Earlier this week, I led a 45-minute workshop for a group of graduate students at the Columbia Technology Forum, an annual event for the school of professional studies. Many of the students in the room expressed interest in working for a tech company, and I shared the story about how I successfully pivoted and "track changed" industries multiple times in my career–from publishing to tech to venture capital to web3 and most recently, to AI.
I fielded many questions from students in the room, but the prevailing theme was this: How?
Changing jobs or industries is easier said than done. Some questions that came up were:
How do you get a job in an industry you don't work in now?
How do you get your resume past the keyword tracking scanners?
How do you convince a person you can do a thing you haven't done before?
How do you meet people in a space where you don't currently work?
How do you quickly establish yourself in a new geographic area or region?
In the room, I shared that there are many steps I take in any so-called professional rebrand or track change (including active networking, deep research, picking up side projects, and lots of exploratory conversations), but the first thing that's important to do is take control of your own career narrative and refine the external signaling you are sending to the world.
I wrote about this in an ebook I wrote this summer so I decided to repurpose it below.
This is an excerpt from the ebook I wrote this summer titled, "Go Solo: How to Flourish as a Fractional Worker." You can read more about my process for writing that book. If you're fractionally curious and would like to read the book, let me know and I'll happily send it to you!
What signal are you sending to your network?
Have you ever gotten an email about a job or request that’s way outside your expertise? This happened to me a lot. At Stack Overflow, I constantly explained that I wasn’t a software developer, redirecting technical questions. At Union Square Ventures, I was hit with requests for deal flow advice, panel invites on unfamiliar topics, or feedback on projects outside my domain.
While frustrating, these misdirected inquiries signaled that my external messaging was off—it was time to realign my narrative.
To combat misconceptions, I started writing and sharing more about the work I actually did at USV—community building, talent management, and business operations. Between 2018-2019, I wrote over 150 blog posts on these topics. I published so much on community building that I became known as a VC community builder by default. I knew the shift was working when I started getting overwhelmed with calls about community strategies instead of deal flow.
I've had to rebrand 2-3 times since then, but with each pivot, I followed the same playbook. When I went fractional, I was mostly known for building founder communities. While I valued that, I needed to shift perceptions again. Over four years, I gradually signaled that community was the “how” of my work, not the “what.” I successfully shifted my narrative from “community builder” to “go-to-market strategist” and then “operations and strategy.”
This strategy also worked as I transitioned into web3, publishing a deep research paper on community-building in blockchain businesses, and now, I’m using my blog to write about my work at the intersection of emerging technology like AI and education.
How to nudge your narrative in a new direction
To change your own narrative, start by understanding how you’re currently perceived, and then identify what you like or don’t like about that perception.
Content Creation: The easiest way to control your narrative is to be mindful about what content you’re pushing out to the world. By creating (and sharing) content that aligns with the narrative you want to project, people will slowly catch on to what you want to spend time on. I use blog posts and social media a lot for this. When you start to get invited to speaking engagements, you’ll know it’s catching on.
Strategic Networking: Connect with people and communities that are aligned with the target narrative of where you want to go. This is where things like conferences or meetups come in handy. It also really does help to practice saying your story out loud, both to get real-time feedback on how it’s received, and to build up more confidence in doing it.
Update Your Profiles: Make sure your LinkedIn, website, and other professional profiles all line up the same way. This is easier said than done (and personal website projects are a slog, I know.) I tend to use some down time in the summers to do a light website refresh each year. See below for how a /now page can add a nice tough to give a sense of presence on your personal website.
Seek Out Relevant Opportunities: This seems obvious, but you’ll need to intentionally seek out projects, speaking engagements, or partnerships that let you demonstrate your expertise in the new areas you’re focusing on. The flipside of this is that it also means you’ll need to turn down jobs that do not align. Also easier said than done.
Be Patient and Persistent: Don’t be surprised if this takes a longer time than you wish it would. And don’t be surprised if it’s hard for you to articulate this fully on your own. It’s often hardest to do this type of work on ourselves.
Get An Outside Perspective: When I needed a little extra push to define my narrative in a succinct way, I worked with a personal brand coach, Sarabeth Berk, for several sessions. Through a series of helpful exercises, workshops, and interviews with my network, we came up with a mindset shift for me to use in defining my so-called “hybrid identity” when discussing it with others. A lot of this messaging is reflected in the “about” story on my website today. By the way, she also has a ton of freebies and helpful one-sheeters here: https://www.morethanmytitle.com/shop
The Bottom Line
Whether you're pivoting to a new industry or refining your existing expertise, taking control of your narrative is the most important first step. By being intentional about your content, networking, and the opportunities you pursue, you can ensure that the signal you're sending to the world truly aligns with where you you are today, and where you want to go.
