I think the idea of having a "personal" version of yourself and a "professional" version of yourself is dated. On a tactical level, the line between personal and professional life is blurred more than ever right now, making any major personality shifts infeasible anyways. And while I'm obviously not suggesting we all change our LinkedIn pictures to some bathroom selfie we took during our last night in the gutter, I do firmly believe that more of these personal life features should bleed over into the professional world. Meeting language should sound like conversation language. Professional headshots should look like good iPhone photos. Work attire should look like thought-out street clothes.
In essence, I think the common notion that a lot of people have is that on a spectrum ranging from "Black Out" to "Black Tie," the personal self lives on the far left, the professional self lives on the far right, and most of our daily activities are us bouncing back-and-forth between the two. I think the workplace would be much more comfortable and our personal lives would feel much less distant from work if we just each found a middle ground somewhere on that spectrum where every person had one consistent identity encompassing both their personal life and their work life. I think we're heading this direction; American work culture has definitely gotten more relaxed over the last 50 years, and as stated before, the pandemic has forced a confluence of these two selves anyways. But it's a trajectory I hope we stay on because I think doing so will let us all find more personal life fulfillment in our jobs and more professional life insight in our personal lives.
Comentarios