When I first thought of quitting my job, what troubled me the most was not the loss of salary but the loss of ‘business card.’
Till then, had someone asked me what I did for a living, I always had a good answer – “I work with a private equity fund.”
Even prior to that, when working with McKinsey or the IPS, the brand recognition was easy. And unknowingly, I was deriving a lot of my self-worth from these jobs.
But after quitting my job, I would have no good answer to “What do you do for a living?”
However, once I quit my job, I realized that it was not a problem at all. Turns out, our real self-worth comes from what we can do – it is our ability, our network, our personal brand.
One can lose a job anytime, but nobody can take away your ability and your personal brand.
Be exceptionally good at what you do and be known for it. That is the new job security.