Three roles
The roles you've held, and what you left each one as.
Up to three recent roles. The pattern across them is the throughline.
How to think about this practice

Titles tell an interviewer where you've been. What you walked into versus what you left behind tells them what you actually do.

Write the inherited / left-behind pair in plain language a non-specialist could verify. The throughline emerges from the pattern across all three.

1Role one
Most recent. What you walked into, and what you left behind.
See an example
Inherited A 38-person team carrying three years of deferred infrastructure work, a hiring freeze, and a CEO commitment to ship a major launch the same quarter. Left behind The launch shipped on time, the infrastructure backlog was cut roughly in half, and the team kept everyone, including the two people I was told would not stay through the year. Example · VP Engineering, B2B SaaS
2Role two
3Role three optional
4The throughline: the pattern across your roles
Look across the three roles. What pattern repeats? Name it plainly: it usually begins "I've spent my career…"
See an example
I've spent my career making complex information accessible to the people who depend on it, building the systems, governance, and infrastructure that turn authoritative content into something practitioners can actually find, trust, and use. Example · Head of Content Platforms, scientific publishing A throughline names the kind of problem you've spent your career on, not the roles you've held. If yours sounds like a job description, it isn't there yet.
5Your power statement: the one line they should remember
The throughline distilled to five or six words. Plain language: whether that sentence looks back over your career or forward to the role you're reaching for.
Which faces out on your packet?
See a few examples
  • Clarity from complexity.
  • Systems thinker. People builder.
  • Mission-driven. Results-proven.
  • I make hard things land.
Treat these as examples, not a template to copy. Yours should sound like something you would actually say out loud, not a tagline. Read it back to yourself, and if you cringe, soften it.
6Readiness for the next level
Evidence from where you are now that you can do the job you're reaching for. The moments you operated a level up before anyone made it your title.
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