My lovely Señ(i)orita — welcome to a flowerish fairytale
Career-oriented social networking platforms, business networks for short, gather millions and millions of users worldwide. And as individual as these users are, they have one thing in common: they beg for success and recognition.
This is where the story begins…
Back in the days when it was still of help to wish for a thing, there lived a lonesome goblin. The goblin wasn’t pretty, he wasn’t tall. He wasn’t very smart either. After a while being all alone the goblin started trying to find a friend. And he tried very hard. And the harder he tried, the more difficult his plan became. So he tried to convince everybody how good and how successful he was. Powerfully eloquent and full of good intentions, he finally pushed to rule the world… or at least be the best in his field.
When he finally had to realize that all his efforts were hopeless, he decided to travel the world. Already on his first meters he met many interesting people. Some were kings, others lords, and still others respected people. But as different as they were, they all had one thing in common: rank and name.
But the goblin was not stupid, he quickly realized that the rank gave people fame and honor. And so, shortly thereafter, he ended his journey and returned home. But not as the small, lonely goblin he had set out as. On the contrary! He entered his homeland with his chest filled with pride and his head held high. Finally he called himself a lord!
“My lord”, they said when they met him. He was so proud and they all lived happily and contentedly until the end of their days.
The End
And now’s where reality enters the stage…
Please take some time and browse through linkedIn, Xing and others of these so-called “business networks”. I bet you will be confronted with hundreds and hundreds of different job titles.
“Chief whatever of a big company”, “Senior anything very cool”, “Head of something really amazing”… the list seems almost endless. The longer you browse, the more curious titles you find. Oh… and have you ever heard of this epic battle between Junior and Senior? That’s the funniest topic one of all! And I’m really sorry to say this, but it’s also so damn tiring!
First of all, “junior” and “senior” are not a recognized, academic degree or a valid professional rank. Rather, they are artificially created labels to conveniently and easily categorize professionals depending on their work experience.
For this reason, I decided a few years ago to say goodbye to this fairy tale land. First I turned my profile picture upside down. Having a serious business profile on a business network that pictures me upside down… pretty ridiculous, right? Then, I answered the platform’s question “What are you looking for?” with “The meaning of life.” to make it unmistakably clear to the reader that I have no interest in presenting myself at my best with a polished profile. After realizing that headhunters — although I even removed almost all my “skills” - were still writing to me almost daily to offer me jobs, I deleted my profile. Finally and irrevocably. And I haven’t regretted it once since!
At the end there’s only one thing that counts… it’s what you do and what you stand for, not what you pretend to be! So, this is a shout-out to all that people out there that urgently need somebody to massage their ego and rather to those who are in their shadows:
Be just what you are… be who you are. If you do a good job, there will always be someone counting on you, promoting you and appreciating your value! No matter what job title you have, because it definitely doesn’t count at all!
Have a nice one!
Martin — Chairman of the Central Office for Knowledge and Power
