You built the career. You hit the numbers. And then one day, you woke up and didn't quite recognize yourself anymore.

That feeling has a name. Most people never learn it.

In this episode of Underneath The Title, Kevin Simcock unpacks identity loss, one of the most common and least talked-about experiences among high-achievers who've exited a career, sold a business, or hit a major life transition.

This isn't about motivation or confidence or figuring out your next move. It's about something that runs deeper than any of those things: the story you've been telling yourself about who you are, and what happens when the role that anchored that story disappears.

Kevin explores why identity loss so often gets misread as burnout, restlessness, or a midlife crisis, and why misreading it leads people to rebuild the same thing in a slightly different setting. He walks through the specific ways it shows up, from decision paralysis and comparison spirals to the quiet grief of losing clarity about where you fit.

He also makes the case that identity loss isn't a crisis. It's information. And for the people willing to sit with that discomfort honestly, it's often the beginning of building something that actually fits.

If you've been quietly asking yourself "is this all there is?" this episode was made for you.

Purchase Kevin Simcock's Book: Whose Ladder Is This?
Available on Amazon Kindle, paperback and hardcover HERE

Barnes & Noble here
Indigo Books here

If today’s episode resonated and you’re ready to start asking your own version of that question, you can find Kevin at kevinsimcock.com.

Check out more episodes of Underneath The Title on Youtube
https://youtube.com/@kevinsimcock

Host: Kevin Simcock

LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-simcock/

Herminia Ibarra's Working Identity is one of the most cited books in career reinvention. It's been assigned in business schools, recommended by coaches, and trusted by high-achievers navigating major transitions. And it gets something fundamentally wrong.

Ibarra's central argument is this: don't wait for clarity. Act. Experiment with different versions of yourself, and let the feedback from those experiments guide you toward the right one. It sounds practical. It sounds liberating. But for the people I work with, people who have already built one version of success and found it hollow, this approach doesn't produce a new self. It produces the same self in a new context.

In this episode, I walk through exactly where Ibarra's model breaks down, why the "possible selves" she encourages you to explore are often unexamined personas built from fear, conditioning, and other people's expectations, and what needs to happen before action becomes meaningful.

I draw on the work of Carl Jung to explain why acting from an unexamined identity isn't reinvention. It's repetition. And I use an example from Ibarra's own book to show that the introspection she dismisses is quietly present in every success story she tells.

If you've read Working Identity, this episode will reframe it. If you haven't, it will save you from following advice that stops short of the answer you're actually looking for.

Action validates direction. But only when the direction is actually yours.

Purchase Kevin Simcock's Book: Whose Ladder Is This?
Available on Amazon Kindle, paperback and hardcover HERE

Barnes & Noble here
Indigo Books here

If today’s episode resonated and you’re ready to start asking your own version of that question, you can find Kevin at kevinsimcock.com.

Check out more episodes of Underneath The Title on Youtube
https://youtube.com/@kevinsimcock

Host: Kevin Simcock

LinkedIn Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-simcock/

Everyone talks about the exit. Nobody talks about what comes after it.

If you've recently stepped away from a business you built, a company you led, or an executive role that defined you for decades and something feels off, you're not broken. You're navigating one of the most underestimated transitions a leader can face.

In this episode of Underneath The Title, Kevin Simcock breaks down the three invisible costs of exit that high-performing leaders almost never see coming: identity shock, status withdrawal, and routine collapse. These aren't soft concepts. They are real, measurable forces that distort your decision-making, strain your relationships, and quietly erode the legacy you spent years building, if you don't address them directly.

Kevin draws on 25+ years of working with Fortune 500 leaders and founder-CEOs to explain why even the most accomplished executives are blindsided by exit, and what to actually do about it.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN:

Why identity fuses with your role over decades and what happens when that role disappears

The three danger responses to status withdrawal that lead smart leaders into bad decisions

How to design a new operating rhythm when the institutional structure that organized your life is gone

The 90-day rule Kevin uses with every client post-exit

Three conversations every leader needs to have before making any major next move

WHO THIS EPISODE IS FOR:

This episode is for founders and executives who have exited, or are preparing to exit, a business or senior leadership position and are navigating the identity, purpose, and direction questions that follow. If you've ever thought "I should be happy, why am I not?" after a successful exit, this one is for you.

CONNECT WITH KEVIN:

Website: kevinsimcock.com

Purchase Kevin Simcock's Book: Whose Ladder Is This?
Available on Amazon Kindle, paperback and hardcover HERE

Barnes & Noble here
Indigo Books here

Interested in working with Kevin visit kevinsimcock.com for more information.

Check out more episodes of Underneath The Title on YouTube
https://youtube.com/@kevinsimcock

Host: Kevin Simcock

LinkedIn Profile https://linkedin.com/kevin-simcock