Last Thursday night, a thought stopped me mid-stride: Did I just make myself basic and forgettable? What about my brand?
I had just come home from the salon. Fifteen years of my signature blonde color, gone, replaced with a dark chocolate brown, with one goal: to let my very grey and black base grow in more seamlessly.
Here is the thing about building a career around identity and image: you do not get to opt out of doing the work yourself. I teach that your external presentation needs to reflect who you actually are on the inside. As within, so without.
Yet, every time I turned on my camera, I went straight to my hair. Not my talking points. My hair. The mix of colors at my crown felt chaotic to me, not intentional. I was worried about what it said before I opened my mouth. And I teach executive presence for a living.
I know the standard that says grey on a professional woman reads as “letting yourself go.” I also know that standard is wrong. And I am choosing to grow my grey out anyway, which means I will be navigating that tension in real time, right alongside the women I work with.
The appointment was my answer. But standing there in the parking lot, walking to my front door, I second-guessed all of it.
That is the work the Identity Impact Index is built around. Not a makeover. Not a formula. A framework for getting clear enough on who you are becoming that your outside can finally catch up. And the courage to let it.
Which is exactly why I am done being a well-kept secret. This work is too important and too needed for me to stay in rooms that already know me. I want to reach the rooms that do not yet.
On June 18 at 1:00 PM ET, I am hosting a complimentary 60-minute showcase of the Identity Impact Index, a framework that connects authentic identity with executive presence, communication, and leadership performance. It is built for organizations, teams, ERGs, and leaders who are ready to close the gap between potential and presence.
If that sounds like someone you know, I am asking you to pass this along. A colleague, a manager, an HR or L&D contact, an ERG leader. The registration page includes a blurb you can copy and send directly.
Register and share here: www.morganwider.com/showcase
Thank you for being in this with me, through every chapter and every change.
Yours in Style, Shopping, and Soul,
Morgan
P.S. The showcase is free. The framework is proven. If you know a leader or team that is ready to stop performing an old version of themselves and start leading from who they actually are, this is the hour. www.morganwider.com/showcase
