Creating Self: Identity narratives for those working outside organizational contexts

Creating Self: Identity narratives for those working outside organizational contexts Ruth Blatt Sue Ashford *

Compare this narrative • “I was a hungry young person dying to work, okay? So I said no twice and that was it; I never worked for that company again… I felt like if I was to sell out I will not be able to stand clean in front of myself. So this is the way I tried to keep myself from becoming corrupted… I’m just relentless no matter what, even if people don’t like it and that takes a toll on my family. My wife isn’t very happy with me that I don’t make a living like other people, or that we don’t have stability, and that she has to work so hard, and so on. But still I just cannot change the way I am.” Independent documentary film maker

To this one: • “When I was in banking or any other job I had, you had to be in the office and it was part of the game and I’m competitive. I like playing the game… I mean my goal, hopefully is I can build this thing up. I can sell it, I can make a lot of money. And maybe I’ll go get my law degree and then I’ll do like social stuff or maybe I’ll do real estate development. I mean, I really discovered a strong entrepreneurial streak. I mean I never knew it, I mean this is totally crazy. I’m thinking about starting this truck stop with my dad. I love truck stops… Getting outside is good. When I go outside, I don’t know, there’s just something. I could probably mow lawns for a living and be just as happy. I love being outside; I just am totally like calm and relaxed.” Independent film maker:

We’re interested in • The stories people tell themselves (and others) about: • who they are in doing their work, • what is important to do and • why it matters

Narratives • Temporally ordered account that unifies past events and characters and relates them causally to one another • Independent work motivates people to generate and maintain an overarching narrative of the self-at-work • It is outside the norm • Just what to do to be successful can be highly ambiguous • It is up to them • It matters (economically)

Narratives: Two Critical Properties • Coherence • Property of the narrative’s form • Present is integrated into the past • Reflects a causal sequencing of events • Is emotionally significant • Resolves discrepancies • Flexibility • Property of the narrative’s content (the self) • Generalists rather than specialists • Complex and multifaceted • Possessing broad repertoire of personal characteristics and possibilities

Narrative Types Coherence Low High High Low Frozen Random Rigid Adaptive Flexibility

Low Flexibility, High Coherence: Frozen • “I was a hungry young person dying to work, okay? So I said no twice and that was it; I never worked for that company again… I felt like if I was to sell out I will not be able to stand clean in front of myself. So this is the way I tried to keep myself from becoming corrupted… I’m just relentless no matter what, even if people don’t like it and that takes a toll on my family. My wife is not very happy with me that I don’t make a living like other people, or that we don’t have stability, and that she has to work so hard, and so on. But still I cannot change the way I am.” Independent documentary film maker

High flexibility, low coherence: Random • “When I was in banking or any other job I had, you had to be in the office and it was part of the game and I’m competitive. I like playing the game… I mean my goal, hopefully is I can build this thing up. I can sell it, I can make a lot of money. And maybe I’ll go get my law degree and then I’ll do like social stuff or maybe I’ll do real estate development. I mean, I really discovered a strong entrepreneurial streak. I mean I never knew it, I mean this is totally crazy. I’m thinking about starting this truck stop with my dad. I love truck stops… Getting outside is good. When I go outside, I don’t know, there’s just something. I could probably mow lawns for a living and be just as happy. I love being outside; I just am totally like calm and relaxed.” Independent film maker:

Proposed Effects • Keeping actions goal-directed • Sustaining the ability to act over time • Resilience *

Example: Creative Rug Maker • “Basically when you look at it I make area rugs. I work on my hands and knees in my disgusting basement, and that’s it. But I don’t care. I mean, Picasso worked in some paint-strewn studio and he’s who he is, and I know I’m not ever going be that, but long after I die people are going to have my rugs.” *

Effect on Resilience • “Some days I'd feel like, Jeez, I've already made everything I could possibly make. What else is there? And then, all of a sudden, something will come to me, you know, and I’ll see a picture of a rocket ship and go, ‘Oh my gosh, now this design— if I did this, and this, and this, you know, that would really be cool.’ So you know, there’s always something that comes from even the bad days.” *

How to keep a balance?

The two attributes often are in tension • “The older I get the more important it is to feel like what I’m doing is a profession of some sort… The tension for me now is to make work that I can stand behind as an artist and yet at the same time find ways to make that work sell. So that tension is just increasing as I go along. And it’s not about fame, I’m finding that’s what I’m surprised about. It actually can be an engine… It helps the creative work and sort of begins to shape ways of actually going about it, making it-painting it, literally painting it.” Artist

Creating Self: Identity narratives for those working outside organizational contexts