I am currently unemployed and taking, as I wrote on my LinkedIn profile page, a conscious break in Spain. I thought this to be a good phrasing, something that will not stick out too much in the world of business. Right? As many others on LinkedIn I could also have written: looking for new challenges but this phrasing for some reason makes a part of me itch.

Now that I live in Spain and have taken a step back from work life, I can’t help but reflecting upon some things when I read posts in my LinkedIn feed. For example:

It seems to me that many people don’t show who they really are in business. All of the things that people seem to believe make it harder for them to climb the proverbial career ladder, they do not speak or write about. How many times for example do you see someone write openly about their burnout?  

And what about the use of the word passion? It pops up a lot (I mean: A Lot) on LinkedIn. People write that they are passionate about so much things in business. I wonder: is that even humanly possible? Or is it just a phrase that people know works well if you want to make a career?

Even though I know this is the way the world of business works, I can’t help but wondering: why are we so occupied with building our professional image according to these unwritten rules? Why are we together creating a world where you have to sift through so much in order to get to what’s real and honest? To me, the level of authenticity in the world of LinkedIn is pretty similar to our private social media use: we avoid the stuff that makes us vulnerable and put up a facade instead.

If you have read this blog, you have probably understood that awareness, honesty and compassion are important topics for me in life. So I decided to start with myself and reviewed the way I write about myself on my LinkedIn profile page. I added a link to this blog and gone from my profile are now the words driven, responsible and structured. I am all these things but do they really define me as a person? If I’m honest, I wrote them because I know recruiters and employers like to hear them. I still kept the words intuitive and creative though, because I feel they really capture me in my essence.

I don’t know today where my work path will lead me. This both freaks me out a bit and excites me at the same time. I do know however that wherever I will go next in my work life, I will continue to be my authentic and true self. It’s a choice which quite honestly takes a bit of guts but in the end it’s the way I want to live my life, both privately and professionally. As Brené Brown, the researcher and author of the brilliant book Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent and Lead, reminds us:

Authenticity is a practice – a conscious choice of how we want to live. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.

On a final note: as of august 2018 I will be available again for work with a base in Stockholm, Sweden. Would you like to work with me? I am open to many suggestions and ideas, both within the field of my profession but also outside of it. Check out my LinkedIn profile to read more about my background, experience so far and what other people have written about working with me.

Thanks for reading! ♥

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