Episode Details
Back to Episodes[Linkpost] “Don’t just have a job role. Have a movement role.” by SofiaBalderson
Description
TL;DR:
Job titles are temporary. Movements last longer to achieve a common goal. When we anchor our identity in the mission rather than a single organisation, we collaborate more openly, make better decisions, and move faster toward ending factory farming. That's why I think we should have a movement role in addition to our current organizational role.
Acknowledgements: thanks to Aaron Boddy and Haven King-Nobles for your feedback on this post!
Introduction
Many people in nonprofits anchor their identity to their job title.
“Comms lead.”
“Policy manager.”
“Executive Director.”
But job titles are temporary.
Movements are not.
A job role is what you are accountable for inside a specific organisation.
A movement role is the kind of value you create for the cause over time, across roles and organisations.
Your movement role should guide your decisions.
Your job role should be one expression of it, for now.
This connects with ideas of ecosystem thinking: the belief that movements strengthen when organisations share insights and support one another.
This is not about disloyalty
Thinking in movement terms does not mean doing your job badly, caring less, or being half-committed.
You still owe your organisation competence, follow-through [...]
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Outline:
(00:43) Introduction
(01:28) This is not about disloyalty
(02:37) How this already shows up in the movement
(05:00) What this mindset changes
(06:23) How to choose a movement role
(08:22) A practical prompt
(08:54) I'd love to hear from you:
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First published:
February 9th, 2026
Linkpost URL:
https://open.substack.com/pub/notingthemargin/p/dont-just-have-a-job-role-have-a
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Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.