Hi Deb,

Titles cause others to:

Lie to you. People will tell you what you want to hear. That means leaders have to ask penetrating questions to get to the bottom of issues or to receive insightful feedback.

Provide a base-line of respect from colleagues and subordinates. In this case people respect the title (conform to instructions/defer to decisions) without you earning their respect.

How can a person leverage a title as a means to lead a team? One way is to use the title/position to aggressively protect and publicly stand behind the team. You may disagree in private but in public and before others using position to protect galvanizes loyalty.

My 3 cents...

What thinkest thou?

Dan