Who am I? Making sense of life’s many roles
We all wear many hats—colleague, parent, friend, partner—and those hats change over time. So how do we hold on to a sense of self when our roles and identities keep shifting?
In this video, Herminia Ibarra, Charles Handy Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, explains her research on self-narratives: the stories people tell about themselves to make sense of their lives. Her work identifies two patterns—coalescence, the way we blend different parts of ourselves in a moment, and coevolution, how those parts shift together over time.
By connecting the dots across work, family, setbacks, and growth, people gain more than self-knowledge—they become more grounded, adaptable, and resilient. Identity isn’t fixed, Herminia argues. It’s something we build and rebuild through story.
We all wear many hats—colleague, parent, friend, partner—and those hats change over time. So how do we hold on to a sense of self when our roles and identities keep shifting?
In this video, Herminia Ibarra, Charles Handy Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, explains her research on self-narratives: the stories people tell about themselves to make sense of their lives. Her work identifies two patterns—coalescence, the way we blend different parts of ourselves in a moment, and coevolution, how those parts shift together over time.
By connecting the dots across work, family, setbacks, and growth, people gain more than self-knowledge—they become more grounded, adaptable, and resilient. Identity isn’t fixed, Herminia argues. It’s something we build and rebuild through story.