When Leadership Starts to Look Like a Fan Club

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

Over the years, I’ve watched our court reporting community shift in ways that are both inspiring and… a little unsettling. We’ve always been a tight-knit profession. We rely on each other to share jobs, keep each other sharp, and fight for the future of stenography.

But lately, I’ve noticed something different: leadership is starting to center less on shared values and more on individual personalities. And that shift matters more than many people realize.

Why It Feels So Good to Follow a Personality

Let’s be honest – it’s exciting when someone comes along who brings energy, throws great events, gets people talking, and makes our world feel vibrant again. It’s easy to feel like, “Finally! Someone’s doing something.”

Social media supercharges this. A charismatic figure can build a brand faster than any association ever could. It feels fresh. It feels modern. It feels like we’re part of a movement.

And that’s exactly why it’s so easy to miss what’s happening underneath.

Little Shifts Add Up

There are subtle signs that the center of gravity is shifting:

  • Conversations start happening through one person’s platform instead of through professional forums.
  • Critique feels awkward — like you’re going against the group if you ask a hard question.
  • Transparency gets murky. You don’t really know who’s making decisions, how partnerships are formed, or what the endgame is.
  • Branding starts to overshadow substance.

Individually, none of these are dramatic. But together, they create a quiet pressure: go along, or risk being left out.

And for a profession built on neutrality and truth, that’s a red flag worth paying attention to.

Our Role Isn’t to Follow — It’s to Guard

As court reporters, we’re trained to observe critically. We notice inconsistencies. We document facts. We don’t take things at face value.

So why do we sometimes suspend that instinct when it comes to the “leaders” inside our own community? When our loyalty shifts toward personalities rather than principles, we risk losing the clarity that has always set this profession apart.

Real leadership invites questions. Real movements are bigger than one person. If criticism feels like betrayal, that’s not leadership — that’s influence taking the place of accountability.

It’s Okay to Step Back and Ask Hard Questions

This isn’t about singling anyone out. It’s about noticing the shift. We all have the right — and responsibility — to check the context before we align ourselves with any movement or figure.

Ask yourself:

  • Is this about advancing the profession or advancing a brand?
  • Are tough conversations welcomed, or quietly discouraged?
  • Is there transparency about decisions that affect the community?

When you start looking through that lens, the picture often changes.

We Build the Future — Not a Fan Club

The future of court reporting doesn’t belong to one person. It belongs to all of us — the working reporters, students, veterans, and advocates who show up day after day.

It’s okay to admire someone’s energy. It’s okay to appreciate good marketing. But admiration should never replace accountability. We can be inspired without surrendering our judgment.

If leadership starts to feel more like a fan club, that’s the moment to pause and remember who we are.

Final Thought:
Leadership built on personal branding can feel exciting, but our profession thrives when it’s built on shared values, open dialogue, and collective integrity. Questioning isn’t disloyal. It’s part of how we protect what matters most.

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.

***To unsubscribe, just smash that UNSUBSCRIBE button below — yes, the one that’s universally glued to the bottom of every newsletter ever created. It’s basically the “Exit” sign of the email world. You can’t miss it. It looks like this (brace yourself for the excitement):

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.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.