This is one of my favourite questions about influence.

Have you ever felt that nagging pull toward a new direction in your career – but hesitated in case it erased all the credibility you’ve built?

I see this all the time working with ambitious leaders.

The fear that changing lanes in their career or expertise, will somehow diminish their authority rather than strengthen it.

The truth? The transitions you’re tempted to hide are often the foundation of your greatest influence.

On a recent Inside Influence episode, I spoke with a tech founder who confessed that for years he’d hidden his background in running the family business.

He thought potential clients and investors would only take him seriously if they believed he’d always been in tech.

What he didn’t realize at the time, was that his deep understanding of operational challenges, as well as personal experience in the pains of running an inefficient business – would eventually become the key to his success.

His lane change wasn’t actually a liability – it was his competitive edge.

Most of us instinctively hide our career transitions, believing they make us look unfocused or lacking authority.

We scrub our LinkedIn profiles of “irrelevant” experience.

We craft narratives that make our path seem perfectly linear. Worrying that the shifts in our expertise will make others question the depth of our knowledge.

But what if those transitions were actually our influence superpower?

Here are three ways to transform your next leap into even larger impact:

1. Start by owning your entire journey

Stop compartmentalizing your experience. Every role, project, and pivot has contributed to your unique perspective on a specific problem.

Instead of hiding parts of your story that don’t seem to “fit”. First recognize that what makes you valuable isn’t being a two-dimensional expert – it’s being a three-dimensional authority – able to bring insight no one else can offer.

Recently I coached an expert in consumer trends, who wanted to write a book on the topic of behaviour change.

His first instinct was to downplay his background.

However, we quickly discovered that his experience watching organizations ignore his predictions (even when faced with compelling evidence), gave him a unique insight into exactly what it takes to embrace and lean into change.

2. Find your unique “Through-Line”

The through-line is the hidden thread that connect all the seemingly disparate parts of your career – into one unified theme.  

Start by asking yourself:

• What fundamental problem have I been trying to solve throughout my career?
• What one question have I consistently been curious about?
• What mission connects all my professional experiences?

Your unique through-line should be the foundation of your expert positioning – setting you apart and making your career pivots feel less like random changes and more like a purposeful evolution.

3. Lead with unexpected insights

Your unique combination of experiences allows you to see connections others miss.

The tech entrepreneur I mentioned earlier didn’t just understand coding – he understood the human challenges his technology needed to solve. That’s an insight those with a purely technical background often lack.

Your “outsider” perspective in a new field isn’t a weakness – it’s a strength.

And it’s precisely what allows you to challenge conventional thinking, offer fresh new solutions and lead with insights no one else can offer.

Transition moments don’t lessen your credibility – they are a roadmap that leads directly to your real purpose.

They make others more likely to pay attention to your insights, not less.

They demonstrate your adaptability, curiosity and willingness to change when necessary – all qualities in high demand in today’s rapidly changing world.

So if you’re standing at a crossroads.

Worried the next pivot might undermine everything you’ve built.

Remember the most valuable experts don’t know everything about one thing — they have the experience to know how seemingly unrelated things connect.