Chapter 5: Titles are more than words

…and are not just about power or klout

I used to aim to one day have the title of COO and while I’d still love to carry that title one day for the right place — maybe — back when I was starting my career I had no idea the responsibility that came with a title like COO or even CEO for that matter. I always thought being a “chief” officer was more about control than actual job responsibilities and the sad part is that many people think like that.

This is why I struggle with titles especially when it implies growth and, in many cases especially for startups, the only growth there is within an organization. Yet, for many startups, the “ability for growth” is a selling point to having the top talent join your team over others and/or leaving well-established companies to help you launch or build something new. The appeal to have a C-Suite role before the age of 30 drives many to work hard to master their craft and if you get in at the right time, you very well could end up with a C-Suite title long before you’re actually ready, qualified, or have the support you need to successfully balance the large responsibility that comes with the words.

But if there’s anything I’ve learned the past week, no matter how skilled a person is, the role of sitting at an executive level is more political than anything. Many hold the position because they were “there first” they happened to be “friends with the founder(s)”, or they happened to invest money. And honestly, early on, this can work, but the second you start to build business units under these individuals you will subconsciously develop a hiring strategy that compensates for their lack of knowledge or trained muscles rather than for what the business truly needs. Take for example a COO — this role should know, deeply, the ins and outs of the the operations of the organization. They are more connected to the team than any other C-Suite position. If they can’t speak to what the most junior role at the organization does day in and day out, they are sitting in the wrong seat. It is their job to know this because their role is to advocate for every single person that touches the operations.

If you have a CFO that doesn’t deeply understand how the finances work, how do you expect to set up the revenue and overhead of that business? If the CFO and COO are sitting in a room determining budgets yet the COO doesn’t understand the roles of their team, how can they advocate to pay people equally or give funds where they are needed most?

The answer is simple, they can’t.

And if you are going to have the seat at the table, you are responsible for representing every person who isn’t there. The responsibility is huge. It is not just a title or an indication of power. There is no position in the company that holds more responsibility than those sitting in the C-Suite and if you don’t feel the pressure of the reality to being the face of your business unit, you are not looking at your role nor responsibility in the right way.

But it doesn’t stop there. The VP level, the Senior Director level, hell even those sitting in a Director role have sometimes ended up there more as a life raft than actual skill, talent, or interest in truly owning and running a unit of the business. The responsibility that comes with these titles is rarely discussed. The conversations around promotion is usually centered on money more so than the level of responsibility that role holds for the individuals that report into them. The assumption that these individuals are right for these roles simply based on tenor or as a way to keep them “motivated” is not considering the individuals below them. You can not promote people as a result of fear — that will come back to hurt you because now you have people who don’t want to be here sitting in roles with the most responsibility, and, usually, some of the most talented people reporting into them. That decision can put at risk your entire operation.

More often than not, I have experienced such a removed executive team that they could, in no circumstance, step in and actually run the day to day of the business nor speak to it. They don’t know who the clients are, they don’t understand the struggles of the most junior team members, they don’t even talk to their VP or Directors enough to have a clue on what’s going on. And their behavior trickles down; you see the VPs being unaware, then the Directors, and so on and so forth usually putting the burden of the work on the middle managers to both support their teams and try and help the positions above them run their business unit. And when the stress of doing it all gets to be too much, those people leave.

And then what does an organization do? Panic. Because when those individuals leave, the holders of everything vital to the business staying afloat, are gone.

I don’t know if it’s ever considered; if anyone actually acknowledges the amount of pressure put on the middle management of an organization. Actually, I know that it isn’t because most don’t realize it until they’ve left. And once they’re gone and the more junior team loses their support, they leave. Then…who is left to run the business? I can promise you, the VP and Executive level are not the solution. They, at that point, truly have no clue because if they did, the company wouldn’t be facing this harsh reality in the first place.

I once had a call with a recruiter who asked to speak to me about a VP role — not once did she ask me how many teams I’d run, how large they were, some of the biggest challenges I’d had, some of the success stories throughout my 10 years — her focus was on how many board meetings I had attended, how much money I wanted, and if I understood equity. What does that have to do with doing the job of a VP of Operations? Shouldn’t you be focusing on my ability to run the biggest business unit for your organization rather than my ability to present to a board? At the end of the day, that may be 4 days of my year but the rest is spent with the team of almost 78 people you’re asking me to oversee. Shouldn’t they matter more?

At the end of our conversation, I answered those unasked questions for her — yes, I could oversee that many Director level individuals and their large, diverse teams; yes I had executive training and coaching; yes I have an HR background and highly recommend an HR business partner — and then I declined the role. As much money as they were offering, I was the last executive they were hiring. If that was the case, it meant that they’d hired an entire (all white male mind you) leadership team that didn’t think the way I did. No matter the words on the website about their culture and values, the ingrained thinking of this company had been designed to care more about the board than the actual team because not once did anyone mention their team, in all 6 interviews I’d had, including the one with their Chief People Officer who should care, the most, about the people. Even his focus was on equity splits and filling a diversity quota (but we’ll save that for another day…)

Think about what non-negotiables those individuals valued? Not only were they not asked, they took the job regardless. On the interviews alone, it was clear the people were the last concern in executive decisions and that type of culture trickles down and impacts the most junior employees more than anyone. I’ve seen it in practice. Too many times to count.

So, when it comes to titles, ask yourself why do you want it? If the answer is money you’re not considering the parts that make the role what it is. Your responsibility for your team 10-folds when you promote to a Director, VP and beyond role and if you’re driven by money and klout alone, you’re going to see the most talented people in your organization leave and many will follow. You should want to be promoted or offered these roles with the right motivations. Money can not be the only factor.

Age doesn’t matter. Experience does. If you don’t know what you’re doing, if you don’t know how to run the business unit, you will fail and so will your team. It is irresponsible to put them in that position or to rely on them in order to do well in your role. It is your job to make their life easier, not harder.

If you decide to take a role yet depend on the team below you to do the work; you are in the wrong seat.

So, when you’re working somewhere and you start to see the most talented individuals leaving and the executive confused as to why, there is your biggest red flag.

The leadership team has lost the plot; they’ve lost sight on their purpose. If you brag more about being a C-Level executive, a Director, etc. and focus more on your salary than worry about the level of responsibility that comes with being the ultimate representative for your team, you are in the wrong seat and you are the red flag.