Looking at this book stack, you could be forgiven for thinking I am having something of an identity crisis. Find your North Star. Reinvent yourself. Be visible. Brag better. And, if all else fails, become a diva.

There have certainly been moments over the last few years when several of those instructions felt relevant.

After 22 years as an NHS chief executive, moving into a different working life was discombobulating. I had spent decades leading organisations, making decisions and carrying responsibility. Suddenly, I was trying to work out where I fitted, what I wanted and how to describe myself without reaching for my previous job title.

I took on advisory roles, entered unfamiliar commercial environments and met people whose experience was very different from mine. My world became bigger. But there were also moments of self-doubt and discomfort. Being experienced did not spare me the awkwardness of being new.

These books speak to many of those experiences. They also connect closely to the work Kate and I are developing through Genergy: helping experienced people think seriously about what comes next and take practical steps towards it.

When you are successful on paper, but something feels out of step

You can be good at your job, respected by colleagues and doing everything expected of you, while quietly wondering whether you want to keep doing it.

Martha Beck’s Finding Your Own North Star offers a starting point for examining what you actually want. That is particularly useful when everyone else’s needs have occupied the diary for years and your own have become rather difficult to locate. (penguinrandomhouseretail.com⁠)

The question I would take into this book is: am I choosing this direction, or continuing along it because I know how to do it?

You do not have to wait until you are exhausted or unhappy to ask.

When a role ends and your confidence goes with it

Redundancy, retirement, restructuring or a decision to leave can unsettle far more than your working arrangements. They can disturb your sense of who you are.

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Herminia Ibarra’s Working Identity is especially helpful here. Her research explores how people develop new professional identities through experiments, different activities and new networks. Clarity can emerge through doing. (herminiaibarra.com⁠)

That makes sense to me. I could not have worked out my current portfolio by sitting at the kitchen table until the perfect plan appeared. I needed conversations, opportunities and experience of different kinds of work.

For someone considering a move, this might mean trying a small advisory project, exploring a trustee role or spending time with people in another sector. Something concrete that helps you learn what fits.

When people keep seeing the person you used to be

A long career creates a strong reputation. It can also leave you firmly associated with one organisation, sector or kind of role.

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Dorie Clark’s Reinventing You helps you think about your strengths, your professional story and how others recognise your contribution. (store.hbr.org⁠)

I think this is useful when moving into consultancy, building a business or seeking a different leadership role. You may know your experience has wider application. Other people may need help seeing it.

I have had to think about this myself. “Former NHS CEO” explains an important part of my history. It does not fully explain the work I do now or where I want to go next.

When you are doing good work, but opportunities keep going elsewhere

Many of us were brought up to believe that doing a good job would be enough. Sometimes it is. Sometimes the people making decisions have very little idea what we have contributed.

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Susan Ritchie’s Strategies for Being Visible and Meredith Fineman’s Brag Better address raising your profile and communicating your achievements. I contributed through interviews to Susan’s book, so there is a personal connection here too. (susanritchie.co.uk⁠,meredithfineman.com⁠)

These are useful books if you are being overlooked for promotion, struggling to explain your value to prospective clients or returning to work after time away.

They prompt a practical exercise: can you describe what you achieved, why it mattered and what your part in it was—without immediately minimising it or handing all the credit to everyone else?

I suspect a few of us could use some practice.

When you have earned your place, but do not quite feel you occupy it

A first board appointment. A bigger executive role. A room full of unfamiliar people. Even after years in leadership, a new setting can make you question yourself.

Sylvia Ann Hewlett’s Executive Presence examines how leadership capability is communicated and perceived. (sylviaannhewlett.com⁠)

I would use it to reflect on how I speak, how I put forward a view and whether I give my contribution the space it deserves. I would also keep asking whether the approach feels like me. Strengthening your presence should allow more of you to come through.

When your thinking needs fresh air

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Austin Kleon’s Steal Like an Artist encourages us to find inspiration widely and develop our own creative voice. (austinkleon.com⁠)

I see real value in that when developing a business offer, preparing a talk or trying to solve a familiar problem that keeps producing familiar answers.

One of the pleasures of my portfolio career has been discovering how much I enjoy creating. Reading beyond my usual territory and spending time with different people have helped. There is considerable freedom in realising that you can still surprise yourself.

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Climb, by Ritchie Mehta and Mark Evans, adds career stories, research and exercises to help turn reflection into practical thinking. The Way of the Diva brings humour and encouragement to be bolder—potentially useful when you have been talking yourself out of something for rather too long. (pearson.com⁠, thewayofthediva.com⁠)

These books offer different things, and I would read them with a questioning mind. Some are grounded in research; others offer practical guidance or a welcome nudge.

What makes the stack valuable is the range of situations it speaks to. You might be navigating an unexpected ending, seeking a bigger role, building something of your own or realising that the life you have worked hard to create needs to change.

That is where Genergy comes in. Space to examine the question, draw on the experience already there and decide what to do next—with other people who understand that success and uncertainty can exist together.

My advice? Pick the book that speaks to your situation.

Read it with a pen in your hand. Then use one idea to do something differently.

We have spent years putting our experience to work for organisations. There is value in putting some of it to work for our own futures.