It’s Never *Just* a Headshot

The other day someone said to me “Well, it’s just headshots.

But it is NOT just headshots.

On this screen from today’s session there’s one young woman who felt entirely misrepresented in her last headshot (by someone who probably approached it as “just headshots”). Her image goes out to every client. On every proposal. In every email. How many times a week is that? Looking at yourself and cringing every time you send an email. That’s a daily reminder of who you’re NOT and pretending it is because you have to.

Another (even younger) woman on this screen is a grad student doing a placement of some sort. She pulled her ‘go-to photo pose’ from a lifetime of selfies and “nailed it” on the 2nd or 3rd shot. I suggested we keep going because visually she was deeply undermining her own credibility with a childlike smile and a ‘cutesy’ head tilt - lovely, but misplaced. Two minutes of direction and a handful of frames later, she’d seen a mature, significant side of herself that she’d never even realised was an option. She literally gasped.

One of the men on this screen sat down, half glared at me, and said “I really don’t care. Let’s just get this over with.” Fifteen frames in, I showed him some options. Three distinctly different versions of himself. I asked which one felt most like him. Without missing a beat, he picking one immediately. I asked “can we do one more round?” Hoping I’d earned enough trust to do a bit better. He grinned, leaned in and nodded - almost ashamed to admit this was kind of cool. We refined it a bit more and he asked for one more go! He sat there looking at himself in disbelief, grinning ear to ear.

How we see ourselves has a huge impact on who we believe we are and the value we hold. How we communicate that to the world determines how we are treated… how we are respected.

So when I say this is Identity work I’m not being my usual hyperbolic, American self. I mean it. This stuff matters. And not just to the individual... To the organisation as a whole. Because the value we feel is the signal we transmit, personally and professionally.