This essay explores organisation-external communications, how to engage the world out there to impact how your peers think and act, how this process shapes our identity and what we might become. It forms part of research into my next book on organisational and human sensemaking. Read Part I. 

In Part II of this essay we’ll probe the following questions:

• What are the properties of a healthy professional identity? 
• What is an optimal rate of identity evolution? 
• What prompts this evolution? 
• What occurs when this evolution feels too fast or too slow?

Part III will announced via the Radar mailing list.

Part II Contents

• I. Why we evolve
• Self-awareness that evolution has occurred
• Professional self-awareness
• Mental models for the pace of evolution
• II. Ascertaining the health of a professional identity
• III. Propensity and tolerance for evolution
• Factors affecting a tolerance for change
• We all follow a unique path
• Intercultural differences
• Coming up next
• Footnotes

I. Why we evolve

A person’s professional identity is constantly evolving, broadly in response to:

• intrinsic stimuli, such as general feelings of anxiety, stagnation, jealousy, empowerment, confidence, or hope for their situation, often framed by an idealised ‘sense of optimal professional growth’, 
• extrinsic stimuli, such as from joining a new company, feedback from a line manager or family member, the promotion of peers, being invited to speak at an industry event, stepping away from career to start a family, or being laid off (Omarji, 2024).

Self-awareness that evolution has occurred

A person’s ability to monitor their inner and outer selves, self-awareness—varies significantly. During times of rapid evolution we tend to focus on coping with new situations and stimuli, leaving less time time to address how we might have changed. For some, a significant, sometimes negative event becomes the prompt for self-reflection e.g. burn-out or a panic attack (Miller & Chipchase, 2020), with visceral emotions obscuring their understanding of underlying issues (Kross, Ayduk, & Mischel, 2005). For others, a slow-down or pause provides the space for self-reflection.

Self-awareness can be honed through through introspection, reflection, meditation, journaling, conversations with close trusted friends and mentors, from structured therapy or other methodological approaches drawn from psychiatry and social psychology (Siegel, 2018). It is framed by a person’s openness to critical feedback and a willingness to adapt and change (Rogers, 1961).

Returning to Marcia (1980), at a high level:

“The better developed this (identity) structure is, the more aware individuals appear to be of their own uniqueness and similarity to others and of their own strengths and weaknesses in making their way in the world. The less developed this structure is, the more confused individuals seem to be about their own distinctness from others and the more they have to rely on external sources to evaluate themselves”.

Professional self-awareness

Organisations develop processes to support self-awareness as it relates to their employees’ work, from cultures of communication to performance reviews and other feedback mechanisms. Self awareness is a foundational requisite to performance improvement, which then indirectly manifests in career advancement, greater responsibility, salary increases, bonuses and awards. Softer positive signals of progress include stronger social bonds with colleagues, reputation enhancement, and inclusion in more strategic conversations, although the converse can also be true when self-awareness is lacking.

Mental models for the pace of evolution

People often use place or movement metaphors to describe the evolution of their identity in relation to their career, such as “feeling grounded, or conversely “feeling lost”, or “being stuck” (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Recognition that change is required to transition to a healthier mental state, and that their professional identity will evolve as part of this process is often positioned as “being in transition”, or more broadly “finding oneself”. (Parts I and II of this essay focus on the journey, whereas in Part III we will turn our attention to destinations).

To recap from Part I: attention paid to career growth varies considerably from person-to-person and fluctuates over the course of a lifetime. Every person encompasses a unique set of attributes, with relative strengths and weaknesses compared to their peers.

II. Ascertaining the health of a professional identity

We can consider health of a person’s professional identity from two interrelated perspectives, as shown in Figure 1:

1. a person’s perception of themselves—the core identity outwards,
2. other peoples’ perception of that person—the audiences’ view of our outer identity layer.

For both of these perspectives, we can consider the following characteristics:

• authenticity, e.g. ‘being true to oneself’, or commenting on a gulf between “how a person’s online reputation is different to who they really are in person”, 
• stability (Allport, 1961, Rosenberg, 1975),
• consistency,
• adaptability (Marcia, 1980),
• clarity, 
• distinctiveness (Marcia, 1980; Jaspal and Breakwell, 2014; Jaspal, 2015), e.g. compared to other job interview candidates, or being considered as a speaker for a conference,
• empathy, e.g. an appreciation of the challenges a person has faced and what it took to overcome them,
• beliefs and values, either alignment to, or respect for differences,
• associations, e.g. skills, accomplishments, education institutions, prior or current employers, 
• value of that person to their community, organisation, or society, which encompasses financial, cultural, aspiration and other facets ultimately defined by the audience, and,
• longevity.

As an example:

Imagine you’re at an industry conference and are in the audience for a presenter you haven’t come across before. Their persona and presentation comes across as authentic, their decision making process communicates values that seem to align with your own, and they leave a refreshingly distinct and positive impression compared to other presenters you’ve sat through. You look them up online and find various touchpoints that demonstrate a consistent tonality and thematic thread running through their long career. Recognising the potential for reciprocal value, you later strike up a conversation with them.

In that conversation, consider the ways in which you implicitly or explicitly communicate your value as a reciprocal contact to their professional network. A non-exhaustive list might include: 

• where and how you approach them, whether you are introduced by a mutual associate or introduce yourself,
• your appearance, what you wear and whether it adheres to the norms of this professional community, other visible signals from e.g. stickers on a laptop, your smartphone lock screen wallpaper, your watch or jewellery, or the book you are carrying, 
• when and how you communicate associations you have in common such as ethnic background, lived experience, alma mater, or affiliations such as relevant project experience and professional groups you belong to,
• how you adapt your language, your ability to effectively code-switch, 
• the questions you ask to demonstrate trustworthiness, build authority, communicate or bridge values,
• the touchpoints your provide, such as exchanging an email or social media contacts, what you commit to, and actually follow up on.

This social interaction balances the goal of leaving a positive, relevant, and memorable impression without coming across as over-eager or even worse, crass. It’s a social ballet that can decades to refine, as each new experience is internalised and practiced in new social settings.

III. A propensity and tolerance for evolution

The need for personal growth appears to be a human universal (Maslow, 1943; Erikson, 1959; Rogers, 1961; Csikszentmihalyi, 1990). For the purposes of this essay I’ll assume that personal growth encompasses professional growth, and with it, a person’s identity as shown in Figure 2. Their career might be a priority over other facets of their life, or a secondary concern.

FIGURE 2. Professional identity as a subset of personal identity

To explore the optimal rate of professional identity evolution I have repurposed Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1975) concept of ‘flow’, as shown in Figure 3a. In the yellow zone the pace of evolution feels manageable without inducing anxiety, panic or conversely feelings of boredom or stagnation. Figure 3a assumes that the professional identity starts to form in a person's early 20s, but it could be earlier or much later in life. This diagram is deliberately over-simplified, but bear with me.

A Danish company’s local employee is promoted as the newly appointed manager of an overseas branch in Japan—her first international assignment. On arriving she is frustrated that her Japanese colleagues’ expectations of her as a manager are different to what she is used to.

In Denmark an egalitarian approach works well with her team, whereas her local Japanese team expect greater adherence to the organisational hierarchy (Meyer, 2014) affecting her deep-rooted stances on inclusion in decision making and delegation.

In the first few months as she tries to adapt she feels disassociated from her ‘natural self’ as if she is role-playing. This unfamiliarity is grounded in her belief system and feels deeply unsettling—leading to prolonged periods of anxiety and a panic attack as she seeks to adjust to a new role and working culture.

Factors affecting a person’s tolerance for change

A person’s tolerance for professional identity evolution—shown by the width of the yellow zone in Figure 3a—can vary month to month over the course of their lifetime in response to factors such as:

• personality,
• ego, e.g. willingness to shed a closely held identity attribute to adapt to new circumstances,
• societal or intercultural norms, e.g. pressures from gender expectations or faith,
• familial norms, e.g. pressures to enter a given career path such as a doctor or lawyer, versus no pressure at all,
• wellbeing and resilience e.g. change in relationship status, or a health scare,
• mindset, e.g. appetite for risk, new experiences,
• ignorance, e.g. a poor understanding of how their organisation handles career progression, or of the consequences of choices made, 
• biases, e.g. a delta between perceived versus actual abilities, or from poor advice,
• extrinsic pressures e.g. organisational pressure to take on a new public-facing role, or,
• life stage, e.g. towards retirement, a person may become ‘set in their ways’ (a narrowing tolerance), or adopts an attitude of ‘no fucks given’ (potentially a broadening tolerance) after a lifetime of adhering to societal expectations.

We can visualise changes in a person’s tolerance for change in response to these factors although the widening or narrowing of the zone, as shown in Figure 3b. The edges of the optimal state may be clearly defined or fuzzier, depending on personality and/or priorities.

We all follow a unique path

It is unlikely that a person’s optimal pace of identity change follows a steady, linear trajectory over the course of their lifetime as shown in Figures 3a and 3b, even if in-the-moment it can be difficult to gauge whether the pace is accelerating or decelerating.

For example in Figure 3c this evolution may take on step-like properties of acceleration/deceleration in response to changing jobs every few years (A), follow an S-curve in response to a major life event such as starting a family or burn-out (B), or exponentially keep pace with changing motivations over life-stages (C) using Armstrong’s 12-stages of life framework (2016). 

Whilst some degree of evolution is universal, I don’t assume that ‘high up and to the right’ is the preferred outcome. A person may have limited commitment to professional (or vocational) development (D), because they prioritise other facets of their life: friends and family, nurture an enriching non-work-related community, hobbies and so on.

The impact of organisational contexts

To unpack the step-like chart (A), consider the likelihood of identity-evolution for a person in the following narrow range of organisational contexts as they regularly change jobs:

• operational maturity, working for an established company versus start-up,
• degrees of specialisation, a highly specialised role in a large corporation versus taking on a broader role in a smaller company,
• duration of role, the eighth year in a role, versus the first,
• stage of career, their fifth professional role, versus their first,
• professional domain, whether established or emergent, 
• public exposure, internal-only role, versus an outward facing role with exposure to a wider range of interactions and feedback,
• being laid off, impacting their sense of self-worth, a process of grief and reinvention (Omarji, 2024), 
• diversity of cultures experienced, within the organisation e.g. engineering culture versus marketing culture, across organisations, across industries, or across geographies.

Each of these impacts the pace of change, and with it the likely shape of the optimal zone over the course of a lifetime. 

The impact of intercultural differences

Another lens through which to consider pressures on a person’s identity to evolve or remain static is through the intercultural frameworks of:

• Six-cultural dimensions, e.g. high versus low uncertainty avoidance cultures, individualism versus collectivism, expected gender roles, uncertainty avoidance, or indulgence versus restraint (Hofstede, 1980),
• World Values Survey, e.g. survival versus self expression, traditional versus secular-rational values (Inglehart & Welzel, 2000),
• Universal Values, e.g. personal versus social focus, growth versus protection (Schwartz, 2012).

As an example:

Using Schwartz’s Universal Values model we can compare the values of a high conformity culture such as Saudi Arabia with pressures to adhere to traditions, collectivist values and rules, with the higher openness for change in Australia where self-direction and hedonism are more likely to frame an individual’s choices. 

Although useful, the primary limitation of these models lies in their broad representation of cultural- rather than individual-values, whereby people are influenced by the values of their culture, but may decide not to associate with them.

Coming up next

In Part III of this essay I’ll explore how sharing impacts professional identity over time. This will enable us to unpack concepts such as ‘imposter syndrome’, why sharing can be anxiety inducing (and how to mitigate that anxiety), and the role of totems and other artefacts to signal our idealised identity.

Part III will first be published on the Radar mailing list.

Footnotes

Armstrong’s (2016) framework (shown in Figure 4) is a useful primer to consider how motivations might changes over the course of a lifetime, even though there is considerable variation across cultures in duration of each of the stages after early childhood.

FIGURE 4. Armstrong’s twelve stages of life

Dan Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness, shown in Figure 5 is a good starting point to understand the mechanics of self awareness.

Figure 5. Siegel’s Wheel of Awareness

References

• Allport, G. W. (1961). Pattern and growth in personality. Holt, Reinhart & Winston. 
• Armstrong, Thomas. The Human Odyssey: Navigating the Twelve Stages of Life (2016)
• Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper & Row.
• Erikson, E.H. (1959). Identity and the life cycle: selected papers. International Universities Press.
• Jaspal, R. (2015). Identity and Intercultural Conflict: Perspectives across Disciplines. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Jaspal R, Breakwell GM, eds. Identity Process Theory. In: Identity Process Theory: Identity, Social Action and Social Change. Cambridge University Press; 2014:i-ii.
• Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage
• Inglehart, R., & Baker, W. E. (2000). Modernization, cultural change, and the persistence of traditional values. American Sociological Review, 65(1), 19–51.
• Kross, E., Ayduk, O., & Mischel, W. (2005). When asking “why” does not hurt: Distinguishing rumination from reflective processing of negative emotions. Psychological Science, 16(9), 709-715.

• Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Metaphors We Live By. University of Chicago Press, 1980.

• Marcia, James. (1980). Identity in adolescence.
• Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–396
• Meyer, E. (2014). The culture map: Breaking through the invisible boundaries of global business. PublicAffairs.
• Miller, J. & Chipchase, J. (2020). Emotional Resilience in Leadership Report. Studio D publication. 
• Omarji, Sophia (2024). Life after Spotify: what no one tells you about life after layoffs. Medium
• Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person: A therapist’s view of psychotherapy. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

• Rosenberg, M. (1975). The Measurement of Self-Esteem. Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Princeton University Press.

• Schwartz, S. H. (1992). Universals in the content and structure of values: Theoretical advances and empirical tests in 20 countries. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 1–65.

• Siegel, D. J. (2018). Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence—The Groundbreaking Meditation Practice. TarcherPerigee.

• Schwartz, S. H., Cieciuch, J., Vecchione, M., Davidov, E., Fischer, R., Beierlein, C., … & Dirilen-Gumus, O. (2012). Refining the theory of basic individual values. Journal of personality and social psychology, 103(4), 663.
• Schwartz, S. H. (2015). Basic individual values: Sources and consequences. In D. Sander & T. Brosch (Eds.), Handbook of value (pp.63–84). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Photos

All China:

• Crushed rock, Daocheng
• Bund view, Shanghai
• Through the lens, Aishanmen
• A rapid pace of change, Chengdu
• Phone call body language, Shanghai