A client recently asked me what was up with “associate” as my title. My cards have said associate since I started the company. Even when it was just me, I knew that I wanted to be part of a team, and I wanted everyone on the team to be part of the success.
Here’s what I have learned about not having a title:
- People may not know its your company when they speak with you / meet you. This is a good thing b/c you may be more likely to see some people’s true colors.
- You avoid hiring people who place a lot of value in titles
- It grounds you, whenever people ask me about my title and I tell them it is a reminder of what my values were when I started the company.
- Part of that reminder is that even though I started the company, I am just one of the members of the team that helps create success for our clients.
- Not having a title can confuse the heck out of clients, it makes it hard for them to know who does what, so it takes more time to explain since its not evident.
- Bankers hate my title, they want me to be president or CEO – something they are used to.
- It can hurt some types of employees, who have been trained to expect to have junior associate, associate, senior associate, account director, types of progressions through their careers. As seer you live and die as an associate.