Do You Own The Story of Your Work?
One of my career coaching clients, John, recently expressed feelings of imposter syndrome in sharing his accomplishments in his resume and interviews. While he held many different roles in various technology companies, John never officially held the role of product manager. In talking about his past work, John did much of the work of a product manager. But he felt like a fraud because he never held the title.
It made me wonder if John owned his story. Could he rewrite this to be the hero in his story?
Are You the Hero In Your Story?
Countless job search articles and videos describe the importance of outlining the challenges and accomplishments you achieved in each role you’ve held. But this should be more than a carefully crafted bullet on your resume. You want to be able to tell the story behind the bullet.
For instance, here is a bullet from my resume:
turned around a failing agile transformation at a key cybersecurity consulting client through carefully listening to the client's challenges and adapting training and planning to help them meet those challenges
And here is the story behind that bullet:
Years ago, I had joined a small professional services firm that started making progress in some late adopters of agile project management. While their approach initially intrigued me, the more I learned about their approach, the less I agreed with it. One year in, I decided to look for my next opportunity.
The leadership at the professional services firm probably suspected my discontent. So they assigned me to a client that they were likely going to lose. They had sent two other coaches to work with the client, a cybersecurity startup, and they had all been asked to leave. The client was extremely disappointed. So my leadership asked me to work with them.
I reluctantly took the assignment as I knew the other coaches had tried to install “the approach.” In the worst case, I may fail like the other coaches. No one would be surprised, but I decided to give it a try as I was leaving anyway.
To everyone’s surprise, the client listened to my suggestions because I listened to them. They had specific challenges as a collection of distributed teams. Because I worked with these kinds of teams for the last several years, I could help them adapt their agile practices and lead them through planning and review cycles to demonstrate the techniques.
They gradually saw better coordination in their teams, and their cybersecurity products were delivered on time with higher quality. The consulting account continued after I left the company. Two of the leaders from that cybersecurity company kept in touch, and as they moved to new companies, I would get a call for insights or help. They wanted me on their next journey as a trusted advisor.
What did you notice in my story? What elements pulled you into my story? What seemed familiar?
Is Your Story the Hero’s Journey?
Joseph Campbell describes the hero’s journey as a common pattern in many stories across many cultures. In his book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, Campbell describes this recurring pattern in stories across many cultures as:
The hero begins in the ordinary world and receives a call to adventure and often refuses it, at first.
With help from a mentor, the hero crosses into an unfamiliar world full of trials and challenges.
The journey includes encounters with allies, enemies, and inner struggles and leads the hero to a climactic ordeal.
After finding victory, the hero claims a prize (rewards or enlightenment) and returns home. The return may include other trials and sacrifices for the hero to “make it home.”
Once home, the hero uses the acquired prize to benefit their community.
Could you see elements of the pattern in the story above?
Where else have you seen this pattern? (Hint: Think of popular stories and movies that you may have grown up with like Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Lion King, The Hunger Games, Moana, The Wizard of Oz, The Matrix, or the Lord of the Rings series).
Could you see this pattern in your own stories? Could you write these stories?
Is Your Hero’s Journey Always the Same Story?
You might be thinking, “I can’t tell a story like that!” But you can, and you probably do so already. You share stories with your friends and family often. You share challenges, defeats and triumphs. It’s all part of your larger hero’s journey.
And depending on your audience, you may not always tell the story the same way. You may leave out parts that would require too much explanation for some audiences or you may dive into details that you know will get them interested. Some examples;
Did I mention the “mentor” in the story above? No, it wasn’t relevant for this time of telling the story, but there were actually a few mentors in that journey.
Would I tell exactly that story in a job interview? No, as I talk about being dissatisfied with the company. I might describe that part of the “challenge” a bit differently, but you still need the tension of the challenge. And recruiters always look for how you overcome a challenge.
We are all on a journey and we all have stories to tell. So why not tell your hero’s journey as you write your resume, share insights on social media, or answer questions in an interview (either for a job or a podcast)?
And if you need a mentor in your hero’s journey, I know where you can find one.
Stay human in your journey my friends,
Mark
Footnotes:
Need more examples of the hero’s journey? Check out “Tell Stories to Generate Action” or “How to Handle a Challenging Audience” or see the many stories in my book, From Chaos to Successfully Distributed Agile Teams
I’ll be sharing more stories and career tips at AgileDC in my talk “Skip the Path - Find Your Career Trails” on Oct 27, 2025. Find out more at https://www.agiledc.org/
Dave Prior and I will be teaching other skills for your career in the upcoming course, The Productivity Survival Kit, starting October 16. I’ll send out a separate announcement with details soon. Yes, there will be more stories.