I was in a meeting recently where a friend made a comment that immediately connected.
“I’m embracing my inner chameleon.”
– Lynne
The source of her comment is that she isn’t just one thing.
She is many things – a project manager, a painter, a digital artist, a mother, the list goes on.
She is expressing a struggle I’m hearing from many people right now.
Careers have been spent inside a box where we are expected to do and be one thing.
For many, that isn’t working.
My Perspective
I think individuals and companies would be stronger if they embraced the idea of the inner chameleon.
Individuals could bring all their talents to work – not just the ones they were hired for.
Companies could staff projects differently.
If one team needed ½ a project manager and ½ a digital artist, they could leverage a person like Lynne above instead of having two people with work split between this team and another.
Tradeoffs of time would be much easier on the team.
Two areas that are VERY challenging for people embracing their inner chameleon are resumes and LinkedIn. These are the physical and digital versions of the same thing – a linear career progression.
One role at a time. When one ends, another begins.
How might that structure look if we had portfolio careers?
The portfolio career often emerges as we embrace our inner chameleon.
We have our main job.
We want to highlight our hobbies that are now a side hustle.
We want others to know about the passion project we hope could become a job.
If we put them all together, the message of who we are is less clear and they are difficult to express in the linear format of a resume or LinkedIn profile.
I believe it’s time to find a better way.
Time for those who have an inner chameleon to embrace it and show the world all we have to offer.
Your Turn
Do you have an inner chameleon when it comes to your career?
Do you let others know of your talents beyond what you were hired to do?
How could you start to bring those talents into your mainstream work?