Being Senior

Companies recognize the emotional appeal inflated titles have on our egos, and far too often have no difficulty presenting prefixes like "Staff" or "Principal" as part of our negotiation, even if the expectations and compensation are no different than less senior roles at the company. It serves as a good reminder that seniority is gained not simply by tenure or checking a few boxes, but by changing how we approach our work:

Labor vs. Influence

When you start your career, a majority of your work product is a function of your own labor. As you grow, while this is still important, your own output is secondary to your ability to work with and influence others, because this allows you to multiply the amount of work produced relative to that which you can produce yourself.

Deliverable vs. Outcome

In the earliest stages of your career, you often take on work that has well defined parameters (scope, timeline and end-state), and your success comes from delivering this as expected and on time. As you advance, there are fewer boundaries set, but more for you to solidify. Next in your career, by knowing just the outcome, you know to define the pieces of the puzzle on a seemingly blank canvas. And finally, you’re defining outcomes rather than being handed them, and because this is more ambiguous to everyone apart from you, you need to set up others to succeed, just like you were in the beginning.