Temporary Identity

Listening to an interview with Clara Shih on blogtalkradio, she believes that the concept of temporary identity is going to be something important for people to manage as more individual identities become tied to the branding of the companies they work for.

In a sense, who we are, becomes in a public way, a central element to the face of a company. This is not entirely a new concept in that leaders and creative people in public positions (writers, artists, high level managers) take their identities with them when they leave.

Perhaps the model of musicians and actors is start in thinking about it. They often disappear for a few years and then come back reinvented. A classic example would be John Travolta.

Another issue Shih mentions is content ownership. Most companies however will claim ownership of whatever ideas you come up with under their employ. As employees generate more and more ideas it may be difficult for companies to really enforce these claims. Like with plagiarism, it will become more difficult tell who came up with an idea first as many people will be working on the same problems publicly.

Temporary identity is an interesting idea that may be worth thinking about.