Be the Bison - Beyond Performance and Success: Finding Identity After the Storm
Beyond Performance and Success: Finding Identity After the Storm
In a recent episode of the Be the Bison interview series, Heather Trumpfheller, Founder of the digital platform Switchboard, shared a powerful and authentic story about navigating a profound personal and professional storm. Her journey, marked by multiple career pivots—from broadcast journalism and PR to tech consulting and sales—ultimately led her to the digital community and mobilisation space, focused on faith and work.
Heather, an Austin-based leader, currently runs Switchboard, a tool designed to connect believers with missionaries, thereby taking ownership of the Great Commission. The interview served as a resource to explore what leaders have learned through life's challenging seasons. The core of the discussion centred on her dramatic realisation that she had tied her identity to achievement, leading to a simultaneous crisis in her career and personal life. The Storm: Quitting Vices and a Career Overnight
Into the Storm
Heather's storm began brewing before the COVID pandemic-induced isolation highlighted a deep-seated struggle: she felt lost without constant connections and realised she was tying her worth and relevancy to career achievements and success. Heather shared having an "idol" or "vice of productivity," and fearing irrelevance and lack of purpose.
The storm broke in 2023. After ten years at a stable tech company, she offered a bold prayer: "Make it obvious if I'm supposed to leave my job". Moments later, when her director suggested looking at different internal roles, Heather immediately quit, sensing that "the creator of the universe just made it obvious".
This professional change coincided with a need to quit some unhealthy personal vices. Heather revealed she had been numbing her anxieties with alcohol and second, with busyness. This twin break—from career and coping mechanisms—plunged her into a season of unemployment, forcing her to confront fundamental questions about her identity, worth, and relevance. She found grounding in the promise of 2 Timothy 1:7: "God does not give believers a spirit of timidity or cowardice, but rather of power, love, and a sound mind".
The Action Taken to Get Through the Storm
To navigate a six-month season of discomfort, regret, and grieving, Heather focused on three key actions:
Leaning into Community: Recognising that "bison go into the storm together", her first action was to seek a sober community and a community of job seekers, refusing to navigate either challenge alone. She emphasised that community can take many forms, from sober support groups to book clubs centred on intentional connection.
Practising Vulnerability and Self-Reflection: Heather consciously forced herself to face uncomfortable situations, such as attending networking events where she had to answer the triggering question, "What do you do?" by saying she was "not doing anything at the moment". This practice helped untangle her worth from productivity and success in her work.
Establishing Boundaries and Margin: Heather engaged in boundaries at work and personally, journaling about how interactions and events made her feel, and whether they triggered a need to numb. She learned that just because her calendar was free did not mean she had the space or margin to fill it. She spent significant time in self-reflection and learning how to communicate her needs effectively.
The Bison Point of Encouragement: Be Interruptible
The ultimate takeaway from Heather's journey is the powerful role of being available and interruptible. While we tend to be rigid with our schedules and calendars, she encourages leaders to be open to "magic moments" of connection with strangers in daily life. She likened this to Jesus's model: "booked and busy, but he was interruptible".
Heather also suggests leaders do the following:
Network before you need it: Seeing others successfully navigate challenges builds the belief that you can transform, too.
Build your business around your life, not your life around your business: Her calendar now includes open spaces and dedicated time for mental health activities like swimming.
Call to Action:
For more powerful stories of leadership through a Storm, visit solidleaders.com/bethebison .
