Thousands of people on LinkedIn probably have the exact same job title as you. And several people in your company probably do too. So how do you differentiate yourself in a room of lookalikes?

Whether you know it or not, you have two jobs and they are equally important, but we only tend to focus on the first one.

Job #1: What You Do

The only job we typically think about is what we do. That is your position on your business card. It is a function of your value and determines your money.

Job #2: Who You Are

Your other job is who you are. This is your presence in the business. It is a function of your values and determines your meaning. This is your superhero name.

Many people drive to work, leave who they are in the passenger seat and drag the other half of themselves into the office to go do what they have to do. It is impossible to be a high performer if you’re not fully present.

Who we are individually and collectively make up the culture of a team or organization. And when we fail to bring all of who we are to what we do, that culture erodes or becomes homogenous. Creativity dies and group think kicks in. You start to hear things like “That’s how we’ve alway done it.” And teammates engage in competition and workaholism instead of collaboration and high performance because they don’t know how else to succeed except to prove that they are better than the next person.

My Superhero Name: The Innerviewer

Most people call me a motivational speaker or business coach, but my superhero name is The Innerviewer. I’ve found that a one or two word superhero name is the easiest way to differentiate yourself from the rest of your colleagues or competition.

Whenever I’m networking, I lead with who I am (my superhero name) and then I close with what I do (speaker, consult, or coach). This immediately separates me from the thousands of people who claim to do exactly what I do as a speaker, consult, or coach.

When someone asks me “What do you do?” I don’t dread the question. I simply answer “I’m The Innerviewer.” At that moment, they are slightly confused and slight intrigued. They are leaning into me in order to understand what that means. And from there, I can go into what “innerviewing” is and how I work with people as a speaker, consultant, and coach.

Normally when we are asked “What do you do?” we say something general like “I’m a consultant.” and the conversation dead ends. It dies because people already have preconceived notions about what a consultant, lawyer, banker, doctor, coach, accountant, teacher, and engineer are and do, and therefore they don’t have any more questions or curiosity. But if you answer with your superhero name—something they have never heard before—their curiosity increases, the conversation will continue, and you will get the opportunity to explain your unique value and what makes you different.

Superhero Name = Your Personal Brand

There are probably lots of other managers or people will the same title as you in your organization or industry so how can you differentiate and position yourself? They say “Your work speaks for itself.” No it doesn’t. When we do great work, our team or boss may know and we may get a secret bonus, but great work doesn’t precede us unless we make it known. Given that, the easiest way to make yourself stand out is with a simple superhero name.

I derived The Innerviewer from my unique ability to ask the right questions at the right time. How far will the right answers to the wrong questions get you? Not far. That’s why The Innerviewer is valuable to my teams and clients. The Innerviewer isn’t The Devil’s Advocate who is asking counter questions just to help a team avoid group think. My goal is to ask the essential questions to help a team stay focused its core purpose and the current problem.

I’ve helped thousands of professionals consider their superhero names through my trainings and coaching. Many of them have similar titles such as manager, associate, sales representative, etc, but they use their superhero names to think about how they do what they do differently than others, whereas their job title only communicates what they do.

Superhero Name Examples

An organization can have hundreds of people with the same title, but each individual adds something unique to the team above and beyond their title. Oftentimes, this value add goes unspoken. Instead, we naturally gravitate towards certain people for certain things we need to get done. We always go to Sean when need some numbers crunched. We always look to Sarah to facilitate the difficult conversations. But why not make it known who to go to for what kinds of situations? Why not call Sean The Number Cruncher and Sarah The Facilitator?

Here are some examples of superhero names used by “famous” people:

Tony Hsieh:The Chief Happiness Officer at Zappos for his commitment to creating a work environment where employees and customers are happy and can thrive as themselves.

Randy Komisar: The Virtual CEO for his role as a strategic consultant for various technology firms in the Silicon Valley.

Muhammad Yunus: Banker To The Poor for his role in kickstarting the micro-finance movement and learning how to lend to the “unbankable” without the risks.

Cesar Milan: The Dog Whisper for his unique ability to listen and speak to dogs and train them to be obedient.

Jack Welch: Neutron Jack for his rigorous strategy to cut all GE businesses where he didn’t feel they could be at least #1 or #2 and cut all employees and managers in the bottom 10%.

Here are some examples of superhero names used by people I’ve trained:

The Deal Closer: This person wraps clients around their finger and a bow around a new idea and presents it to the client in a unique way that the client willingly receives and accepts as a gift.

The Planner: This person makes sure that every project in on schedule, thinks in the form of Gantt Charts, and knows where all of the bottle necks are in any project that can cause delays.

The Connector: This person connects ideas and individuals wherever they are to help move the team forward in its thinking or tasks.

The Light Switch: This person knows how to make light of tough situations to keep the team motivated with their big picture perspective or even a joke.

Every team needs a Deal Closer, Planner, Connector, or Light Switch. These roles aren’t in any job description, but they create value and move a team forward.

While superhero name may sound cheesy, the process of thinking about what your contribution is to a team or client beyond just the job title on your business card is extremely valuable. And not every person chooses to use their superhero name publicly like I do. Some people keep it to themselves and use it as an anchor to remember their uniqueness in homogenous environments.

A superhero name serves as a great source of meaning because you know that you are more than an expendable team member. You add something unique to your team beyond what your job title suggests. They can replace you with someone who can do what you do, but they can’t replace who you are and what you mean to a team.

Knowing my superhero name has helped me stick to my areas of strength, say “No” to opportunities that don’t allow me to be who I truly am, collaborate rather than compete, and uniquely position myself in homogenous environments. In other words, it has allowed me to be who I want to be, do what I want to do, and earn enough to continue being who I want to be and do what I want to do.

What is your superhero name? And why? I’m eager to see what you come up with below.

Wishing you more happy hours,