322: Leading Without the Title: How Mid-Career Professionals Build Trust and Get Noticed

Are you doing great work but still waiting for recognition or a promotion that never seems to come? In this episode of The Mid-Career GPS Podcast, John Neral explores how to elevate your reputation, credibility, and leadership impact without waiting for a new title.

This conversation focuses on leading through influence, not authority. You’ll learn how to stand out in today’s fast-moving workplace by earning trust, building psychological safety, and demonstrating anticipatory leadership that makes you indispensable.

Through real stories and actionable examples, John breaks down what it means to lead before the promotion and how subtle shifts in behavior can transform how others perceive your leadership.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
• The difference between authority and influence and why behavior earns trust
• Key trust signals that quietly boost your visibility in your organization
• How anticipatory leadership helps you spot risks early and protect results
• Quiet leadership habits that reduce friction, improve collaboration, and build team confidence
• Why psychological safety drives innovation and engagement
• How to shift from reactionary to strategic thinking with better feedback habits
• Three presence practices to signal confidence and composure in every interaction
• The Three O’s Framework, Observe, Offer, Own, for leading without permission

If you’re ready to be recognized for the value you bring and lead more effectively in your current role, this episode is your blueprint.

Chapters

• 0:00 Why Titles Don’t Equal Leadership
• 0:42 Framework For Quiet Influence
• 1:57 Newsletter And Resources Invitation
• 2:27 Authority Versus Influence
• 4:03 Trust Signals That Get You Noticed
• 6:14 Behaving Like The Next Level
• 7:47 Influence Is Relational
• 8:44 Progress Over Power Plays
• 9:55 Beyond “Work Speaks For Itself”
• 11:17 Hallmarks Of Quiet Leaders
• 12:41 Building Psychological Safety
• 13:41 From Reactionary To Strategic
• 16:01 Feedback, Reflection, Promotion Story
• 18:05 Effective Presence Over Executive Presence
• 19:21 Three Ways To Show Presence
• 21:15 The Three O’s: Observe, Offer, Own

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Have you ever felt like you have ideas that could make things better at work? But because you're not the one with the title, no one seems to listen. You're not alone. Many mid-career professionals feel like they hit a wall when they realize that leadership doesn't always come with a title. They're leading meetings, mentoring new hires, solving problems, and yet they still find themselves sitting at their desk waiting for some kind of recognition from their leadership. This episode today is all about acknowledging that frustration and shifting your mindset into something bigger. Learning how you can lead through influence instead of waiting for permission. In this episode, I'll provide you with a simple framework and practical tips so you can show up as a quiet leader, someone who is shaping culture, making decisions, and creating positive outcomes, even if your name doesn't have quote unquote leader on the org chart. Let's get started. So I want to make sure I get this podcast episode recorded. I'm also going to pre-record the following week's episode as well. But here's the thing: I am glad that you and I get a chance to spend some time together. And if you are not aware, I have a free email newsletter that I email twice a week all about leadership and career transition and navigating this mid-career journey. It's free. All you need to do is go to my website at johnner.com forward slash resources. You'll see a tab right there to sign up for the newsletter. And I'd love to have you come in and be part of a much larger conversation that happens outside of this podcast. And I'm glad you're here today. This episode is one that comes up from a lot of conversations that I have had this year about how do you lead without having that influence? You don't have that particular title or recognition, or as someone once said to me, it's like they've been anointed on the org chart and therefore people just listen to them. And that's not really the case. We know leadership is far much more than that because when we lead, we lead because people trust us. They see us as reliable and we have a certain initiative that allows us to lead from this place. And I so often say that we show up from a place of value and service. But one of the things that that hopefully you know, and if you don't, let's just let's just pause for a minute here. When somebody has a title, be it CEO, leader, manager, executive director, whatever it is, that title grants them a certain level of authority. It does not grant them influence. Come on, you and I both know we have worked with people. We're not going to name names, but we've worked with people who they have a certain title and we don't respect them. They're not really good in their role. Because, see, it's a leader's behavior that truly earns their influence. As we're seeing organizations, especially some of our larger organizations, look at their staffing numbers and they're getting leaner, right? But the job market has not been particularly kind in terms of reading about layoffs, especially over the last few weeks and months. Organizations today are flatter and faster, meaning that people who want to move up, they're moving up in a variety of different ways. But how they excel or ascend to that part on the org chart, it is because of where they are able to influence. See, I know that the most effective mid-career professionals that are out there create what are called trust signals. Those trust signals are things that make them reliable and exemplary employees. So here they are, they're meeting deadlines, they're keeping promises, they're excellent communicators, they're excellent executioners, they follow through on what they say they're gonna do. But here's what I want to ask you. When people think about being reliable or being someone who's dependable on your team, how often does your name come up? How often are you the one that's being spoken about? I've worked with people this year who don't necessarily have manager in their title, but they have tremendous responsibility within their organization. They are they are doing things to strategically position themselves for that next role, that next level. And one of the things that we always come back to in looking at their professional brand and their reputation is how well are they trusted? How well are they trusted to follow through on what they say they are going to do and then how well they execute on it? So even though you may not have that manager or director word in your title, are you behaving like one? Are you demonstrating the core competencies at that level within your organization that is getting you noticed? People who have that manager or director title, that authority has already been given to them because of their promotion. But their influence, that's earned. Authority is positional. And by that I mean it's where you sit on the org chart. But your influence is relational, and that's created based on how reliable you are, how well you communicate, how consistent you are as a professional. The influence is based on the why and the how you are doing things, not because of who is saying so. Let me say that again. Your influence is based on the why and how you are doing things, not because someone is saying so. I remember earlier in my career when I was leading a team and someone desperately wanted to have a manager in their title. And I asked them in a promotion conversation, I said to them, why do you want to be a manager? And they looked at me and they said, Well, then people actually listen to me then. And they were shocked when I replied and said, Well, why aren't people listening to you now? Yeah. That was a hard conversation that day for them. Influence, the influence that you have within your organization begins when your colleagues realize that you're trying to make progress. You're not doing this out of some kind of power grab or authority maneuver. You're doing it because you want to make progress in seeing a particular project succeed, an initiative succeed. And you're doing it in a way that is putting a spotlight on you because you then appear as the problem solver, the conduit for making that kind of change. So, where are you building influence right now within your organization? Where are you leveraging your network and building your network so people get to see you as that powerful influencer you are, so that your name is being spoken at the table when it comes time for conversations. Oftentimes, mid-career professionals will get stuck in thinking that if they just do the work, the work will speak for itself. And yes, there is absolutely a part about being competent and confident in what you're doing and having quality work associated with who you are and what you do. But when you think about making that leadership transition to be that person who's the manager, senior manager, director, senior director, you're that kind of leader that is building bridges. You are connecting teams, you are connecting people, you are avoiding friction. You're asking questions that are meaningful and intentional. You bring what a lot of people call anticipatory leadership, where you see problems before they surface and you are offering solutions early in the process so timelines don't get away from you or budgets aren't over-allocated. Quiet leaders do not need the spotlight. They're not standing around going, look at me, look at what I did, I'm over here, you, none of that. The quiet leaders are the ones that sit back, they execute on their plan, they know their result, and they communicate those things accordingly. They have this tremendous ability to read the room, they recognize conflict intention, and they create psychological safety to help move through that. When you have a leader who builds psychological safety, they're the leader who has people on their team willing to take risks, speak up, and be innovative. They're not afraid of failing because they recognize that failure is a step towards that progress. That is the kind of leadership you may be looking to or aspiring to within your organization. But if you're sitting around and you think that you're being allowed and you're waiting to be noticed, what I want to offer you is to try being a little more curious. Ask questions that are going to move the conversation forward. I remember working in a different organization where the senior leader was extremely frustrated with someone on their team. This person on their team was very knowledgeable, but also very reactionary. Um, they used the word emotional, that they made decisions emotionally rather than looking at all of the things that could potentially happen based on their action. And so I went to this person one day and I was like, hey, would you like some feedback? And they were like, Yeah, I'd love some feedback. And I said, Great. Would you like some feedback that might be a little difficult to hear? And they were like, sure. Right, because you don't know what's going to come at that point, right? And I said, um, it's been my experience and it's been my in conversations with other people that you are seen as very reactionary, that you quickly want to get to solving the problem. But in doing that, you're missing some things because you're not seeing the entire landscape of the situation. You're not taking into account all of the other players. And I shared a very specific example of where I had witnessed this in a meeting. I said, this is actually hindering your progress because people are not going to be willing to promote you because you're not slowing down and taking into consideration all of these other factors that might be a result of you making a quick decision to solve something. And they sat there and they they kind of took it all in. And you know how when you talk to people, you can see like their eyes turning a little bit as their processing type thing. Not like in a cartoon kind of way with a you know swirly kind of design, but you can tell that they're really trying to grasp all of this. And they looked at me and they said, I need to think about this. I'm not sure how this sits. And I said, That's fine. Let's make it a point to talk tomorrow. Let's circle back on this. Let's continue the conversation when you've had a chance to process this. And so they did. And we talked the next day. And they came in with some questions about where they felt like they were being misunderstood. And I said, look, from my view, I can see where you're saying you're being misunderstood, but this is how people are experiencing you. So your intention isn't lining up with your action. We need to change that. Here's what that may look like. And I shared some examples and I was like, how does that sit with you? They were like, okay, I think I can try that. I didn't do anything after that point, other than just occasionally check in and talk about things. But about six months afterwards, I went to the senior leader and I said, Hey, how are things going with insert name of said employee? And they were like, Oh my gosh, I've noticed such a huge change. Um, they slowed down, they're thinking about things, they're not as reactionary, they're um, they're really thinking about the risks involved. And I just kind of smiled and I said, Oh, that's that's really, really good. And I said, I'm glad to hear that. And then there was this pause. And uh the senior leader looked at me and they go, Um, you're behind this, aren't you? And I went, Who me? I'm just doing my job. And we kind of looked at each other, and the senior leader looks at me and says, uh, thank you. And I said, You're welcome. And that person got promoted. That person got promoted about a year after this whole thing had happened because they were they were demonstrating that kind of level of trust. Because as we talked about in a previous episode, it's not so much executive presence, it's effective presence. And you can you can demonstrate that through how you're showing up in a variety of situations. It's about how clear you are, how clean you are in your actions, and the calmness and the confidence that happens as you react to those situations. Here's three ways I can offer you today about building that kind of presence. Number one is about tightening up your updates. Make sure that your updates are clean, clear, and concise. Stick to what matters most. Don't go above and beyond. The second thing is watch your language. Make sure that your language is very solution-based. It's not we have a problem. It's here's the situation we're dealing with, here's a potential way to solve it, or here's some other considerations to solving it. And the last one is composure under pressure. This one is hard, especially if you're a heart-centered leader and you wear your heart on your sleeve and you want to just react and you think you're being transparent with everybody. But having composure under pressure is what allows you to build trust. People will look at you when things get tough. They will know you are dealing with a lot, but you are being calm enough and composed and centered to put forth the information you do because that's how you lead. Right? So, what I want to offer you as we start closing here is that you do not need the promotion in order to shift your mindset in terms of how you are leading change. Look at what you're doing right now in your job and lead accordingly. See if there are ways you can lead a little bit differently. So think of this in terms of three O's. Number one is observe. Observe what's going on around you and observe what's needed. Look for any kind of repeated patterns, um, specific challenges or pain points, and what opportunities may be there. Secondly, offer solutions. Don't just highlight or talk about what's wrong or what's broken. Make a suggestion about what's next. The budget is currently$250,000 over at this point. In order for us to get on track, here's what I think needs to happen. What are your thoughts on that? The third O is ownership. And it's about owning the outcome. So when you make a decision, you follow through, you measure results, and you share what you've learned, but you own it. You in leading is you taking ownership of what's going on or what's happening. So if you observe, offer, and own, you have already moved yourself up from being the one who's hanging out in the shadows and now stepping up to the forefront to say, This is what's happening. This is what I think could rectify this. You then become this trusted colleague that when you act on what you notice, you change culture, you change dynamics. Because now the leaders who may not have necessarily seen you as one now may start to. They may start seeing you a little bit differently than where you are. So here's a quick reflection question for you. Where are you already demonstrating your leadership that others may not be seeing? So, what I want you to do is when you think about where you're demonstrating your leadership, pick one particular area. Pick one particular area, observe what's needed, offer one small solution, and own the outcome. If you're in an organization where you can do that, or if maybe this is a stretch goal, demonstrate and exercise your leadership in a way that is there to help make things better because of your expertise. You might just be surprised how quickly people start to see you differently when you start leading in this way without any kind of title, but you are demonstrating your influence. All right. So you already have the tools here. Now it's your decision about how you want to start using them more intentionally. So as part of the mid-career journey, it is not just about finding that new job. It is about learning to be better leaders, learning to exercise your authority, your presence, your impact in new and different ways. And that's one of the many areas that I help my clients with. Okay. So if this episode resonated with you, do me a favor, share it with someone. Text this link to somebody and say, hey, I just listened to this great podcast episode. I think this would be really helpful. Okay. And you can go onto my website at johnnarrell.com forward slash resources. Come join my newsletter community. I'd love to have you be a part of that. And if I can help you in any other way as your coach, if you're interested in joining my membership community or one-on-one coaching, there's more information for that there as well at johnnarrell.com forward slash resources. So, all right, I got through this episode without my voice getting too gravelly. So I'm kind of proud about that. Um, always great spending some time with you this week. Um, we're we're rushing toward the end of the year. It's kind of hard to slow things down, it seems, at times, but take care of yourself, take care of each other. Remember this. You will build your mid-career GPS one mile or one step at a time, and how you show up matters. Make it a great rest of your day. Thank you for listening to the Mid Career GPS Podcast. Make sure to follow on your favorite listening platform. And if you have a moment, I'd love to hear your comments on Apple Podcasts. Visit johnnarrell.com for more information about how I can help you build your Mid-Career GPS, or how I can help you and your organization with your next workshop or public speaking event. Don't forget to connect with me on LinkedIn and follow me on social at Johnnaryl Coaching. I look forward to being back with you next week. Until then, take care and remember, how we show up matters.