You Can’t Call Yourself a Leader if no one Grows When You’re Around

Posted bystenoimperiumPosted inAI and the Legal System, Court Reporting, Judicial Ethics Watch, Legal ServicesTags:, , , , , , , , ,

A reality check for the court reporting profession

Leadership Isn’t About Titles or Tenure

Too often in our profession, “leadership” gets mistaken for a job title, years in the field, or control over others. Some believe because they’ve opened an agency, chaired a committee, or taken the loudest voice in a meeting, that leadership is theirs by default. But authority on paper doesn’t automatically equal impact in practice.

In court reporting—whether you’re a firm owner, a mentor, or simply the most experienced reporter in the room—true leadership is not measured by how much control you exert, but by how much growth you inspire.

If the people around you are not developing, if your colleagues are not improving, and if your profession is not moving forward because of your presence, then your “leadership” is a façade.

Growth is the Ultimate Scorecard

Real leaders in our profession leave a trail of growth. They create opportunities for new reporters to find their footing, for agency staff to rise into responsibility, and for students to bridge the intimidating gap between theory and practice.

If everyone stagnates in your orbit, your position is hollow. The mark of leadership is that others leave stronger, more confident, and more skilled than they were when they first entered your circle.

Think of the leaders you admire most in our field. Chances are, you remember them not for the size of their agency, their bank account, or the conventions they headlined, but for how they made you better: more prepared, more ethical, more determined to protect the record.

The False Faces of Leadership

There are three common misconceptions in our industry about what makes a leader:

  1. Control. Some equate leadership with micromanaging every decision, hoarding clients, or dictating terms without collaboration. That isn’t leadership—it’s insecurity.
  2. Volume. Others confuse being the loudest with being the strongest. But yelling about the “steno shortage” or complaining endlessly about agencies does little if no solutions are modeled or systems improved.
  3. Titles. Holding the position of “agency owner,” “chief reporter,” or “association president” doesn’t automatically grant leadership credibility. If the people under your title are drowning, your title is a costume.

What Real Leaders Do

Leadership in court reporting is not abstract—it shows up in daily choices. True leaders:

  • Provide clarity instead of confusion. When rules shift or legislation threatens, they educate their teams on what it means, instead of hiding behind jargon or fear.
  • Build trust instead of fear. They pay reporters fairly and on time. They don’t dangle work assignments as punishment or pit freelancers against each other.
  • Develop people instead of egos. They invest in mentoring students, introducing new technologies responsibly, and ensuring others have chances to succeed—even if it means sharing the spotlight.

This is the difference between an agency that burns out talent and one that becomes a magnet for excellence. It is also the difference between an association that shrinks year after year and one that thrives across generations.

The Cost of Poor Leadership

When leadership is shallow, the entire ecosystem suffers.

  • Agencies shrink. Reporters leave, taking their skill and loyalty with them. Clients sense the instability, and cases go elsewhere.
  • Talent leaves. New graduates, once excited about their future, burn out after a year or two. Mid-career reporters, tired of being undervalued, switch professions altogether.
  • Culture erodes. Cynicism replaces pride. Instead of fighting for our profession, reporters retreat into survival mode, convinced that no one in “leadership” truly cares about them.

Sound familiar? Many of the challenges facing us today—consolidation by mega-firms, encroachment of digital recording, unfair contracting—are compounded by the absence of strong, authentic leadership inside our own ranks.

The Power of Transformational Leadership

On the flip side, when leadership is authentic, growth multiplies.

  • Students become professionals. Mentorship pipelines help them transition into the field with confidence.
  • Reporters become advocates. Equipped with the right knowledge, they take on legislative threats head-on, writing letters, testifying, and educating attorneys.
  • Agencies become communities. When leaders pay fairly, respect boundaries, and offer transparency, they attract loyal talent and satisfied clients.

One leader inspiring ten others doesn’t just create addition—it creates multiplication. A culture of trust and growth compounds results far beyond what any one person could achieve.

Leadership as Responsibility

If you hold a position of influence in court reporting—formal or informal—you carry responsibility. Not just to yourself, but to the reporters, students, and clients around you.

  • Are you mentoring the next generation?
  • Are you transparent in your business dealings?
  • Are you modeling integrity when others look the other way?
  • Are you fighting for the profession, or simply profiting off it?

Leadership is not about what you extract from others. It’s about what you deposit into them.

A Call to Court Reporting Leaders

This profession is at an inflection point. We cannot afford leaders who are placeholders, power-holders, or pretenders.

We need leaders who create leaders.

If you’re an agency owner—invest in your reporters, not just your revenue.
If you’re an association officer—make decisions that strengthen the profession, not just your inner circle.
If you’re a senior reporter—offer a hand to the student shadowing you, not just a warning about how tough it will be.

We need leaders who cultivate growth, who protect trust, and who inspire action.

Because at the end of the day, leadership isn’t about you—it’s about what happens to everyone else because of you.

The Mirror Test

Ask yourself this:

  • Are the people around me growing?
  • Do my colleagues leave better equipped than when they came?
  • Am I planting seeds for the next generation of stenographers, or am I depleting the soil for short-term gain?

If the honest answer is no, then your leadership is an empty shell.

You can’t call yourself a leader if no one grows when you’re around.

And for a profession fighting for its future, we can’t afford empty shells anymore.

StenoImperium
Court Reporting. Unfiltered. Unafraid.

Disclaimer

This article reflects my perspective and analysis as a court reporter and eyewitness. It is not legal advice, nor is it intended to substitute for the advice of an attorney.

This article includes analysis and commentary based on observed events, public records, and legal statutes.

The content of this post is intended for informational and discussion purposes only. All opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are based on publicly available information, industry standards, and good-faith concerns about nonprofit governance and professional ethics. No part of this article is intended to defame, accuse, or misrepresent any individual or organization. Readers are encouraged to verify facts independently and to engage constructively in dialogue about leadership, transparency, and accountability in the court reporting profession.

  • The content on this blog represents the personal opinions, observations, and commentary of the author. It is intended for editorial and journalistic purposes and is protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.
  • Nothing here constitutes legal advice. Readers are encouraged to review the facts and form independent conclusions.

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Published by stenoimperium

We exist to facilitate the fortifying of the Stenography profession and ensure its survival for the next hundred years! As court reporters, we've handed the relationship role with our customers, or attorneys, over to the agencies and their sales reps.  This has done a lot of damage to our industry.  It has taken away our ability to have those relationships, the ability to be humanized and valued.  We've become a replaceable commodity. Merely saying we are the “Gold Standard” tells them that we’re the best, but there are alternatives.  Who we are though, is much, much more powerful than that!  We are the Responsible Charge.  “Responsible Charge” means responsibility for the direction, control, supervision, and possession of stenographic & transcription work, as the case may be, to assure that the work product has been critically examined and evaluated for compliance with appropriate professional standards by a licensee in the profession, and by sealing and signing the documents, the professional stenographer accepts responsibility for the stenographic or transcription work, respectively, represented by the documents and that applicable stenographic and professional standards have been met.  This designation exists in other professions, such as engineering, land surveying, public water works, landscape architects, land surveyors, fire preventionists, geologists, architects, and more.  In the case of professional engineers, the engineering association adopted a Responsible Charge position statement that says, “A professional engineer is only considered to be in responsible charge of an engineering work if the professional engineer makes independent professional decisions regarding the engineering work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional engineer’s physical presence at the location where the engineering work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the engineering work.” If we were to adopt a Responsible Charge position statement for our industry, we could start with a draft that looks something like this: "A professional court reporter, or stenographer, is only considered to be in responsible charge of court reporting work if the professional court reporter makes independent professional decisions regarding the court reporting work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional court reporter’s physical presence at the location where the court reporting work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the court reporting work.” Shared purpose The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working toward together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from consumer to co-creator. In court reporting, our mission is “to bring justice to every litigant in the U.S.”  That purpose is shared by all involved in the litigation process – judges, attorneys, everyone.  Who we are is the Responsible Charge.  How we do that is by Protecting the Record.

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