‘Finding Your People’ and ‘Building Your Team’: Exploring professional identity

This article is based on the inaugural professorial lecture that I gave at Leeds Beckett University in November 2025 on ‘Being Yourself’ and ‘Finding Your People’: Exploring professional identity and career transitions. Drawing on the literature, I examine definitions, interpretations, and perceptions, of the concept of professional identity, and share some anecdotes and reflections from my own career journey to date. In doing so, I briefly outline the importance of developing a strong sense of professional identity for both the individual and the organisation. Through this article, I also offer some thoughts around how my career background as a practitioner-turned-academic continues to influence my own professional identity and approach. I draw the article to a conclusion by offering some recommendations for building networks to support the development of professional identity.