Discover Your Hybrid Professional Identity with Creative Disruptor, Sarabeth Berk

Discover Your Hybrid Professional Identity with Creative Disruptor, Sarabeth Berk

Jenn DeWall:

Hi everybody, it’s Jenn DeWall here, and on this week’s episode of Crestcom’s The Leadership Habit podcast, I sat down to talk with Dr. Sarabeth Berk all about our hybrid professional identity. For those that might be unfamiliar with Dr. Sarabeth Berk, she is the leading expert on hybrid professional identity and a hybrid professional herself. She was featured in Forbes. She’s a TEDx speaker. And as the author of the book, More Than My Title today, Sarabeth helps professionals discover and articulate their hybrid professional identity and unique value in the workforce. Since so many of us call ourselves that Jack of all trades or we wear many hats, and we struggle to express who we truly are. So I hope you enjoy this conversation about workplace hybridity, how to look for it in yourself, as well as how to find that within your teams. Enjoy!

Meet Sarabeth Berk, Creative Disruptor

Jenn DeWall:

Hi everyone, it’s Jenn DeWall. And on this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast, I’m sitting down with Sarabeth Berk, and you might be like, who is she? Well, she is the thought leader. She is known as a creative disruptor, but she is the thought leader of all-around workplace hybridity. And many of you might be thinking, what is that concept? So we’re going to explore that what it means to you as a leader and why it’s an essential thing that we need to understand as we’re looking out into our career and how we can not only manage our own career trajectory but also those of our team, what can we do to create a place where everyone can thrive using their best strengths? Sarabeth, thank you so much for being on the podcast. We are so grateful to have you!

Sarabeth Berk:

Jenn, I was thrilled to be asked. I’m so excited to be here with you!

Jenn DeWall:

All right. So you have to explain it because I know that now I’m really obsessed with this topic, but I have to admit it. It was something that I didn’t know as much about. So could you share with our audience just what the heck? What do you do, Sarabeth, Beth, what do you do? Your creative disruptor. I love that title, but what do you do?

Sarabeth Berk:

It’s so funny that you start with that question because that is literally my research question. How do people answer the, what do you do? It’s a really hard question. So me in a nutshell, and just to clarify, I am a researcher of hybrid professional identity, and that is something no one’s really framed or phrased before. So I’m one part, a researcher from the identity world, like who are we as humans? Another part of my work is career development, and the third part is personal branding.

Sarabeth Berk:

So I’m sort of meshing all those together because the workforce is more than just experts in generalists these days. And people use that phrase. I wear a lot of hats because they’re trying to express, I do many things. I don’t know how to name myself. And what I found is that there’s this level of hybridity that certain workers have, and that’s what I’ve been tapping into and unlocking, and honestly, helping people rediscover who they really are in their work, which is their unique value prop. And then they can stand out and find their dream job and really fit into teams.

Jenn DeWall:

Gosh, I love this topic. So again, you’re going to want to listen to talk about how can we market ourselves? How can you answer that question? What do you do? What inspired you to want to, you know, begin researching or really thinking about how do we answer that question? What inspired you to want to go down that path?

Becoming a Hybrid Professional

Sarabeth Berk:

Oh yeah. I was personally struggling with my own career. I never thought I’d become a researcher on this topic that was not on my radar. My background starts in art and education and design, but lo and behold, every time I had sort of a career change, or I was feeling stuck, I was actually going through an identity crisis, and no one ever told me that people usually look at you and they’re like, Oh, you’re just burned out. Or you’re having some depression or, you know, you’re going through a growth spurt. And really, people don’t talk about identity as part of our work. So when I was having this professional identity crisis and wondering who the heck am I and what do I call myself? And what job am I looking for? That’s when I realized what if I researched this?

And I was in grad school working on my doctorate. So it was a perfect time to do more self-discovery and to use my research methodologies in real practice. So that’s how I got started was asking people like you, what do you really do? And what do you call yourself when you’re doing it? And it led me to this deep rabbit hole that people are so much more than their job titles. And lo and behold, this has become the passion I didn’t know I was supposed to bring into the world.

Jenn DeWall:

But it’s so important because I think that when we, and you wrote a book more than my title, when we think about, you know, us, not only just as the role that we play for an employer, but we can, I love the concept of hybridity and how we’re going to talk about that today because I feel like it gives us the initial vote of confidence. We get to see ourselves in the value that we can bring to a team or to an organization. And so I think it’s an important way that all of us as leaders start to look at ourselves, look at our teams because we are all more than our title. I just, I love that. Like that again, another plug for your book. I love that because I think it’s just empowerment. So what is hybrid work? You talk about that there’s kind of three different areas. Can you walk us through what those are?

Hybrid Workplaces, Hybrid Jobs and Hybrid Workers

Sarabeth Berk:

Yeah. I’d love to give some definitions because I’m sure your listeners are still not clear about what we’re talking about. Yeah. Okay. So just to lay it out there, we are hearing so much in the media right now about hybrid work. It’s just like every headline- and what’s happening. I think the term hybrid work is becoming a catch-all phrase, and we really need to break it down into what we mean.

So I believe hybrid work signifies three parts of the work world. The first is hybrid workplaces, which is really what the media has been talking about, where we’ve got the physical and the digital remote combinations of how workers are returning to work. So part one is the hybrid workplace. Part two is hybrid jobs and roles and like hybrid work itself. And then part three is hybrid workers. The people doing the work are hybrid. So if we take the term hybrid work and put it into workplaces, the jobs, and the people, that’s a very different framework for us to actually have a better conversation and then address what we need to, to meet people’s needs. Does that help a little bit?

Jenn DeWall:

Absolutely. Well, and I think it’s an important differentiator. We’re not talking about the blend or the return to work that you might be seeing in terms of going into a more hybrid working environment. We’re talking about what the, like who you are as an individual and your own unique hybridity as your job. And you talked about it in the difference. And again, I am not the expert, so that’s why we have Sarabeth here. So you’re going to watch me learning as we go or listen, but you talk about the difference between an expert versus a generalist. And that’s kind of a framework for how we can understand our own hybridity. What does that mean?

Sarabeth Berk:

Yeah. So first, I’ll just start with the definition of what a hybrid professional is or what a hybrid professional identity is because I think it’s a type of identity. So my definition is its people who have multiple professional identities and work at the intersection of those. So it’s the integration across these multiple identities that make somebody hybrid as opposed to other people that have a lot of identities, but they’re separated. So I give this definition and explanation in my TEDx talk where I’m like, here’s my main framework. There are three types of professional identities in the workforce. So singularity is the first type. And we usually reference this as experts and specialists. People that only have one professional identity, a singularity, the second type is multiplicity. You have many identities, and we referenced these people as generalists and gig workers, freelancers, or any version of multi-talented multi-passionate multi-hyphenate because that just means many. The third type of identity is hybridity. So think of a Venn diagram, and suddenly the circles are intersecting and overlapping. And so a hybrid professional is in those intersectional spaces because they’re blending and merging and intertwining identities literally into something that we don’t have a name to call it. They defy labels. So we need workers in the singularity bucket and workers in the multiples seat, and workers in the hybridity because the three of those together are doing different functions and serving a purpose on a team or in a business.

But we’ve really been stuck as a society in a binary of just experts or specialists, sorry, experts or generalists, and that’s the singularity and multiplicity. So that’s why it’s such a breakthrough to give people a third choice, which is the permission to be all of their identities at the same time. And that’s the revelation.

Naming New Hybrid Careers

Jenn DeWall:

What does that mean? Have to be your identity at the time? Could you give us an example of maybe what that looks like?

Sarabeth Berk:

Yeah, definitely. So let’s think back like ten years ago, we had workers in the workforce that were doing marketing, and they’re also doing some storytelling and some, you know, digital blogging, and they were taking photos of themselves and posting it. So back in the day, we’d be like, why aren’t you doing these four things like over here, you’re the marketer, but over here, you’re the photographer. And over here, you’re online. Like how does that fit together? And that’s where we’d say this person just does many things. They wear a lot of hats. But when they’re actually blending and merging those three or four areas together, we started naming that type of hybrid a social media influencer because that is the convergence of why you’re storytelling, taking photos, marketing, doing all this stuff. And we didn’t know what to call that. So that’s the beauty of hybridity is suddenly all these parts fit together in something much bigger. And it serves a new role in the workforce.

Jenn DeWall:

When we understand our hybridity, like, for example, if I was, let’s say I’m a social media influencer. I’m not. Because I can’t work on social media, but what does that mean for me? Is it more of that- I have my own understanding of who I am and the value that I bring? So it’s a confidence piece or a competence piece? What does that mean for the individual when we kind of now finally understands ourselves in this different way?

Sarabeth Berk:

Yeah. I love that. So I’ll, I’ll tell my own story to explain this one better. You know, earlier in my career, everyone was saying, Sarabeth, Beth, you can have a lot of interests, but you just have to choose one thing, right? Like, pick a path. And I had multiple interests, and I loved art. I love design. I love teaching. I wasn’t quite in my research stage yet. And it was like, I don’t want to just pick one, but I had to. So I ended up in the classroom, and I got compartmentalized, right? People are like, Oh, Sarabeth, you’re a teacher. And that became the identity I was known for. But I was like, no, over here, I’m making art and selling it in galleries. And over here, I’m creating websites. And I know these things are all part of me, but I don’t know how to show up with all those pieces connected. So I felt like I was being pigeon-holed, and I had to sort of turn on and off different parts of myself, depending on where I showed up or who knew me. That felt really exhausting and unfulfilling, right? I would go to one part of my job and just be that one thing. And then I would switch gears like at night or on the weekends. And I felt that I wanted to be seen. And I wanted to find a place in the workforce where I belonged because all of those different parts of myself mattered. So this notion of figuring out your hybrid professional identity is finally realized, realizing your fullest and truest professional self. And first of all, being able to identify it for you.

Like, I did not know what to call myself as an artist, educator, researcher, designer. And when you list it out, that doesn’t sound like much. You’re just like, great. What does that mean? So the trick as a hybrid is the relationships between those identities. You have to be able to make sense of it for other people and for yourself. So at my convergence, that intersection of those four. That’s why I call myself a creative disruptor. I have a whole process on how you figure this out, but essentially you dive into those intersections and look deeply at what you’re really doing and who you really are. And you notice themes. And the themes that came up for me were being this like challenger and questioner and pushing people and whatnot. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I’m this creative disruptor. That’s me at my core. When all four of my identities are working in harmony, that helped me finally feel like I knew who I was and I could tell their people. So it was a part of self-confidence and empowerment that I didn’t just have to be one thing at a time.

Finding Your Hybrid Professional Identity at the Intersections

Jenn DeWall:

Like I’m not just, I, and I love that because I think when we typically think about our resume or the past job experience that we have, typically we do reduce that experience in a very simple way, just down to the title, I’m saying, well, I was a merchandise specialist. I was a merchandise analyst. What does that even mean? And I think it’s, what does it mean for me when I know that in those roles, I also had many different things that I was doing that weren’t necessarily solely related to being an analyst or solely related to being, you know, whatever that title was. I feel like I almost forget all of it because it wasn’t reflected in my title. And like, that’s, that’s more or less how I see that. But I’m curious what, what do you think is the role, or I guess, how do we even start to begin your hybridity? Is it as simple as just saying like, I have different interests, this is what brings me joy, or is it much more complex than that?

Sarabeth Berk:

I mean, it’s essential that, but a lot more steps and a lot more digging what I’ve been learning as I interview and support people in discovering their true professional identity and their hybridity, which I think is the top of the journey in your career. If you don’t know who you are, then how do you express what you do and why you’re unique and how you stand out. So personally, I think identity work is the first step, not your resume. But, it does start with this notion when I ask people, okay, tell me what you do. And most people start just listing a number of things. To me, that’s a signal. They actually don’t have clarity on what’s their foundation. I call that what are your primary professional identities? And we typically have three or four is the upper limit because you have a lot of identities and things you do, but only certain ones you’re using frequently. They are your truest areas of expertise. So first, it really is kind of doing a self-assessment of, like, what are my professional identities, list them out, and then narrowing it down, which are the ones that are truly my best area and light me up. And I have a love, and I want to tell the world about it, and then the next step after that is a Venn diagram, put those primary identities into a circle and notice, okay, now who am I in the intersection between these different identities?

That’s a really big question. So that’s where people get stuck, and I use a lot of different tools and processes. Some of it to your point is looking at feelings, like when you feel your best and then kind of letting go of the regular words you use, like, Oh, I feel my best when I’m problem-solving. I hear that a lot from people. And I say, you have to tell me how, like, what kind of problem-solving let’s get more specific. So we do this deep dive into the intersections, and then slowly but surely, there’s an aha moment where these new words just emerge. And it’s like my favorite moment in the process with people someone would say, like, you know, I’m really adjusting tension. That’s why I’m working with this team. And I go, Oh my gosh, did you just hear what you said? You’re the tension adjuster. And they were like, wow, that’s who I am. And so we have these like identity realization moments.

Jenn DeWall:

And it’s just, I love the concept of identity realization moments, because that, I think it’s, that is career clarity. That is that level of, if we’re thinking about, you know, the difficult job of a leader; sometimes it’s creating that environment. It’s creating meaningful work, especially for our younger generations or Gen Z and Gen Y. But when I can see how I can act, and I do that, how, in terms of recognizing, I do bring a lot of value to this team. How, like, what’s the leader’s role? I know we talked about this, and this is still broad, but what is the leader’s role and being able to help an employee figure out their own hybridity?

Sarabeth Berk:

Yeah. I think I’m just starting to investigate more about the organizational side. I think one part is a lot of people don’t feel seen in their work, right. So when I’ve done a little bit of this with teams in organizations, it’s sort of like going back to your strengths finders or some of your own personality assessments and bringing up those kinds of words you’ve learned about yourself. But as a leader, it’s saying, who are we beyond our job titles on this team? Like Jenn’s Director of this and Sarabeth’s, you know, Manager of that, like, what does that even mean? Do we know each other? So doing this kind of identity work with your team members and colleagues helps everybody strip away these job titles and start to reveal the words they want to call themselves and be known as, which is a very different way of being in your work. So when I’ve worked in organizations, my job title has been late Director of this program, right? Just pretty basic. But when I learned about my hybridity and started expressing that and using that more publicly, I said, hi, I’m Sarabeth. I’m the Director of this program, but I really call myself a Creative Disruptor because blah, blah, blah. When I did that double sort of introduction of my formal job title and then my hybrid title, people saw me differently. I got a different response and reaction. They would like to lean in and become intrigued. And it would open up dialogue because they saw me as more than just this program director, they really understood me, and there was more value created, and I felt a better sense of connection and understanding between us. So I think for teams, it’s really about revealing each other to each other and becoming clear on who people are and not just what they do.

So that is so important. And maybe it’s because I’ve just read a book on collective intelligence. So it’s top of mind right now. But when I think of collective intelligence, the ability to, you know, leverage people’s strengths to come together, to hopefully solve a problem in a better way or make a different decision. I feel like hybridity and how we see ourselves is just such a compliment to really bringing the collective intelligence of a team, helping that team understand that you are all more than whatever. You know, someone created that title five, ten years ago, that may not even be the problem that you’re solving anymore, but when you can understand how you add value, I, I just think that this is such a liberating way to show up at work because obviously, it drives meaning, but then we can truly get the best of people. And we aren’t limited by just saying, Oh, they’re – and I think we talked about this in our prep call- Like, they’re, they’re “just a” this. Or they’re “just a” that. Like, no, this person, maybe as you’re talking, I’m thinking, what would I be? And I feel like I’m a connector in some way. I know I still need to flush out my hybrid title and what that would be.

Jenn DeWall:

But if I think about myself, not as a Leadership Development Strategist or Facilitator, but as a Connector, that inspires me to also take different actions into going all-in on really wanting to enhance that value that I bring. So instead of just saying, like, I don’t even know where to go. I think that that hybridity also just helps to understand and reduce our own confusion about what makes us work. I, I think this is so important because people don’t typically you and I are both coaches. Like we know that people don’t necessarily see their value, asking them where they bring value is, is a difficult question for a lot of people. But when we can start to break that into, you said, three or four little things, you can see so much value. And I feel like you show up in a, in a greater way. Or I guess if I come down to even the limitations of titles. I think about what it means to be a director at one organization versus what it means to be a director at another, and they could have the exact same title. It could be a customer experience director, whatever that might be. And the makeup of that role could be completely different. But then how do you even go and interview with a company? If you’re like, this is what I saw here. We get you still can’t deduce your value. So then you’re just grabbing onto whatever characteristic that they came up with to say, this is whom we’re looking for. Instead of saying, no, let me tell you why you want me. Maybe that was a tangent. I know, but I love that.

Sarabeth Berk:

You just hit the nail on the head. I mean, literally, that’s why we’re stuck in this world of words that are just generic and traditional. We don’t really express who we are. Like, how many coaches have you met and how many sales directors and just, we need to be able to use more than just these standard job titles, which are, you know, really about hierarchy and social ranking and status. It’s not about our authentic selves. So the tools I have and looking at people’s intersectionality is about revealing authenticity and communication because then you can understand your value and support it with your work history. And nobody’s doing that. Like I’ve talked to a lot of career development professionals and resume writers, and they’re, you know, building a story for you, but it’s not an intersectional story, which is different.

Jenn DeWall:

Yeah. That’s, Oh my gosh. I just love this topic because I think it’s, and again, think about how quickly when we understand who we are and we understand how we add value, think about how much more efficient we can be at solving problems or the quality of our decisions improves just because we can finally see how we add that. And I think that that’s got to be a little bit of a relief to leaders that by simply helping someone address and identify their own hybridity, that is one way of showing support. And then also showing them that you appreciate them, that you see their value. And so then they can, I feel, instead of saying, I don’t know what an analyst does besides looking at these numbers over here, but I know what I do here. And then, I feel like I can also self-motivate in a much different way in terms of adding value. I just love this topic. I know there’s a lot of different directions we can go, and I hope I’m not confusing things.

Becoming More Than Your Title

Sarabeth Berk:

No, you’re doing great. I mean, I think in today’s society too, it’s about job mobility, right? And organizational mobility, because what I’m, I talk to a lot of recruiters and hiring managers too, and companies are trying to just break people down into skills. Okay. If we know you have these five things and this person has those, then when we have a new position open, and we need to restructure, we’re going to move these people here based on AI and keywords. And that’s a little problematic. But I think when we look at hybridity like Cyber Security Analyst is a hybrid job. Because it’s blending this AI world with, you know, online and security tools. And they’re finding people that were in financial roles, doing accounting and such actually make some of the best like cybersecurity analysts because of how they were already thinking and working. And that’s a match that’s not obvious, right? So there’s, there’s so much value in understanding the connection between what we do. And if it’s not clear to us as the person doing it, then it will never be clear to employers or our managers or bosses. So that’s why this work is important because everyone is changing jobs more and more like the statistics are people hold ten jobs in a lifetime, across three or four industries. So the non-linear career path is the norm. Like we need to get out of this old thinking. And so telling your story and understanding, okay, as I’m evolving and growing and gaining more identities or subtracting identities, you have to keep understanding, well, what do you do now? And if you’re just saying, I wear a lot of hats, that’s not helping you. Like that doesn’t make it better.

Jenn DeWall:

I don’t know. I just wear a lot of hats. I do whatever. No, I, yeah. That’s not empowering to say that actually sounds more exhausting. It’s where do you focus? Where are you producing the most value? Why is this important today? I mean, I think, and I know we talked about this too because the future of work is going to be different. Right? And I love that you talked about non-linear paths are not the norm and the way that they once were. But what’s interesting because I still feel like even the non-linear path fights with hybridity. Cause even I have clients that will still say, I don’t know, I invested five years or eight years into either this industry or this title, and I can’t change. So we still have to work at showing that you can, and it’s not your title. It’s the skill that you added value or not the skill, but it’s who you are. It’s your path. It’s that crossroads. It’s your own hybridity that added the value. I just think this is so important for where the future of work is going to go.

Sarabeth Berk:

Yeah. And I just want to say. If I said non-linear is not the norm, I meant the other way around. The non-linear is the norm. Just to clarify, because everyone thinks they’re abnormal, and it’s like, you’re not. But I do. I think this is the present of work. I think hybrid professionals are here already. It’s also the future, but truthfully, this has been going on for decades and centuries. I think I’m just one of the first researchers giving this the right language. Because when I studied this notion of multiplicity, right? People wearing many hats, the Jack of All Trades term has been around. We’ve been trying to name this for a long time. And I found over 25 different words that all reference multiplicity. None of them talk about integration. That’s why the hybrid is such a different construct that changes everything about what we’d known about professional identity. So to me, that was so critical to just finally give this world to the world and to the workforce to say you’re not just another Jack of all trades. You’re not just another multi-hyphenate. You can actually become this hybrid. And that’s why you’re struggling to name and talk about what you do, and the light bulb goes off.

So I think for the future of work, essentially, any time you take two existing roles and blend them together, you’re creating a hybrid role. You’re creating something new. Now, eventually, the new thing becomes adopted and normalized. And so it’s not hybrid or new anymore, like social media influencer that’s normal. So there’s sort of this flare and focus where things are two parts that are taken, and then they merge. But then that thing that merged gets connected to something else like that is just the evolution of innovation. A lot of this research also connects to how we do product innovation and category innovation, and business innovation. But what I’m doing is applying it to humans and identities. So it’s, let’s take these external topics and apply them to people and say, we have a lot of different parts. And just for the record, as human beings, we are hybrid humans. Like we have many dimensions of our identity, race, class, gender, social, personal, all of that makes us us. Like, that’s why you’re called Jenn, and I’m called Sarabeth. Those are our hybrid identities. But the trick, this is where I really felt the pain point was if we narrow it down to just the dimension of professional identity. And then we say, wait a second. In our work, we have a whole other set of identities of what we’re doing. Holy cow, there’s hybridity there too. So it’s like sub-layer hybridity. That’s why this became like a new way of helping people see, okay, if I have multiple identities in my work, then I need to understand the intersectionality there as well. And it’s, it’s separate from just your human hybridity if that makes sense.

Jenn DeWall:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, we are. I just love this because, again, this research is all about inclusivity. What are we, what can we pull out? Because if we’re reducing someone to their title, I’m just going to say, and no data, I have no data, but I think an assumption that when you were reducing someone to their title, that you’re getting a portion of who they are and the value that they can bring. Whereas when you can like take away that title and just start to focus on who are you, what problems can you solve? What makes you tick? And really, look at that hybridity. I feel like that’s when you can almost cast that light and see the full person, instead of just that shell of a person that may be your culture has created, your, your title is created your leadership style, so on and so forth. And I think that also if I could think about even I, you know, my initial or my first career out of college, was that a more, I would say, competitive, you know, environment. You wanted to get promoted. You wanted to go there. And so you very much looked at everyone as competition. And then I think it creates that us versus them narrative, whereas hybridity really opens up that we all add value. It’s not just me. It’s not just you. We actually all do it in different ways, and we shouldn’t be alike. And I think it just supports that notion that every person we meet is both your teacher and your student because we all have something to share. I, I think you’re like going to help. I’m picturing it like the peace that everyone’s happy because they feel seen. Is this the utopia that we’re all going for? Can we create this?

You Are More Than a List of Skills

Sarabeth Berk:

I love that. I really do think this is a movement that I’m starting? And you know, one of the questions I get asked a lot is Sarabeth, okay. If I’m a hybrid, then what am I an expert in? Because everybody feels like they need to be able to convey expertise because that’s kind of just how the job market works. And if you think about it this way- When you look at your Venn diagram and who you are in that intersection, you are the expert of your own hybridity. Nobody else is the same combination of ingredients. And that’s why you’re an expert in it. And so the analogy I use a lot in recipes, right? Like if we were a pizza and you’re putting all these awesome toppings on the pizza, you don’t eat the pizza one ingredient at a time. That’s not a pizza. You eat it as that melty, gooey delicious thing. And you don’t just call it a cheese pepperoni mushroom basil- like you don’t list the ingredients as the pizza title, you call it something fun and delicious. That’s what I think people need to think about is how are you a combination of ingredients, and what do you name that special recipe?

Jenn DeWall:

Oh my gosh, I’m a, I’m hungry, but what name would I come up with? So one of the things that you help and I think that that’s a great example because I think that also we understand that we appreciate it so much more as this package of a pizza and what that is. But it’s also not just a general title. It’s like a self-identified. So I think it’s easier to grab on to. One of the things that you work with individuals with is around an elevator pitch. So how do we answer that? What do you do? What does that look like? And why does that piece matter? Is it because we’re able to like articulate? Hey, you met me. It goes back to what you said earlier. There’s kind of the, tell me more once you can answer that versus the cool. You’re just another one of those directors. No idea what you do,

Sarabeth Berk:

Jenn, you stole it from a mouth. That’s exactly right. I mean, because people glaze over. So the elevator pitch is a three-part thing. It’s a tool I have for free on my website. So go grab it, download it. It is probably one of the best, quick ways I’ve given people help. Because you can apply it in person, you can put it in a cover letter. It can help you with your LinkedIn like it’s adaptable. But the three parts to this pitch. And it’s really 10 seconds. When you say it out loud is part one, like name who you are, express your hybrid title, or that you are a hybrid professional. Part two, tell the parts that make up your hybridity. So what are those core professional identities? And part three is to explain the relationships. How do those identities fit? When you give people those three things because that’s what they anticipate. And they’re going to ask you anyway, you sound very complete and clear, and people do lean in and say, wow, I’ve never met that or heard of that before. Tell me more. So I’ll give a quick example of how it sounds.

The Hybrid Professional Elevator Speech

Sarabeth Berk:

When I do my hybrid elevator pitch, it goes, hi, I’m Sarabeth. I’m a hybrid professional. I call myself a creative disruptor. And that means I work at the intersection of being an artist and a researcher, a designer, and an educator. And when I do that, I’m able to create innovative strategies that radically transform how people and systems are working. Nice to meet you.

Jenn DeWall:

Yeah. I want to hire you! Or like, how can you help me?

Sarabeth Berk:

So it, like, it takes a little just to get there, and refinement, like your hybrid identity, doesn’t come out overnight. Like it’s a process. But even if people don’t know their hybrid title, they can just say, you know, I’m a hybrid professional, nice to you. You know, I combine being this, and this and this, or I work at the intersection of this and this and this. That, in a nutshell, gets the ball rolling. Because if you just list things you do, it sounds different than saying I work at the intersection of these three or four things. It really is just how our brain is programmed. The other thing it does triggers novelty. So our brain is always seeking novelty in life, new experiences, new smells, new tastes. So a novel title or novel introduction helps trigger that same kind of dopamine hit. That’s why people get curious. So there’s a psychological component to this.

Jenn DeWall:

Oh. I love that. We’re also talking about, you know, the gift of gab. If you want to think about that, understand how to better, you know, identify or introduce yourself, and that see where that goes. Because again, if I go into a networking event tonight, I say I’m a Leadership Development Strategist. I think most people will be like, I don’t know what I think about that.

Sarabeth Berk:

Or they’re like, oh, I’ve met another Leadership Strategist. Like they gloss over again.

Jenn DeWall:

Right. Whereas if I look at it, I guess, again, this is me peeling back the layers to try to understand my own hybridity. I know that I’m a connector. I know that I, you know, I’m an educator. I know that I inspire and inspire choice, I guess, would be what it is, like inspire you to see your own choices. And I think that that lends itself in a much more compelling way. Even to myself, I’m like, Oh, I would much rather talk to myself if that’s how I introduced it. Versus, I’m just saying I’m this. And it is. It does sound a lot more. I don’t know, just outdated, I guess, to continue to limit ourselves by not seeing this. The work has evolved. Why do we not evolve the way that titles need to look? Or that how can we, you know, shift the way that organizations are structured to make sure that we are getting the most? Because the other thing you might, you said it was a novelty. But when I think again, the clearer that we can define and understand our own hybridity, that is also the different, the flip side of novelty. I think that’s where innovation lives. That’s where creativity lives because we’re not so restricted by whatever the heck, you know, maybe company-generated title would be, or the perceived handcuffs. I think, too, when we see ourselves by a title like this is my role. Like I, I can’t solve that problem because that’s not a Leadership Development Strategist. So that doesn’t make sense. And I just think that you are opening up, but people’s ability to solve problems that you never even invited them to the table to help you solve before.

Optimal Distinctiveness

Sarabeth Berk:

I’m going to drop one more term that I’m in love with. That’s going to blow your mind, and it’s called “Optimal Distinctiveness.” So this is a theory by Marilyn Brewer. And she was really talking about how people want to fit in while standing out. Right? So actually landing in this space of hybridity and learning how to articulate it and communicate. It helps us, I believe, get closer to this place of optimal distinctiveness, where we can express that we’re unique. But we also fit in that is highly desirable.

Jenn DeWall:

Oh! Optimal distinctiveness. See, I just, Oh my gosh, I love that phrase too. This is to some people that are still like, Holy cow, what is this? This is really, I think again, the key to getting the most out of everyone, including yourself, not shortchanging yourself in short, the small amount of time that we have on this planet, giving yourself. I think this also helps to answer, What’s my purpose? And I think that’s a big question that a lot of people struggle with, or they, you know, head-on into the midlife crisis, and they’re really struggling with it. Whereas this is just giving you answers earlier on. This is such a powerful tool. So how, where, how do they connect with you, Sarabeth? Like where can they get more info? I know that they can go down and download the elevator pitch. Where do they go for that?

Connect with Sarabeth

Sarabeth Berk:

MoreThanMyTitle.com is where all my resources and tools. And I have a book called More Than My Title on Amazon, or you can find it through my website. I offer we can crash courses because people want to work with me and understand my process. There’s a, there’s a whole little workbook too, of course, but you know, I’m on social media, so I’m just kind of everywhere, but more than my total.com is the best spot.

Jenn DeWall:

So, More Than My Title dot com, there you can find access to other tools, resources. You can also get to know a little bit more about hybridity, discover your own hybridity in the form of an elevator pitch, which I feel like the second someone does that. I hope my hope for them would be to see you add value. You have meaning and look at it. You just haven’t seen it before because it’s been concealed or limited because of that title. Sarabeth, I love the research that you’re doing. I think it’s so important. Thank you so much for liberating us and giving us the habits and competence that we need to make sure that we’re maximizing our short time here by living beyond our titles. Thank you so much.

Jenn DeWall:

Oh, Jenn, I had the best time with you. I could do this any day, so thank you so much.

Jenn DeWall:

I want to go into more of these. I’d love to have you back. Well, I encourage people also to tell us, maybe write in and tell us what your new titles are, what you come up with, and we’ll have to have you back just to continue to explore this. Maybe it’s thinking about how we can help and coach our colleagues or peers, or excuse me, our direct reports to help them ignite and find their own brilliance. Thank you so much, Sarabeth.

Sarabeth Berk:

Oh, thank you.

Jenn DeWall:

Thank you so much for listening to this week’s episode of The Leadership Habit podcast with Dr. Sarabeth Berk. If you want to connect with Dr. Sarabeth Berk, you can go ahead and get your free copy of the hybrid identity elevator pitch on her website at morethanmytitle.com. You can also join her newsletter. You can find her book, More Than My Title, on Amazon. If you know someone that maybe is struggling with how they identify themselves, share this podcast. And don’t forget to leave us a review on your favorite podcast streaming platform until next time.

 

 

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