When “Real Jobs” Get All the Credit

At a conference last year, I listened to a trade association CEO (a highly capable and experienced leader) share reflections on his transition from industry into association management. Early in his talk, he quipped that he used to have a “real job.”

The joke landed with a thud.

The room, full of membership professionals, didn’t laugh. Not because they lacked humour, but because the comment revealed an attitude that is still all too common in this environment, that work in a membership organisation is somehow less “real” than work in the industries we serve.

A Cultural Hangover

That one remark says a lot about how we still view the role of associations. Many who move from industry into leadership positions bring with them a quiet hierarchy of value. In that hierarchy, commercial operations sit at the top: fast-paced, profit-driven, tangible. Associations? Worthy, perhaps, but slow, political, procedural.

It’s an unfair comparison. Running a trade body or professional institute is not a soft landing for ex-industry executives. It’s a shift into a completely different discipline, one that blends policy, governance, advocacy, diplomacy, and systems thinking. 

Association leadership isn’t a “step down” or a “sabbatical” from the real world; it is the real world, just one defined by complexity rather than competition.

One of Them, or One for Them?

The slip also highlights a common identity challenge. Too many CEOs from industry never fully make the psychological shift from operator to steward. They still see themselves as “one of the members” rather than “one for the members.” They approach leadership with the instincts of their former role, focusing on operations, profit, and process rather than on collective voice, trust, and purpose.

That can be useful to a point. Industry fluency matters, but without re-anchoring in the unique purpose of membership and serving a collective good, navigating consensus, and building social capital, an association risks becoming a trade outlet rather than a trade body.

The Work Behind the Work

Those who think association life is easy have never had to chair a fractious committee, build consensus across competing interests, or persuade policymakers with neither money nor mandate. They’ve never had to lead through volunteer politics, shifting member expectations, and a board that wants both innovation and no change at all.

The truth is, associations work in the shadows of the sectors they serve, and yet their impact on standards, safety, professionalism, and voice is profound. The work may be quieter, but it’s no less real.

Professional Pride

The fact the room didn’t laugh is encouraging. It shows a sector growing in confidence, one that recognises its own professionalism and complexity. Membership work demands commercial acumen, yes, but also public purpose, systems thinking, and moral courage.

We need more leaders who celebrate that, not belittle it. Leaders who understand that influence is earned differently here, through legitimacy, transparency, and service, not just balance sheets.

Reframing “Real”

Perhaps it’s time to reclaim that word. Real isn’t about revenue or pace. Real is about consequence. The work of membership bodies can shape entire professions, influence policy, protect consumers, or hold industries to account. It’s work with purpose baked in.

If anything, association leadership is hyper-real and every decision is visible, every stakeholder vocal, every success shared. It’s not easier; it’s just more complicated.

So, when someone jokes about having left a “real job,” what they’re really revealing is how little they yet understand about this one.

And maybe that’s the lesson. Our sector still has work to do in building its own professional identity, in helping people see association leadership not as a detour, but as a discipline.

Until then, let’s keep smiling politely at the jokes, but let’s also keep reminding people that we’re doing real work and that it is work that builds better industries, stronger professions, and fairer societies.

If that’s not a “real job,” then I don't know what is.