The Future of Work Is Belonging: How to Feel Seen, Known, and Valued in Your Career
For decades, we’ve been taught that success means fitting in — finding the right role, company, or title that validates who we are.
But that model of “career fit” was built for a world that no longer exists.
In a workforce defined by fluid roles, constant change, and expanding identity, we need something deeper — not career fit, but career belonging.
Career belonging means being seen, known, and valued for who you truly are — by yourself, by others, and by something greater than you.
From Career Fit to Career Belonging
The old paradigm of fit told us that our worth depended on matching a job description. The new paradigm of belonging begins when you ask a different question:
“Does this career reflect who I really am?”
This is the heart of career belonging — the sense of alignment that happens when your professional identity, purpose, and contribution are integrated.
In Seen, Known, Valued, I call this the new currency of work.
As automation, technology, and global change accelerate, our identities — not just our skills — are what make us irreplaceably human.
The Career Belonging Matrix
To make belonging visible and actionable, I developed the Career Belonging Matrix — a 3×3 model that helps you examine belonging across three levels of experience:
| Seen | Known | Valued | |
|---|---|---|---|
| By Self | -How you see yourself in your work | - How you know yourself in your work | - How you value yourself in your work |
| By Others | - How others see you | - How others know you | - How others value you |
| By Something Greater | - How you are seen by something greater than yourself in your work | - How you are known by something greater than yourself in your work | - How you are valued by something greater than yourself in your work |
When you fill out this matrix, you uncover your belonging blueprint — the map of how you want to show up and what fulfillment truly means to you.
Your SKV Statements
From this matrix come your Seen, Known, and Valued (SKV) statements — short, powerful sentences that name your needs for belonging.
For example:
“I feel seen when I’m invited to design new systems that bridge strategy and creativity.”
“I feel known when people describe me as a translator between disciplines.”
“I feel valued when my work changes how others see themselves.”
These statements become your internal compass — a way to navigate work that aligns with who you are, not just what you do.
Five Steps to Career Belonging
Achieving career belonging isn’t a single moment that happens once in your life, it’s a process that unfolds throughout your lifetime across five key steps.
Each step helps you move from external definitions of success toward internal alignment and authorship of your career.
- Clarify your authentic professional identity — Name who you are in your work beyond roles.
- Define your Big C Career vs little c career — Choose the self-authored path over external fit.
- Complete the Career Belonging Matrix — Create SKV statements (Seen, Known, Valued) across Self, Others, Something Greater.
- Cross your Career Chasm — Leap from career fit to career belonging.
- Become Seen, Known, and Valued — Live your SKVs in how you decide, communicate, and contribute.
Why This Matters Now
In the future of work, belonging is the differentiator. AI can replicate tasks. Systems can automate processes. But what cannot be automated is the uniquely human ability to create meaning through identity, connection, and contribution.
Career belonging is not a trend — it’s a transformation.
It’s how we reimagine careers as something we own, not something that owns us.
How to Begin
Download or draw the Career Belonging Matrix and fill it out for yourself.
Write your SKV statements — one for each column and perspective.
Reflect on the five steps — where are you strong, and where do you feel stuck?
Start designing your work around belonging — not fit.
Revisit your matrix regularly as your identity and career evolve.
The New Paradigm of Work
The question is no longer What do you do?
The real question is:
“How do you see yourself in your work beyond your job title?”
“Who are you becoming through your work?”
That’s what career belonging answers and communicate.
Because when you’re seen, known, and valued — You don’t just fit in, you finally belong in your career.