Leadership Identity: The Hidden Filter Behind Every Decision You Make

In this episode, I explain leadership identity, how it differs from personal brand, and why it’s the key to making confident, aligned decisions, especially in times of change.

You’ll learn how to:

• Clarify your leadership identity using values, strengths, and reflection
• Turn your identity into a decision-making filter
• Set better boundaries and lead with consistency
• Navigate transitions, burnout, or reinvention with clarity and confidence

Mentioned on the Show: 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Leadership Identity
• 1:47 Identity vs. Personal Brand Explained
• 4:10 When Leadership Identity Matters Most
• 6:32 Case Study: Authenticity in Transition
• 10:30 Tools for Discovering Your Identity
• 14:43 Using Identity as a Decision Filter
• 16:59 Benefits and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

I'm your host, jill Griffin, a former corporate leader turned career strategist and executive coach. I have over two decades of experience working with companies like Microsoft, coca-cola, high growth startups, and I've seen the highs, the lows and everything in between. And now, today, I'm bringing you these real world insights on leadership, career growth and navigating change. Whether you're ready to pivot or you just want to thrive where you are, this podcast delivers practical strategies with intel and heart Ready. Let's dive into today's topic leadership identity. Have you ever made a decision that sounded smart but suddenly felt like a bit off? That's your leadership identity, giving you a little whisper, calling your attention.

Speaker 1: 0:54

In today's episode, I want to talk about what a leadership identity really is, how you become conscious of it and how it helps you decide and make decisions with more clarity and confidence. In times of transition or burnout, your leadership identity becomes an anchor that you didn't necessarily realize you needed. Okay, first, what is it? Leadership identity I define as an internal framework that defines how you lead, your values, your strengths, your belief. It's your lived experiences. It's your leadership style. It is a core part of your career strategy and who you're being and how you're reinventing and how you're thinking about your work. It's not your title, it's not what your resume says. It's who you are and how you lead.

Speaker 1: 1:42

Intentionally. Personal brand is how you're perceived externally. I often say it's the opera singer, it's the me, me, me, the I, I, I right. It's about how you're positioning yourself for visibility, where leadership identity is really internal. It's about how you make decisions, how you set boundaries, how you stay aligned. It's about focusing on the value that you're adding to a situation. It's focusing on the work right. So it's the work that I did, or the work that myself and the team did not. Look at me as the leader who did the work, or look at me as the leader who led the work. Right. That comes subtly in time when you're doing that, but sometimes what we're finding is that when we're constantly shining a light on ourselves to say, look at me, look at me, it really leaves people with a bad taste.

Speaker 1: 2:33

There's plenty of ways to draw attention to yourself without posturing or promoting how great you are, and the identity is about what you embody, where I would say personal brand is more what you broadcast. So you really want to think about a strong personal brand with a weak leadership identity can really lead to burnout confusion, inconsistency, right, Because it's about your brand, it's not about who you actually are. And for emphasis, I like to say, like personal brand is what you project. Leadership identity is what you protect. That personal brand part, I get it, it's out there, people are doing it. But over time, what was originally personal brand has now been morphed much more into posturing and a look at me, see me an influencer type culture and listen. If you are an influencer, carry on, my friend, but if you are an influencer within your organization, then I want you to really be thinking more about leadership identity. So, first, it's not about doing this in a vacuum. I want you to show, think about the where is that it shows up in your life. So it's going to show up overall.

Speaker 1: 3:46

When you have some common triggers, which I would say is about identity clarity, right. When you're in transitions, you're getting promoted, you've been laid off, you're relocating, you potentially are starting something new, you're on a new project, those are some opportunities where it's going to be really important for you to get clear in that leadership identity and sort of what works for you internally when you are burned out or in crisis. This is an area, too, that leaning into that identity is going to be super helpful If you're misaligned. If you have a huge win but something sort of feels off, or you've had a win but you're like this is it, this is all that's there. There's something off there. Great time to get clarity. When you're working with a coach or you're in therapy or you're in a team, you know strategic brainstorm in which you're thinking about your annual planning and who you all want to be as a team, who you are as an individual is going to contribute to that. So there's another area where your leadership identity is going to be key. And then also, if you're finding that you're constantly hearing the same feedback from others but you feel like you can't actually break through, that's a good time also to be looking at your leadership identity.

Speaker 1: 4:58

So I recently was working with a client who made a switch in their roles. They were working in one area which was very purpose-driven work, and then, for various reasons, they made a decision that they were going to work elsewhere, which also came with a larger title and a lot more money, and they made that decision. However, they didn't realign themselves, which is why they hired me. They didn't realign themselves, to be like. I can still be intentional and do purpose-driven work in a for-profit area, so really thinking through who they are as a leader and how they're showing up, what was happening is they were getting so nervous of like, who am I supposed to be now? Because I was this purpose-driven person but now I'm in a corporate environment. So what they were doing is they were constantly using ChatGPT I call it Chatty G they were constantly using ChatGPT to be helping them script and then they would show up in meetings or on team calls and really be rote and sort of contrived and people could see the inauthentic nature that they were saying one thing, brand right Versus actually who they were identifying as internally, that internal GPS and a leader.

Speaker 1: 6:07

So in our work together, really getting clear in who he is and then therefore, if that's who he is and that's his values and those are his beliefs and that's how he want to shows up, then a series of questions to ask himself every day so that he can pause first and then think about how he wants to approach a particular topic, how to respond to an email or how to show up in that yearly you know annual sales meeting that he's going to and listen. What happens if you don't know who you are. You're going to be like seaweed, you're going to be like totally being knocked around in. Well, maybe I should be this. Well, who am I now? Who do they think? Who do they need me to be in order for me to get this job? That's what we're talking about. When you're not clear in who you are, then you're going to be who everybody else thinks they are.

Speaker 1: 6:52

And then here's the real twist when we're in this place, I'm not who I think I am. I'm who I think you think I am. See the problem? It's like will the real Jill stand up? Who's the real person here? So what do you do? I want you to pause and really get clear in what matters to me now. What is it that I? How do I want to approach this? What do I want to create? Really?

Speaker 1: 7:20

Come back to you first, and then where are the times and places where I feel most like myself? Are there certain qualities or attributes around the people that you might be with where you feel the most like yourself? Where are the times in which you feel most free and most flowing? Sort of capture that and get clear and think about how does that? How do you translate that into a work environment? And I hope for you that at times it is feeling most clear in a work environment. I know for myself when I was in a room brainstorming with others at the whiteboard we're all working on a strategic challenge together and collaborating together. That's where I would feel in the flow and that's what I would feel like myself. So what does that look like? Oh, collaboration, leadership, creativity, innovation, determination, focus, inspiration those were some of the things that made me feel most like myself. And when I felt part of a team and a group, then I want you to pause and just get clear with yourself. Are there times that you're tired? Are there times where you're really burnt out? Like every time I go into this conversation, I'm really burnt out. Why? What is it about? The dynamics of that particular person or conversation? Is it the topic? Is it the personality? And we're not doing this to judge other people or ourselves. We're doing it for clarity.

Speaker 1: 8:40

I volunteer in lots of different areas and one of the organizations that I volunteer with there's an individual who has very catabolic energy and I mean that in the true science of the word right when it feels destructive and bringing down. That's not me taking their inventory. They may or may not be that. That is my experience. When my personality shows up with their personality, I feel like all they're doing is destruction. So I also watched myself start to get a little triggered and I know, going into those conversations and going into that meeting, I need to really think through who I want to be as a leader and how I want to show up so that when insert messy person is going to behave the way they want to behave because that's their freedom to do so that I as another volunteer within the organization get to pause and think about well, what do I want to leave behind? Right, and just to round that out, I think also there's a difference between impact and intent. Right, the intent of all individuals in this particular situation, because, as a volunteer, we all believe in the purpose. The intent is pure. It's the impact that gets knocked off when you're not clear in who you are as a leader and how you want to show up in a particular circumstance.

Speaker 1: 9:53

So other questions I want you to think about is like what are the strengths and sort of the ways of being or the behaviors that you feel that you're in the flow and what are the circumstances that, again, are really draining to you? I just gave you an example of one. When someone is pelleting you with questions really fast, what are we going to do? How are we going to do that? And they're not even pausing enough to let you answer the first question before they build on another. If you keep trying and this is again I'm speaking for myself in this particular situation I'm talking about If I was finding that I was trying to answer every single question they were asking, then I realized they actually didn't really want to hear my answers. They just needed to vent. And their style of venting, whether they realize or not, was to pellet people with a million questions, which means it's about their fear or their uncertainty or what's unsettling to them. Me getting in the blender with them and doing that is not going to help anyone. So just pausing and what I've learned to do is just to breathe and pause and let them rattle off and be however they are, and then pausing at the end and saying to them so I heard you ask about this, this and that Should we take them from the top, and then again I'm in my identity, the leader that I am and also how I want to show up in these situations.

Speaker 1: 11:07

Okay, so, tools you can use to start to identify your own leadership identity. One is you can take the Gallup Strength Assessment. You can do that with a coach, through a coach like myself. You can also go to the website and purchase the assessment yourself. It's about $70, I believe that's US dollars. It is going to give you an understanding of your strength and your path to excellence, and I believe excellence is about within your capacity. How do you do the best? Everybody has a different level of capacity, so it's in your capacity. How do you do your best? That is your path to excellence and understanding. That is going to be more helpful to do that work with a coach. But, yes, you can do and take the assessment yourself. You can purchase it right on the website.

Speaker 1: 11:47

The second thing that's coming soon for me is I have built a guess what a leadership identity assessment. It is over well, it's been over the last 10 years of building this based on working with thousands of individuals, and it is a way of really understanding. I do this work based on archetypes, jungian archetypes. We use Jungian archetypes or personas to understand and find ways to identify ourself. Oh, I relate to that Right that is in me. I do exhibit that behavior of a guardian or an explorer or a humanitarian right. How are you showing up? Oh, you know what I always show up with being the wisdom, the person who has the most knowledge in the room. Oh, maybe you're the sage, the person who has the most knowledge in the room. Oh, maybe you're the sage. It's not being something you're not, it's giving you words and adjectives and language to see. Do I identify with this? Do I show up with that? And it's been a phenomenal tool that I've used in private practice with many of my clients.

Speaker 1: 12:39

The next tool that you can use is journaling and asking yourself what parts of my life and work really energize me. Where do I feel drained or disconnected? What does good enough look like in this moment? What does leadership look like in this moment? Really asking yourself some of these questions. Other questions that I also like to ask what do people thank you for? That's not on your resume, it's not in a title. What do people thank you for? That's not on your resume, it's not in a title. I want you to understand them and I'm able to go through data really fast and really simply and pull out the insights that's what I'm saying Thinking about things that people are gracious and thankful to you for, and how can you translate that into you know, excellent skills that may show up within your work or something you may want to put on your resume. This is to remind you that your leadership identity is not static. It evolves as you evolve, but, again, it's based on self. So I want you this is a good time grab your notes app. If you're a pen and paper type of person, grab that too.

Speaker 1: 14:03

But I want you to think about it through the lens of a decision filter. When you're going to make a decision as a leader, some questions that you could ask is is taking this action aligned to my values? If you don't know what your values are, why don't you spend a little time there and looking at your values? Next question does this reflect the kind of leader I want to be? Is this choice authentic or is it performative? Am I doing it because it's the thing that I feel is best to do, or am I doing it because I wanna get noticed? And then, lastly, will this expand or drain my energy? This is how you start getting clear on yourself. It really helps you shift.

Speaker 1: 14:45

Where you replace overthinking with clarity, you start to feel you know what it's easier to hold boundaries. Remember, boundaries are something you do for yourself. It's not you know. You're violating my boundary, right, we're not doing that. Boundaries for myself, like you know what, after a certain time, I'm no longer answering at night because it's time for me to be in family time. Right, that's a boundary. I'm not broadcasting to the world. Hey, if you reach out to me after 7 pm, I'm not answering you because that's my family time. No, it's just getting clear with yourself. It's not a big deal. Come 7 pm, I'm no longer answering emails and I'll check with you tomorrow. Right, it's wearing it with clear confidence versus putting it out there like everyone needs to respect my boundaries or you're not respecting my boundaries.

Speaker 1: 15:28

This is one of the ways that I've seen boundary and information being done in a way that feels very immature and not what a leader would do. You start to notice that in high pressure moments you're able to come back to this touchstone of who you are with your identity and your confidence is going to arrive, and it also helps others trust you more because you're credible, you're stable, and what I mean by that is there's some predictability, where they understand how you're going to react. I don't mean stability in a way that keeps you stagnant or that you're not being innovative, you're not being creative. I mean stability in that, yeah, you get to be clear on who your teammate or who your colleague is, and that's really fresh. When we're leaning into our leadership identity, people start to feel more comfortable with us because they know how we're going to show up and they feel like they can rely on us. So, listen, you already have a leadership identity. It might be buried under lots of drama and lots of thoughts or lots of unfortunate work situations, but I want you just to really be clear that when you start getting clear in what it is that you want, how you want to show up, and be clear in what does enough look like, this is how it starts to guide you.

Speaker 1: 16:39

What I would encourage you to do after listening to this is what is one decision this week that you could benefit for by putting through your leadership identity and what part of your leadership identity no longer fits? What might you want to change and what wants to emerge? All right, friends, I appreciate you so much for watching this and listening in, listen. Share this with someone who you think is navigating change or leadership or is under pressure. Share it with them. I would love that that helps everyone along the way. Or, if you have questions about this, email me at hello at jillgriffincoachingcom, and we will get those answered. All right, have a great week and I will see you next time.