Ever feel like you’re doing great work but still not getting noticed?
You’re not alone, and the fix isn’t a new title.
It’s something deeper.
I once had a mentee who wanted a promotion and a bigger team.
I asked why.
What about his current role wasn’t satisfying?
Was it the pay?
What was driving him?
He smiled. “Of course I’d be happy making more, but that’s not it.
I want what you have. I want more power.”
I looked back at him, confused, “Power?”
“Yes. Because of your role, you have more power to get things done.
People in other groups listen to you.”
I smiled back at him. “Titles don’t bring you that.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” I continued, “titles do matter.
They get you into the right meetings, give you budget authority, and put you in rooms where decisions happen.
But once you’re there, the title fades.
What matters is whether people actually listen.”
He was stuck in Career Invisibility.
He worked hard and got results, but was often overlooked.
He thought a new title would give him the authority he lacked.
But what actually solves the problem is natural authority.
He’s not alone.
Most leaders believe authority comes from climbing the ladder. That’s incremental thinking.
They optimize within the hierarchy instead of rethinking how influence actually works.
I’ve seen VPs struggle to get engineers to respond to Slack messages, while junior PMs shape architecture decisions.
The difference isn’t their title on LinkedIn.
What is Natural Authority?
Natural authority shows up when people sense three things:
- You’re qualified to offer valuable insight.
- You genuinely care about their success, not just your own.
- You speak from conviction about what matters, not just reciting company talking points.
To it, master leadership skills around people:
- scaling yourself
- inspiring peak performance
- talent magnetism
And around passion:
- defining your personal why
- storytelling
- sustaining your energy
These are how you demonstrate competence, care, and conviction: the building blocks of natural authority.
Self-assessment
Do you have natural authority?
Think back over the past month:
How many people outside your team asked for your input on something you weren’t officially responsible for?
Here’s the deeper question:
Were they asking because they had to, or because they trusted your perspective?
And one more to reflect on:
What’s one recent meeting where your influence landed, or didn’t? Why?
That moment holds clues to what’s working, and what might be missing.
Noticing when and why people listen is the first step toward building natural authority that transcends any org chart.
Natural authority isn’t just a feel-good concept.
It’s how you maximize the positional authority you already have.
Your title might get you the meeting invite, but natural authority determines whether your ideas move forward.
When you build it, you don’t just get opportunities, you become the person others want to give opportunities to.
Key Takeaways
✅ Titles get you in the room. Natural authority determines what happens once you’re there.
Your position might secure the meeting invite, but influence is what makes your ideas move forward.
✅ Career invisibility isn’t solved by working harder. It’s solved by building natural authority.
Smart, capable leaders stay overlooked because they play within the hierarchy instead of rethinking how influence actually works.
✅ Natural authority comes from three things: competence, care, and conviction.
People follow you when they sense you’re qualified to help, genuinely invested in their success, and speaking from authentic belief rather than corporate talking points.
