"𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆."

"𝗜 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆."

Daria (𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥) said this during our first coaching session a couple of weeks ago.

Twenty years at the same firm. Same badge, across 3 different countries.

Now restructuring was coming, and her world was cracking.

𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴:
Her morning routine of swiping into the building.
Her corner office with the good coffee machine.
The weight of being "Daria from [Company Name]" when she introduced herself.

But that wasn't the real fear.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗿: "If I'm not the Director of Operations at [Company Name], then who am I?"

During our second session, I asked her to tell me about her proudest moments at work. Not the company's wins. Her wins.

→ The process she built that saved 40% of project time.
→ The team she grew from 3 to 15 people.
→ The crisis she navigated when everyone else was panicking.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴:

"Daria, what happens to that process you built when you leave? Where do those skills live that you used to mentor 15 people? What about your ability to stay calm when everyone else is panicking - where does that come from?"

Long pause."No. That's... that's mine, isn't it?"

𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆.

You don't need to rebuild your brand after leaving a company. You need to remember what was always yours.

The skills, the judgment, the way you make people feel heard. That's not your company's brand. That's your brand.

𝗡𝗼𝘄 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲.

Opportunities are finding her instead of the other way around. Same woman. Same talent. Just finally willing to own it.

What skills would you take with you anywhere?

#change #executivecoaching #skills