Earning Respect without a Title

Working from 3:30p to 1:40a, at least Monday through Thursday with frequent Fridays and Saturdays scheduled for mandatory overtime, for most of my first two years in manufacturing was clearly part of God’s plan; I certainly wasn’t doing much planning of my own and that point. Any planning I had a hand in was focused on avoiding being scheduled to work on Saturday nights and fully embracing any mischief I could find from the time I walked out of the building on Friday until I passed out on Sunday. That said, the small wins I was beginning to stack up through consistency, both on the job and in the gym, were gradually building an authentic kind of courage I hadn’t felt previously. And with that courage came a minor degree of self-control, even if I only practiced it in certain situations.

As my two-year anniversary in manufacturing grew near, the discipline I had been practicing was beginning to yield results - professionally and personally. At work, I continued to learn about more and more equipment throughout my department and I was volun-told to be part of a two-day training process for some new corporate initiative that most of the old timers were bitching about. Off the job, the courage grew into confidence, and that occasionally quelled my boisterous alcohol-induced rants. As fate would have it, that may have been part of the reason a former co-worker called me in late January of 1998 to ask if I’d serve as the bouncer while his younger sister and her friends went dancing. More on both of those scenarios soon… I had no title whatsoever, not in the workplace and definitely not in my off hours, but I was beginning to earn genuine respect from many of the folks I associated with.

My persistence increased throughout 1998. Although I had discontinued college classes completely at that point, I was more determined than ever to outwork anyone I needed to and earn a promotion; I just wasn’t sure what kind of role I was looking for. And while I didn’t have a ton of interest in the new corporate initiative I was forced to participate in, I recognized at least some kind of opportunity hidden within it. That may have been the first actual seed of great benefit I ever found, even if I didn’t realize it as such at the time! Away from work, I was even more fixated on winning over my friend’s younger sister. He asked me to keep the other rednecks away from her; he didn’t say anything about me staying away… As the months passed by, I was earning influence with her too.

Interestingly enough, becoming engulfed in those two priorities limited both my time and my interest (at least a little bit) in most of the other nonsense I had been filling so much of my time with prior to that. Those relatively minor yet extremely consistent steps in the right direction was keeping my new girlfriend’s attention. That may also have been what caught the attention of the new maintenance supervisor whose office was near the press I operated daily. I still wasn’t leading anyone around me, aside from during the occasional shenanigan I found time for, but I had started to lead myself. Demonstrating those early changes earned quiet respect and previewed what true leadership would look like later on.

Influence begins in how we handle our own bad situations; quiet consistency builds trust that titles can’t force. Thankfully for me, discipline played a much greater role in all that than talent ever could have. We’ll dig into that next. First, think about one way your handling of a bad situation could earn quiet respect from the people around you - and act on it intentionally!