August 28, 2024

Portfolio thinking

Evolving from an artifact-based portfolio towards a story-based career portfolio

Over the course of my professional life, I’ve created many portfolios—it’s a designer’s professional imperative. Not just designers.

Any “Professional Creative” has a portfolio: actors, writers, photographers, painters, models, animators, videographers…even developers have a portfolio-like presence these days.

I’ve just finished a mentor-meeting with a VP of People and Culture of a 25-year-old digital design agency with offices in four cities across the United States—Boulder, Chattanooga, Washington D.C., and Durham.

When asked about my career history and the sort of work I’ve done, I shared my story. Nearing the hundredth time that I’ve told it—it’s gotten better. And, as always, portfolio’s were a topic of conversation.

What is a portfolio?

Since there are so many people making these things, surely there’s a common, easy to understand, shared definition of what a portfolio is and the shapes they take.

Wrong assumption.

Across social media and the increasingly enshittification & twiddling1 of the internet, there’s all sorts of advice and direction of what a portfolio is—and what to expect. The vast ocean of tips & tricks is in constant conflict.

“Do this.”

“No, do that.”

“Well, do this and that…”

“No, not that way!”

See how they do it? Do it like that.

More.

No; not enough.

It’s never enough.

I’ve spent loads of time thinking on, tinkering, creating, iterating, and reiterating my portfolio—at least five times in the past year.

My thinking has shifted.

What is my portfolio?

That’s the shift—from a portfolio to my portfolio.

I took a 6-week workshop on creating portfolios as a designer. It was valuable, but it was difficult to modulate lessons from a UX-framing into a global enterprise, hyper-growth, multi-role product development leadership framing.

A leadership portfolio! That’s what I’ll do.

“Nope,” self says.

A leadership portfolio limiting in itself because of the types of leadership that feel they’re significantly different and need specific orientations: Design Leadership, Product Leadership, Tech Leadership, Executive Leadership, People Leadership…the list goes on.

It’s a career portfolio

Throughout the hundreds I’ve met with the past year—seeking direction, framing, transitioning my unknown-unknowns into unknown-knowns2 while weeding through my blind-spots and façades3—this is where I’ve landed.

A career portfolio.

• As an artifact, it shows the breadth and depth throughout my career.

• As a story, it frames past accomplishments towards future possibilities.

• As a metaphor, it aligns with investor, consultant, and agency jargon for: look at all the things.

Today’s mentor mentioned a post by Seth Godin that explores this thought, stating that eventually all jobs will need some sort of portfolio.

The mistake we often make is in building a choice set (which we mistakenly call a ‘portfolio’) by trying again and again for one guaranteed ideal choice. That’s not a portfolio. Instead, we should focus on going to the edges, not trying to group everything at some imaginary ‘center’.

I’ve been trying to squeeze my portfolio into nesting dolls of boxes, trying to align to the norm. That won’t work for me, as my career lives on those edges. It defies “normal.”

When we can’t be sure of the future, a portfolio that acknowledges this by going to various edges will outperform one where we pretend we know the right answer.4

While my career portfolio is full of all the roles the market’s laying off and divesting from, my story’s stronger because of my breadth.

That’s the direction I’ll be taking as I continue on my next iteration of personal branding & marketing materials—website, resume, portfolio presentations, social media bios and work history…all the things.

It’s more complete.

Holistic.

Now, just gotta find Names for the things.