The Power of Hybrid Professional Identities



Dan Smolen unpacks the Power of Hybrid Professional Identities with Sarabeth Berk, Ph.D.

Dr. Berk is a self-described Chief Creative Disruptor. She believes that hybrid professional identities help people in the workplace to project their unique value to hiring managers.

When asked: “what do you do for a living?,” most people respond with their current job title. Or they launch into a non-succinct elevator pitch. 

However, Dr. Berk believes that that denies people opportunities to express their unique skill, experience, and relevance in a rapidly changing workplace. What is more, it robs hiring managers access to the super-human skills of top talent, to build revenue scale and market advantage.

In this episode, Dr. Berk:

  • Summarizes her background and the value proposition of hybrid professional identities. Starts at 4:40
  • Describes how people can get started in crafting a hybrid professional identity. Starts at 8:59
  • Discusses one’s owning their identity and the career journey. Starts at 16:48
  • Considers the role of side-hustles in crafting hybrid professional identities. Starts at 23:33
  • Aligns with the future of work aspects of hybrid professional identities. Starts at 27:30

Emphasizing the power of hybrid professional identities, Dr. Berk draws back to the challenges that people in the workplace experience:

“How do you answer the ‘what do you do?’ question? How are you more than your job title? Eventually, the research question became: ‘who are you and the intersection of your multiple professional identities?’

About our guest:

Sarabeth Berk earned a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; a Masters of Arts in Art and Design Education from the Rhode Island School of Design, and; a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Denver. She lives and works in Denver, Colorado.

EPISODE DATE: October 1, 2021

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