The Year of Reinvention: Lessons on Leadership, Worth, and Clarity

As we wrap up the year, Jill Griffin revisits the biggest themes that shaped The Career Refresh—from redefining worth and leading through uncertainty to the quiet power of clarity. This episode pulls together the year’s most impactful insights, helping you reflect on your growth, realign your focus, and prepare for what’s next.

In this episode:

• The key mindset shifts leaders made in 2025
• Why clarity—not control—is the foundation of reinvention
• What “worth” really means when your title or company changes

Chapters

• 0:00 Lead With Values Over Fear
• 0:26 Reinvention As A Mini-Series
• 0:58 Boundaries, Pauses, And The Bigger Yes
• 1:13 Three Year-End Journaling Prompts
• 2:00 Gratitude, Contact, And Closing Intentions

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hey there. Welcome back to the Career Refresh. I'm your host, Jill Griffin. I'm an executive coach, strategist, and your guide to career reinvention. As we close out 2025, I want to pause and look back at the conversations, the ideas, and the themes that I have noticed throughout this year's conversations and episodes. I also want to point out, because I did the math right before recording this, that I did over 801 hours of coaching between individuals, working with teams, groups, workshops, 800 hours. That's about 25% higher than the year before. So pretty amazing. I do this work because it's mission based for me. I want to reinvent the workplace, how we think about workplace, how we think about work, how to make work work for more people. Those are my missions. And again, I also feel that when we are able to work through our mindset and perform and have all of our facets sparkling, when we leave work, when we leave for the day, whatever that looks like, whether it's shutting down the laptop and walking down the hall or getting in your car or getting in, you know, your commuter rail, whatever that looks like, I want to make sure that the people that we live with and love are not impacted by any negative experience we've we've had during the day in the work. And that again is why I do this work and why mindset for me is front and center for the kind of work that we're doing around executive coaching and reinvention and leadership and leadership identity that we're always focused on mindset to know that the greatest gift that I ever gave myself was the ability to manage my mind. It does not mean I'm not sad. It does not mean that I don't have days where I want to be like, rah ha, you know, that I scream and I want to pop off. Of course, I'm human, I'm messy like everybody is, but I also know how to get myself out of it. The cycles in which I'm in it are much shorter. And that over the years of doing this work, it's um 20, I'm gonna quick say quick math, 20 years now, um, of doing this kind of work full time for almost 10, is that you're able to know how to tap into the tools and they start to become second nature and you're able to use them to really navigate whatever the situation is that you're in. So if I was to name 2025, I'm gonna say it's the year of change and the year of reinvention in our careers, in our leadership, what we value, in our world, all the things. So let's dig in. Okay, one of the strongest themes that I saw this year was the understanding of self-worth versus market worth. And it's easy to talk about how we often confuse what we do with who we are. And I did an episode on how to stop feeling worth less. And we explored tying our value to a title or a paycheck leads to burnout, resentment. And it comes really hard to how to separate our self-esteem from performance. So many of you wrote me and told me that your employers at times told you that you were too valuable to promote. Well, let me reframe that for you because that is a signal that you need to challenge yourself and them. They can't imagine losing you. That is evidence of your impact. And it's also evidence, perhaps, of their lack of planning or laziness because they don't want to promote you because it's going to create havoc for them. Is that your hiring manager that said that, or is that the organization, right? So don't put yourself in a position where that's an acceptable answer. I would challenge, again, appropriately, professionally, work with a mentor, work with a coach, find out the ways that you can professionally challenge that. I appreciate that I'm really valuable, but at the same time, I'm not wanting to stay in this position forever and I need to grow and I have a desire to grow. So making sure that you're having the conversation. It is a big signal for you, if that's the feedback that you're getting, that it is time to reinvent. And whether that's in the same seat, the same title, the same department, the same company, could be. It could also be a new experience. It's time to reinvent and start creating what's next. The next big conversation that we had a lot this year was about comparison and how it clouds clarity. This also, I believe, came through a lot of the unsettledness in the market, whether we were part of a reduction ourselves or whether we're seeing reductions, we're comparing what's going on. Am I safe? Am I not safe? I was saved, I was not saved, what does this mean about me? It's all of that comparison. So the comparison trap that you didn't even know you were in, right? It's that leadership trap that you don't even know you're in. We explored how assumptions they drive doubt. They also, our brains will start to fill in the blanks. If we don't know, we want to be certain. So we start filling in a story to break. And then how this causes us to create uncertainty with others. Because if I'm always somebody different based on what I'm thinking and therefore acting on something that might not be based in truth, I create an inconsistency in my behavior. Leaders need to pause and act and ask themselves, is this a fact or is this a feeling? And based on that answer, we decide what to do next. That question changes how you approach things. That clarity doesn't come from knowing all the answers, it comes from grounding in what's true, knowing who you are, knowing your leadership identity, and making sure that you're moving forward with evidence, not just emotion. And that's where you create steadiness, even in uncertainty. Next area that we found that was big this year was leading through transition. Uh, leading through transition was one of the episodes that I did where we unpacked the bridges transition, right? This is about the bridges transition model. There's three phases: there's endings, there's the neutral zone, or the hallway, as I call it, and new beginnings. And only when something ends can we actually start. We have to also remember that change is external, but transition is internal. And that growth often happens when we realize that the end is the beginning. And it's that in the space, that in-between space where that discomfort is where we start to get clarity, we start to be creative, we start to figure out how are we going to be innovative against this particular challenge within every problem. Is that solution? That's what happens in that neutral space. That's when you're in the hallway, the P, the place between what's now, what's next, and that you're not um, you're not behind, right? It's that you're really, as a team, what you're becoming, what you're moving towards and remembering that as you're navigating transition. Over the year, I also watched leaders build lots of new muscles, right? Lots of reps. Here is the courage to say less, but mean more, right? Two ears, one mouth when when necessary, use them in proportion. To have the strength to set boundaries without guilt and no is a complete sentence. It doesn't have to be no, right? You're in a job, obviously, you need to be a team player, but it's that negotiation. Um, no, I can't do this, but I can do it by then. Or sure, I can do this now, but I want to make sure that, you know, I'm gonna start two hours later tomorrow because I want to spend time with my family in the morning if I'm gonna stay late tonight, right? It's making sure that you're having that conversation around boundaries and that that you're able to set that without guilt. It's also showing up and being in alignment with your values and not your fear. We all have fear. We fall into fear with some regularity, that's understandable. But making sure you're coming back to what do I value here? I value integrity and honesty and wisdom and kindness and creativity and innovation. Well, if I was emulating those values or living those values or bringing those values into the situation, what would I do? How would I act? How would I lean into those values and use them to help guide me? That's what we're talking about with evidence of growth that I'm seeing throughout this year. And reinvention, I've said this before, I do a keynote on this that reinvention is not a one-time act. Hollywood would have you believe it happens like, oh, we just need the affable partner, and then we can reinvent and we'll get the challenge and then we'll do all the things. No, that's not what it is. Reinvention is a mini-series. It happens in the rear of a mirror. It's not a major feature film, it's a mini-series. It's step by step by step is what builds resilience. And you know what? You only know it when you're through and you look back and you go, huh, look what I created. That's how you build resilience. So every boundary, every pause, every no in service of a bigger yes is where you're really coming and leading from intention and your values and how you want to be seen and how you want to show up for yourself and others as a leader. So as we step into 2026, I want to leave you with three things to journal. If you're a pen to paper person or a notes app, grab it, think about what was this lesson from this year that you want to bring forward into next year? And then what is the belief or behavior that no longer fits what you're becoming or who you're becoming? Or when I say what you're becoming, meaning your organization, your department, right? Or who you're becoming. And then last is what with leading with intention and clarity look like next year? What are the swim lanes around that? How will you know? Are you with an intention or are you being unintentional? Are you in clarity or are you in cloudiness? How will you know? Get clear on that. Look, I appreciate you being here all year, being part of this community, listening, contributing, sharing your stories, emailing me your thoughts. As always, I want to hear them. Tell me how your year went. Email me, hello at JillGrif and Coaching.com. I wish you a great holiday season, a beautiful start to your next year. Be in possibility, be intentional. And you know, always be kind. All right, friends, I'll see you next time.