Nothing Without the Suit

Nothing Without The Suit

John Paul Derryberry

Oftentimes, we can find a stinging truth in the oddest of places, and a lot of times, for this dork, it's in the realm of comic books and their movies. We all know the most famous line from the Spiderman comic book: "With great power comes great responsibility." But it's another quote, from a recent Spiderman movie, that has been on my mind a lot lately. As Spiderman pleads with another character to keep his powered-up Spiderman suit, the character responds, "If you're nothing without the suit, then you shouldn't have it." This implies that if the suits are what make you special, then you shouldn't have the ability to wield something that powerful. 

That thought has been on my mind as I see a wave of leaders, who seem to have taken on leadership positions to prove they are worthy, to show, not others, but themselves, that they have made it. It was a worry I had as I started to move up in positions, in my career. Was I going to conduct myself in a way that was worthy of being called a leader, or become a selfish person who just happens to have the title of leader? That quote reminds me often that if you are a good leader without the title of boss, you will be a leader when you get the title. And, if you are not a good leader without the title, well, then you will not be one when you get the title. 

We often convince ourselves that the title will change who we are. We think: once I get to the level of director, principal, or CEO, I will know I made it, and then I will treat people a certain way. But that's a lie we tell ourselves in the pursuit of career leadership, instead of deciding and working on what type of person we are, as our roles change in work and in life. If you do not have a great sense of who you are before you get the title, once you get the title, it will drive your choices instead of who you are driving your choices. We start to convince ourselves we are the most deserving; we are the answer to almost every problem, because our title says we are. Eventually, we became selfish and a version of ourselves we never wanted, because we didn't chase being worthy and ready for the corner office; we chased the corner office and then thought we could figure it out once we got that far. 

It's not how humans work; the driving force is the pursuit of a certain job. You never do the work around how to actually be a good leader. You do the work on how to get promoted. Those two things are very different, even though our culture makes them seem similar. The question I'm always asking myself is, what was I before I got my leadership title. The answer was: a disrupter of the normal way; a challenger of conventional methods; curious about the problems; always open for discussion about the course of action to get the job done; and a doer who was frustrated with non doers all the time. That's who I am as a leader, but sprinkled throughout my process now, I am a teacher, an honest communicator, and a compassionate person for all. 

I was a leader without the title, and while the title has me leading slightly differently than I did without the title, it's still those core principles that shape my thought process. How do I help others get to a better space; the same way I always challenge, disrupt, and be a constant learner. I find peace in knowing I was a leader before I had the suit and the day I have to turn in the suit, I will still be a leader. I did the work, still do the work, and will do my best to remain within the work of becoming better and making other people's lives better along the way.