You are more than just a job title

What happens when we meet someone related to work matters? There is an exchange of business cards lost in the shuffle of our job descriptions. We are simply marketing manager, editor, sales executive, legal consultant and a whole bunch of other titles all meaning one thing: we are our job title.

But we are not. No person is one single defining noun.

We get so caught up in our jobs we start to believe that we are the title only and nothing else. A finance person taps at her calculator app not realising there is a world beyond numbers. We get stuck when we stick to a title. It prevents us from growing and holds us back from giving our fullest. There are two steps to getting back on track.

First: We identify that we are more than a title

I ran a youth magazine for a couple of years. One of my marketing guys came up to me and said ''It's a loss-making project because the content generates no revenue.'' I snapped. I prided my team's effort at creating the most unique, humorous and thought-provoking content out there for the ever-changing minds of the young and curious. We created content that someone couldn't sell.

Then it struck me. All I did was run a team that created content. I would hand over my business card as 'Editor' of a youth magazine. Did I only just edit? My job was to run the youth magazine and that also meant knowing if my sales and marketing was on track or not.

I asked my marketing guy what content he would prefer to sell. He drew a blank. He had not studied the content, rather just looked at previous revenue figures. And that was the only process for him. Instead he needed to look at the content and find out if and how it matched clients. For that he needed to study and know the product. And I needed to know that every member of my team knew what the other was doing. That was a long while ago.

Once we realise we need to get out of our descriptive titles to do more, we grow.

Second: We need to shut off the job title and focus on who we are. Take off the polished Oxfords and put on a pair of jogging shoes. Or collect action figures. Or simply talk to someone outside your field of expertise. It's a process where I become not just a magazine editor but a person who likes to develop information that helps others to formulate decisions. We are not just a title and acknowledging that is a process for personal growth.

Coming weeks we will be delving further into real life practices and process that help turn any business into a formidable contender.

While you're at it, here's how to promote yourself wihtout sounding liek a jerk.

Writer is Editor of the career, tech and automobile publications of The Daily Star. He is also an entrepreneur of a baby clothing business and previously worked in advertising as a Senior Copywriter.