Miami Skyscraper (Espirito Santo Plaza)

Miami Skyscraper (Espirito Santo Plaza), originally uploaded by jamesburden.

I’m on a few different social networking sites. And I find them useful, interesting and absorbing – all the rest of it. But here’s the thing. When I was on LinkedIn I began to feel dwarfed by other people’s job titles. How do you compete with someone who is called Leadership Coach, Facilitator and Organizational Effectiveness Consultant? Or here’s another one: Senior Creative Strategist & Experiential Designer? I kid you not – these are real job titles. Maybe you’re not the kind of person to feel dwarfed by other people’s job titles. But most of us have insecurities. And social networking sites are one area where it’s easy to succumb to the fact that your once spotty classmate is now running a multi-national company.

We spend so much of our time trying to be something that others will be impressed by. I suggest you give up. Where does your worth come from? Here’s an ancient Chinese proverb that I’m making up on the spot: He who seeks worth from others is on a path to self-ruin.

I heard the other day that the company Gore-Tex has only one job title – common across the entire organisation – Associate. If you get a business card from anyone at Gore-Tex it will merely have:
James Burden
Associate
Gore-Tex

And Gore has been on the Fortune list of 100 Best Companies to work for every single time that list has been published.
Go here to see why.

Facebook asked me the other day to “say something” about myself. What do you put in that box? Do you use the five lines to describe your professional career? To describe your large and impossibly well-behaved family? To describe how you singlehandedly brought about peace in a small Middle Eastern country? Me? I put “I make photos”.