How I became a researcher of hybrid professional identity

Have you ever been asked to tell your career origin story?

...or how about your leadership story? Or your home run story? Or the story of how you started your business?...

Are these different stories for you? Or are they the same story told differently?

I'm actually super curious to hear how you frame and tell your career origin story because I find this type of storytelling really HARD to do well.

I've been asked to tell a version of these stories before, and SHEEESH, I never know where to begin. I always think I don't have a good one.

The wise little voice in my head says, "Of course you do Sarabeth, everyone has a story." But the other voice, my inner critic, says, "Your origin story isn't interesting. You don't have a near death experience to captivate an audience. Wait until that happens..."

The thing is, origin stories are about when and how you started or shifted in a big way in your career. Whether it's a career pivot, the moment you decided to start your side hustle, or an aha that happened at work that made you wake up... these are stories people want to hear because they reveal a moment of truth for you and what compels you in your career.

I challenge you, if you haven't thought about your career origin story and how to tell it, then go find it. It's worth figuring out. (And it comes in handy for all kinds of reasons...dinner party banter, TED talks, podcasts, job interviews...).

Also, your origin story is connected to your professional identity (I bet you saw that coming) because tracing the key moments of your career sheds light on what's been true for you the entire time, especially if you keep changing jobs or job titles!

Now for the juicy part…

I'm going to tell you my origin story behind how I became a researcher of hybrid professional identity. Because who grows up wanting to study this...it's another way I've invented my own career path.