Understanding yourself better does not require a personality quiz or a horoscope. One genuinely useful model worth borrowing for career management purposes is the Johari window, first developed back in the 1950s to generate insight into how you see yourself compared to how others around you see you.

The model is organised into four quadrants. One covers what you know about yourself that no one else knows, essentially your private thoughts and attributes that stay entirely internal. 

A second covers what both you and other people know about you, the shared, visible parts of your professional or even personal identity that everyone would broadly agree on. 

A third covers what other people know about you that you do not fully recognise in yourself. And a fourth covers the subconscious space that neither you nor anyone else around you has fully uncovered yet.

In the specific context of managing your career, whether you are considering a change of profession following a long held calling, or simply trying to grow steadily in your current path, two of these quadrants are particularly worth paying deliberate attention to.

The quadrant covering traits both you and others recognise is useful because it confirms genuine alignment, giving you solid, confirmed ground to reinforce or deliberately shift certain behaviours with real confidence.

Arguably the most interesting quadrant, though, is the one covering traits you do not recognise in yourself but that others around you clearly do. Deliberately exploring this space can surface genuine blind spots, unexpected strengths, or attitudes and habits you never realised you carried into your work.



The next time you sit down for a performance review, a regular catch up with your manager, or an honest conversation with peers or direct reports, consider deliberately asking about this particular area. It is a simple way to surface insight that can meaningfully shape how you manage and grow your career.