Change confronts our identity and personal branding. It is particularly in times of change and adversity that we begin to realize that our personal brand is actually tied to our values! Recently I read William Bridges’ Managing Transitions. His book speaks to three phases of change: 1) letting go, 2) transition and realignment, and 3) new beginning and renewed energy. Even though we know that change can be good and a necessary part of living, it doesn’t mean we have to like it. We can become too comfortable in our current mode. Therefore, letting go and being in transition are challenging because these phases force us to think about who we are, what we are, who we intend to be.
I suffered an identity crisis when I down-shifted my career from a fast-paced career trajectory to a part-time internal position in a global firm. This turned out to be political suicide. The nebulous leadership position I had assumed as a part-time employee quickly became insignificant in the scheme of things as the position wasn’t valued. “The position was eliminated,” were the words I heard two years later. I was not completely surprised because when I went to a part-time status, I was written off and became of no value to executive management. So, what was really eliminated? Me. I was eliminated. I went from being a highly respected, knowledgeable and sought-after professional in my field to being cast aside. Even understanding the consequences of my decision to take the part time position, I was left with deep questions about who I was and a need to rebuild my personal brand.
Have you ever been laid off? Unless you are in the top echelon of leadership in an organization who manages to walk away with a sweet package and PR that makes you sound like you’ve ascended to saint-hood, losing a job is, (and you’ll be able to relate to this), well, very uncomfortable. It is demoralizing, even if it might later look like the best thing to have happened! And the longer you have been with a particular job, corporation or industry, the more your personal brand is tied to that very existence. This kind of transition means looking at your personal brand.
What do you do when you have to abruptly let go? Allow yourself the luxury of being in the moment and experience those wounds. Feelings are ok and a sense of being sad along with experiencing grief for your loss is normal. However, also be emotionally intelligent. Drive towards an attitude that will help you to realize your full potential in the new situation that you will design for yourself and probably love even more than the old one! Daniel Goleman defines emotional intelligence as having self-awareness, altruism, personal motivation, empathy, self-management, and having the ability to love and be loved. It has nothing to do with our job or our title or our particular professional skills or any label. Those are superficial identities. Change is constant, but our values are constant too, and will show up and define us in every challenge. At the core of your personal brand will be much more than your job litany, but your full capacity as a person.
Now, you might be asking about how you get through the healing part and into the space of acceptance, transition and realignment? How do you harness emotional intelligence? Let’s talk about recovery. The sign of a good actor is actually not in the perfection of a performance but actually in the ability to recover from a mistake or a slip-up without the audience knowing. For anyone who watches Dancing with the Stars this past season, Karina and Ralph were applauded by the judges for recovering from a terrible fall – getting back in sync and continuing the dance with poise and grace. In sports, athletes are told to compose themselves and hide fear, error or weakness from the opponents. Goals are scored against goalies, hits are made on pitchers, interceptions happen from a quarterback’s throw, teleprompters don’t work, people forget their line, dancers trip, or positions become scarce. In all, self-awareness and motivation, as components of emotional intelligence, are critical in recovery. In all examples above, people have been trained to “bounce back” and not crumble. It takes maturity and wisdom. It might take some help from a teammate, a colleague, a friend, family, a class, or even a therapist. Reclaiming our values and affirming our total identity deepens our roots. And, it is exactly with this values-based identity that we begin with a new sense of purpose and energy and enhance our personal brand.
