The ROI of Knowing Who You Are: A Different Approach to Career Fulfillment

“I don’t care what the title is. I just want to feel fulfilled and do great work.”

That’s what a man in his early 50s said to me during a recent discovery call.

He had just been laid off. He’s in career transition. He’s exploring a few options, talking to multiple coaches. One moment, he joked, “Maybe I’ll just say F it and go be a park ranger and make $40,000 a year.”

But underneath the humor, he was serious.

He’s not chasing a higher title or the corner office. He’s not trying to be CEO or land an executive promotion. What he’s chasing is something far more elusive: meaningful work that feels aligned with who he is.

And I hear that. Deeply.

When Titles Don’t Matter Anymore

This is the part of career conversations we don’t talk about enough.

What happens when you’re not ambitious in the traditional sense? When you’re not looking to climb the corporate ladder—but instead, just want to feel like your work matters?

This man told me: “I wish I could envision anything that would work for me, as long as it feels viable and fulfilling.”

And that’s when I shared with him the core of my work.

Why Professional Identity Comes Before Your Next Job

I explained that what I do isn’t just career coaching. It’s identity work.

Because if you don’t know who you are, you won’t know:

• What kinds of work will feel meaningful

• Why certain roles energize or drain you

• What you’re truly searching for in your next chapter

When you lack that clarity, even “good jobs” can leave you feeling unfulfilled. You can do a lot of things, wear a lot of hats—but without understanding how they connect back to your authentic self, it’s hard to find purpose.

Fulfillment doesn’t come from the job title.
It comes from alignment between your work and your identity.

Discovering Your Hybrid Professional Identity

What I help people do is name their hybrid professional identity—that unique combination of their skills, values, interests, and experiences that sets them apart.

Not just “I’m a marketer” or “I’m a project manager.”
But: “I’m a systems thinker meets storyteller who bridges operational strategy with empathy and design.”
(Or whatever unique identity is true for you.)

When you name your identity, you’re naming your uniqueness.

That’s what enables others to really see you—not just as a title, but as a whole person with distinct value. That’s what makes networking more authentic. That’s what creates alignment. And that’s what helps people stop job-hopping and finally land somewhere they belong.

The ROI of Self-Knowledge

He asked me, “So what’s the ROI of this work?”

Fair question. And my answer was:

• Clarity about who you are and what you want? Immediate ROI.

• Confidence in how you talk about yourself? Immediate ROI.

• The ability to show up as your full self and be seen? Huge ROI.

For some people, that translates into better job offers. For others, it’s landing clients who truly value them. And sometimes, the ROI is simply feeling a sense of wholeness again—finally feeling seen.

He paused and said, “That’s more specific than I’ve heard from anyone else. You don’t sound like a fuddy-duddy career coach. You’ve got substance.”

I smiled. That’s exactly the point.

What Are You Really Looking For?

This isn’t about career ladders or job titles.

It’s about becoming more of who you already are.
And finding work that reflects that back to you.

So I’ll ask you the same thing I asked him:

What would change if you stopped searching for the next job—and started searching for the work that aligns with who you're becoming?