A title on your hoodie doesn’t make you captain. The team decides that at every practice.

LEADERSHIP

WHAT THIS MEANS

Appointed authority and actual authority are different things, and only one of them is granted by the people you are meant to lead. A title tells everyone what you are called, and behavior over weeks tells them whether to follow. That second vote gets taken continuously and never announced.

Assume you have to earn the position again each week, especially on the days you are tired or losing. Do the unglamorous parts in front of people rather than handing them off. If nobody follows you when you have no title, the title will not fix it.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Would your team follow you without the title?

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