Hey Reader,

If you’re like me, you’ve spent a long time building the career you have today.

Over the years, we’ve taken on bigger roles, more responsibility, and…more pressure. We’ve built a reputation for being the leader who can handle difficult problems, and we have the title to prove it.

That focus on title carries into almost every social setting. When someone asks what we do, we know what to say. Our titles give them most of the answer. We don’t have to explain the 20 or 30 years of experience behind a simple introduction.

That can become difficult when we start thinking about doing something different.

We might find an opportunity that points us toward a new path. The work interests us. The money’s good. Our lifestyle stays intact. It uses the skills we’ve spent years building and sounds like something we’d genuinely enjoy. On the surface, there’s nothing stopping us.

Except one thought that keeps coming back: “How do I explain this to everyone?”

The new path may not come with the immediate recognition we’re used to. For example, a CFO gives a quick idea of seniority and experience. If they moved into different work that still used their skills but didn’t have that familiar label, their impact could suddenly take more explaining.

Before we’ve even brought up the idea to anyone, we can start running through imaginary conversations. Someone asks what we’re doing now. We tell them about the new path, and there’s an awkward pause while they try to put the pieces together. They say, “That sounds nice,” and we start wondering whether they think we’ve gone backwards.

Sometimes we can have that conversation in our heads so many times that we dismiss an opportunity before we’ve even considered whether we want it.

I’ve seen this in leaders who want something different and hold themselves back anyway. They’ve spent years building the experience and credibility behind a title, so walking away from it can feel as though they’re leaving some of what they’ve built behind. But a new direction doesn’t erase what came before it. The experience comes with us.

If the idea of taking a new path has been circling in your head lately, block out an hour to answer some questions.

First, write down what you know about the direction you’re considering:

• What interests you about it?
• Which skills would you take with you?
• What would you get from the work that you aren’t getting today?

Then write down what’s making you hesitate. Try to go beyond “I don’t know if it will work”:

• What specifically don’t you know?
• Are you worried about the work itself or the financial implications?
• Is there something you’d genuinely be giving up?
• Are you worried people won’t see you in quite the same way without the familiar title?

Writing those things down won’t make the decision for you. But it can help you separate the things that matter to you from the things you’re imagining other people might think.

What’s the path you haven’t quite let yourself consider yet? Hit reply. I’d like to hear about it.

From one human to another,

The human side of leadership is something I've built my keynote around. If that's a conversation you'd like to bring to your organization, you can find out more by clicking the banner below.

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