Crafting & Sharing Your Career Story With Others (and Yourself)

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Unleash the Power of Storytelling" by Rob Biesenbach. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here.

Do you look at your career as just a timeline with points on it? What if you saw it as a story?

Whether you realize it or not, your career has a narrative. It has a beginning, a middle, and an end (in the past or in the future). You’re the main character who has certain motivations and faces obstacles along the way.

Keep reading to learn how putting your career story into words can be powerful for colleagues, prospective employers, and even yourself.

Your Career Story

When you interview for a job or introduce yourself to someone new, you should frame your career as a story. This makes it more memorable, reveals why you do what you do, and can even help explain an unconventional path if needed. Having a career story is also useful when you’re facing a crisis or a decision and need help staying focused on your priorities.

Biesenbach cites the advice to find the “implicit narrative” of your life: Identify the values, character traits, and skills that have driven you through your most significant successes and challenges. Recall feedback that you’ve received from others, and articulate what you’ve enjoyed about your work.

(Shortform note: The “implicit narrative” is just one framework for using stories to think about the purpose you’re trying to fulfill in your career. In Find Your Why, David Mead, Peter Docker, and Simon Sinek recommend having a “purpose discussion” to identify your core values and purpose. They recommend gathering stories and lessons from your life that are meaningful to you, noticing the themes of those stories, and then drafting a purpose statement to articulate the action that your purpose compels you to take and the impact you want that action to have.)

Crafting & Sharing Your Career Story With Others (and Yourself)

———End of Preview———

Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Rob Biesenbach's "Unleash the Power of Storytelling" at Shortform.

Here's what you'll find in our full Unleash the Power of Storytelling summary:

  • How telling a story can make any message more compelling
  • The unique power stories have to influence us and shape our emotions
  • The crucial pieces that make up a story (other than the beginning, middle, and end)

Elizabeth Whitworth

Elizabeth has a lifelong love of books. She devours nonfiction, especially in the areas of history, theology, and philosophy. A switch to audiobooks has kindled her enjoyment of well-narrated fiction, particularly Victorian and early 20th-century works. She appreciates idea-driven books—and a classic murder mystery now and then. Elizabeth has a Substack and is writing a book about what the Bible says about death and hell.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *