Embracing Our Unique Value Propositions
I spent 20 years trying to hide all the facets of myself that didn’t align to the career path du jour…Now that I have gone into business for myself, I am learning that my atypical choices give me a unique advantage.
Your difference is your competitive edge too. Trust me!
Before we get into all the unique advantage stuff, let me explain why I worked so hard to squeeze into spaces that never fit, in hopes it will help you unravel what and why you are hiding.
The evidence:
When I was a pharmaceutical sales representative and people found out that I was a retired professional actress, they would ask me “If I was acting like I liked my job?” or “How they could trust anything an actress said?”
When I worked in market access marketing and people learned about my yoga and nutrition certifications, as well as my brief stint in culinary school, I was often asked “What I was doing in a pricing role?” and “Why I was still working for my company?”
Later when I had a more outwardly congruent career choice, “Head of Global Well-Being,” people quickly forgot about my time in market access and the commercial side of biopharma, and I was rebranded an HR Professional.
Human beings are sense making creatures. Psychology Today suggests that we learn to sort things into boxes as an evolutionary capability that allows our brains to store a tremendous amount of information. In the process, we often lose the ability to see people in their full glory.
We don’t need to be just one thing to be successful.
When we are what my dear friend Shonna Water’s Ph.D. likes to refer to as serial specialists, it can be harder to communicate your value clearly to others.
Just because something is harder to articulate, doesn’t make it less valuable. Multipotentialites do need to thoroughly understand our own value propositions to be able to explain them to others, or we risk our pitch sounding a bit like Mr. Potato Head looks with all his parts askew (I am learning this lesson the hard way).
Take me for example. I was struggling to figure out how to explain my two business models to the world. Here is how I told my story to my business advisor when she asked me to explain how I got to Corporate Well-Being Strategist, Specializing in Women’s Health at Work, and Keynote Speaker with a Menopause Community:
When acting was not a lateral enough career path, I found pharmaceutical sales.
Then to deal with a lifelong eating disorder, I went to culinary school to heal my relationship with food (I dropped out).
I went on a spiritual journey to manage my social anxiety disorder and panic, which led me to yoga teacher training.
Then when I miscarried a child and found myself unable to digest food, I went to school to become an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach.
Which led me to want to better understand the supplements my Functional MD was writing, so I obtained a certification in herbalism.
Unable to keep what I was learning to myself, I became a Well-Being Champion at my company, which led me to my heading global well-being for 50,000 colleagues internationally.
Seeking to better understand how to assist with the cultural aspects of well-being in the workplace, I went to William James College to get my M.A. in Organizational Psychology.
While at the same time my perimenopause symptoms spiraled out of control leading to 500 hours researching my symptomatology and the menopause marketplace…
ALL of which, I am using to help women navigate their own menopausal transitions and working to transform workplace cultures to better support the well-being of all humans, and especially mid-career women.
Whether it is how to get drugs covered, therapeutic knowledge of herbs, functional nutrition information, coaching, or how to talk about menopause to leaders and colleagues in the workplace, I could not do any of those things, had I not walked my entire winding career path.
My choices may still seem odd, and probably wouldn’t be your choices…
AND…
They are also why I am uniquely qualified to help organizations and individuals thrive together, and help women navigate complex transitions (like menopause) to live better more fulfilled lives.
If you seek to understand your unique value proposition, ask yourself what parts you are hiding from the world and why.
No really. Write it all down.
If we are lucky, lives and careers are long.
If you want to be just one thing because you love the work, be just one thing.
But if like me, you are exhausted from trying to contort yourself to fit other peoples boxes, stop trying.
Do all of the things you love and are inspired to do, and I promise you will look back at those choices one day and they will all make sense.
Be yourself to free yourself.
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Hi, I'm Kacy! I empower individuals & teams to live and work with more purpose & greater alignment.
I am a well-being strategist, a keynote speaker, a women's health advocate, and a life coach.
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Looking for support through the menopause transition? Check out The Fuchsia ⛺️