The Title is Titles

(6 minute read)

If you google a celebrity, a knowledge appears at the top of the search results with basic information about the individual and his body of work. I’ve always found it interesting to look at the occupation listed under the person’s name, because for me at least, it always seems like it’s missing something. Like there’s a whole slew of information that isn’t accurately captured in those few words.

Take Mark Benioff for example. Yes, he’s the billionaire CEO and co-founder of Salesforce.com.

He also owns TIME magazine.

What’s really in a title?

A title is supposed to succinctly describe what you do, and by extension, who you are. like athlete-scholar, high-school junior, college sophomore, and cashier are simple, accessible, and very limited in scope. I’m personally uncomfortable with titles because I don’t think they accurately convey who I am, and whether you like it or not, that’s exactly what they’re used for everyday. If you tell someone your dad’s a lawyer, they’ll look at you a lot differently than if you say he’s a truck driver.

For me personally, I never know what to say when someone asks me to assign myself a title, but it happens so often, I’ve really had to think about it.

So a couple weeks ago, I was headed to D.C. to meet with some political strategists about prepping a candidate for a speech. I use UBER and chauffeur services a lot because finding a place to park in the District is more difficult than finding a straight bar in downtown San Francisco (amirite? :joy: ). Anyway, the drivers are all usually very nice, but some of them are nosier than others. After the small talk wore off on this particular ride, the driver inevitably asked, “so what do you do?”

I decided to go for my default response, “I’m an opera singer.” When you say that to a stranger, you’re an idiot if you don’t expect follow up questions. It’s an occupation that piques people’s curiosity. So he asked questions, and I answered them, but the irony is I learned more about myself than he did about me or singing. After we rallied back and for a while and I exhaustively explained every major item on my curriculum vitae, he said

”so you’re not really an opera singer, you’re a lot of things, huh? That’s cool, man”

I smiled and responded, “yeah that’s cool.” The truth is I am a lot of things, and that’s okay. What’s not okay is trying to convince myself I’m something that I’m not, and at this point in my career, I’m not an opera singer.

when I said in the beginning that those Google search knowledge s were a little off? The one above is way off. Robert Merrill was one of the most successful baritones at the Metropolitan Opera in the mid 20th century. At some point in his career, he did a little musical theatre, but he sure as hell won’t be ed as an actor just like I won’t be ed as an opera singer.

Titles change over time just like you, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Titles can definitely change as you move through different phases of your life. Even though I am a singer by degree, I’m also a writer, record producer, songwriter, life coach, investor, PhD candidate, and probably a few other things I’m forgetting, but my primary focus is as a voice coach. I help professionals of all kinds keep their minds, bodies, and voices in peak performance condition. I’ll stick with that for now, but don’t quote me on it tomorrow because it’s still fragile in my head.

All this title talk made me think about titles here on GA. Are your titles important here? Do they define you? Do you need twenty of them? I’m not judging at all. this is coming from a guy who doesn’t carry a business card because all of his occupations won’t fit on one side. So I wonder:

How tied to your identity are your titles?

Jennifer Lopez is more of an actress than she is a singer. Warren Buffet probably wouldn’t write “business magnate” on a resume. Sean Combs is a businessman—not a rapper, Robert Merrill is not an actor, and I’m not an opera singer.

:grin: I’m just a voice coach. :grin:

:stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: What are you? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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