As you’ve moved “up the ladder” — growing your career, collecting degrees — have you experienced something unexpected and unwanted? Namely, have you found that the very things that were supposed to empower you have actually inhibited your growth?

There comes a point in every career when we find ourselves trapped by our supposed accomplishments — when we become a repository for keywords, methodologies, and titles. As if the multitude of our collected life and work experiences could possibly be summed up by a résumé.

You are not your résumé. In fact, your résumé is only the beginning of your story. Your job is to begin the hard work of surfacing yourself: Who are you? What do you do? Why do you do what it is that you do? In other words, what gets you up and going in the morning?

What I’m suggesting is that you begin a journey of self-discovery. Nothing terribly time-consuming, but an introspective process composed of answering the right questions. Only by answering those questions can you elevate the conversation and communicate the true value that you bring to any organization.