If someone asked you ‘who are you?’ right now — without your job title, your company, or your industry — what would you say?
In this episode of the Psych Leadership Podcast, host Luke UpChurch tackles one of the most quietly damaging patterns he sees in early-career professionals: the fusion of identity with role. When your job title becomes your whole sense of self, every setback at work becomes a personal crisis — and every disruption to the role becomes a threat to who you are. Drawing on 28 years of working with emerging professionals and grounded in current research on professional identity formation, burnout, and identity complexity, this episode helps you understand where that pattern comes from and how to build something more durable underneath it.
The most grounded leaders aren’t the ones with the most impressive titles. They’re the ones who know exactly who they are when the title is gone.
Want to be part of our mission: 👉 Donate Today
Psych Leadership is a division of Rise Up Academics - A 501(c)(3) focused on building leadership and mentoring opportunities for high school and college students. All proceeds go towards this purpose.
Want to connect? Email me at psychLeadership@riseupacademics.org
