679: Your “Expected” Path May Be Misaligned: Follow Your Strengths to Meaningful Work

(00:00) Morgan Dunn: The role that I was in was such an amazing opportunity for somebody who had pursued an IO psych master's degree.

(00:07) Scott Anthony Barlow: That's when Morgan told herself for months. She had an organizational development role at a retail company – prestigious, high visibility, working directly with the CEO. It was a perfect match for her degree. Or was it?

(00:21) Morgan Dunn: I was very, very much wrapped up in that identity and trying to pursue the expected traditional path that somebody for that degree should go out and get, but at the same time, I realized it was that wide variety that started to drain me.

(00:38) Scott Anthony Barlow: The most dangerous career trap isn't the obviously terrible job. It's the great opportunity that looks perfect for someone like you, but in the real world, is completely wrong for who you are.

(00:50) Morgan Dunn: So I started mapping out all of those different options and it wasn't until I did that where, you know, one date in particular kind of stood out to me, and I looked at it and was like, “You know what? I could make that work.”

(01:02) Scott Anthony Barlow: In this episode of the Happen To Your Career podcast, Morgan broke free from that trap by using her strengths as a compass to guide her career change. Because when you learn to recognize and follow your signature strengths, they become part of a reliable navigation system for finding work that truly fits. Let's start with a question. What are Signature Strengths? Because this isn't just about what you're good at.

Martin Seligman is often called the father of positive psychology. He defines signature strengths as those character strengths that are most essential to who we are.

Think of them like an iceberg, where you see above the surface are skills and abilities, but below the surface lies something much more powerful. The fundamental ways you're wired to think, process, and even operate, but here's why this matters. Gallup research shows that using your strengths just one to two hours more per day dramatically increases your feelings around happiness, your engagement, even your performance.

It's like buying a fast pass to career satisfaction, but here's the catch. Many of us find ourselves in roles that require us to operate against our natural wiring. And when that happens, even great opportunities become complete energy drains. This is exactly what Morgan experienced. Let me share her story because it illustrates perfectly how your strengths can guide you toward work that actually fits.

When I first got to meet Morgan, she was stuck in what looked like a dream role. After all, she'd been in organizational development for years at that point. She was overseeing performance management, talent assessment, succession planning, employee surveys, all fascinating work, and she was getting excellent reviews from everybody she worked with. But something was fundamentally wrong. Here's how she described her situation.

(02:57) Morgan Dunn: I recognized that the role that I was in was such an amazing opportunity for somebody who had pursued an IO psych master's degree. And, you know, like I was very, very much wrapped up in that identity and, you know, trying to pursue the expected traditional path that somebody for that degree should go out and get. But at the same time, I realized it was that wide variety that started to drain me.

(03:26) Scott Anthony Barlow: Okay? Notice what's happening here. Morgan was doing work that was perfect for someone, just not her. The breadth of responsibilities was killing her, despite looking impressive on paper. The turning point came when Morgan realized her natural wiring was being ignored, and here's what she discovered about herself.

(03:47) Morgan Dunn: I cannot stop thinking of new ideas for things. I am super big in maximization, ideation, and I just, I can't stop doing those things. So the fact that I couldn't, I think that that was a huge player in it for sure.

(04:02) Scott Anthony Barlow: This is a perfect example of what happens when your role doesn't align with your signature strengths. Morgan's natural wiring demanded depth and optimization, but her role required surface-level management across many areas.

Her strengths weren't defective, they were just pointed in the wrong direction. So what changed? Morgan got to learn to use her strengths as a compass as she was completing career experiments.

By the way, if you wanna learn more about how to use career experiments, I'll drop another episode that takes you through career experiments as a whole and how to use them to reduce risk for career change, and you find that inside the show notes and description.

But one of the most powerful things she did was reach out to family and friends to understand her strengths from the outside. Morgan actually created a chart to organize feedback from people who knew her best. She sent templates to friends and family asking specific questions about what they saw as our natural talents and abilities. This, by the way, is an exercise that will commonly, you know, have people do as they're really diving into what their strengths actually are. The specifics.

(05:09) Morgan Dunn: It's always super funny though, no matter how extroverted you are and nerdy about this psychology stuff, it's always awkward per se, you know, when you go out and ask people, "Hey, tell me what I'm good at." You'd be surprised how willing people are and how excited they are to help give you insight.

(05:31) Scott Anthony Barlow: What she discovered through this process was game-changing. People consistently told her things like, "She was amazing at disarming people and getting honest information." "She brought creative solutions when things changed." "She could see patterns other people were missing."

(05:45) Morgan Dunn: To be like, yeah, I am awesome at disarming people in a way where they can be totally honest with me and give me a ton of information.

I should use that strength. That's awesome. Or, yeah, I am great at rolling with the punches or super creative, you know, when something totally changes, bringing a ton of ideas to the table and selecting out the best path forward. Like I should use that strength in whatever way that looks like.

(06:08) Scott Anthony Barlow: The cool thing here is this external validation gave Morgan permission to trust what she already knew internally, that her strengths were being underutilized. But here's the critical part. She didn't immediately quit her job.

Instead, this is where she started experimenting. She began visualizing different career paths and mapping out what they would look like financially, logistically, emotionally. She gave herself permission to leave, but only after creating a concrete plan first

(06:37) Morgan Dunn: All of those different options, and it wasn't until I did that where, you know, one date in particular kind of stood out to me, and I looked at it and was like, “You know what? I could make that work.”

(06:49) Scott Anthony Barlow: When Morgan finally made the transition, she didn't just find a new job. She found a role that let her use her signature strengths on a daily basis. She became a career assessment specialist and did coaching too, where she gets to disarm people in conversations. She gets to dive deep into those patterns and data and create customized solutions. Pretty cool, right?

By the way, if you're stuck in a role or a similar situation to Morgan and it doesn't align with your strengths, we would love to help. Just drop me an email, scott@happentoyourcareer.com. Put "Conversation" in the subject line and I'll connect you with the right person on our team.

But here's why we do what we do. I want you to listen to the difference between where Morgan started versus where she's at now. It's profound.

(07:35) Morgan Dunn: I wake up and I'm like, "Oh yeah, I can't wait to work on this client today," or, "dive into some insights today."

And even when I end the day, even if it's a hard day of work, how quickly you feel energized, again, at the end of the day is a huge difference. My relationships are better. My husband is probably most thankful that I'm not as like short and snappy with him.

(07:58) Scott Anthony Barlow: This is what happens when work aligns with your signature strengths. You're not just more successful, more energized, more present, you're actually more of yourself. But I think there's a deeper learning here. Morgan's story exposes something crucial about career change. Your signature strengths aren't just what you're good at. They truly are how you're naturally wired to contribute to the world. And it's the combination of experiences that you've had up till now that develops that wiring over time. And when you ignore them, even great opportunities become draining. When you follow them, that's where work starts to become energizing.

Your strengths aren't holding you back, they're pointing the way forward, and Morgan proved that when you stop trying to fit into somebody else's definition of a great opportunity and start following that natural wiring, you find that thriving in your career becomes possible only at that point.

If you'd love to use more of your strengths in your life, then I would encourage you to follow and subscribe right now so that you get every single episode of the Happen To Your Career Podcast. Until next time, I am out. Adios.

Happen To Your Career - Meaningful Work, Career Change, Career Design, & Job Search