Latest / The Internal Move Podcast with Fexingo: Lateral Roles, Internal Transfers, and Staying at Your Company / How Internal Transfers Can Let You Rebrand Yourself
Transcript
- Lucas: Luna, have you ever met someone who changed companies but basically brought their entire reputation with them? Like, the same complaints follow them to the new job. Luna: All the time. It's almost funny — people think a new employer means a clean slate, but you tend to repeat your patterns. Lucas: Right. But here's the thing: sometimes the cleanest slate isn't an external move at all. It's an internal transfer. And specifically, it's the chance to rebrand yourself — something almost nobody talks about. Luna: Rebranding inside the same company? That sounds counterintuitive. Everyone already knows you. Lucas: Exactly. And that's why most people never try it. But think about it — if you move to a different function, a different building, a different manager, the people you work with now might only know the version of you that shows up in this new role. Luna: Yeah, I can see that. There's a recency bias — people judge you on your last few months, not your whole history. Lucas: That bias is actually the mechanism that makes it work. If today was actually useful to you, the way these shows stay ad-free is listener support — you can find that at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: And it genuinely helps us keep digging into these practical angles. So back to the branding idea — do you have a real example of someone pulling this off? Lucas: I do. A marketing manager I know at a large consumer goods company — think Procter & Gamble or Unilever scale. She'd spent four years on a regional brand that was losing market share. Her reputation internally was 'the person who couldn't turn around the Midwest launch.' Not untrue, but not fair either. Luna: Oof. That label sticks. Lucas: It does. She applied for an internal role on a new global innovation team — completely different product category, different office, different VP. She got the transfer. And within three months, the people around her didn't know about the Midwest launch. They only knew her as the person who was building the pilot for Asia. Luna: So she literally changed the story people told about her by changing her context. Lucas: Exactly. She didn't just change her title. She changed the set of facts that were visible. That's the core of internal rebranding — you manage what people have easy access to. And a transfer gives you a natural reset point. Luna: I think a lot of people assume they'd have to leave to get that fresh start. But you're saying it's possible inside, if you're intentional. Lucas: Completely. And here's the tactical part. The first thing you do is audit your current reputation. Ask three people you trust: 'What's the one thing people say about me around here?' If you hear something you don't like, that's the thing you need to leave behind. Luna: And then when you transfer, you literally don't bring that baggage along. But you have to be careful not to repeat the same mistakes. Lucas: Right. The second step is choosing your new keywords. Before you start the new role, decide three words or phrases you want people to associate with you. For that marketing manager, it was 'global,' 'innovative,' and 'execution-focused.' She started using those words in every email, every meeting intro. Luna: That's almost like SEO for your career. You're optimizing what people search for about you. Lucas: Exactly. And the third piece is physical relocation. If you can move to a different floor, a different building, even a different desk cluster, that separation helps psychologically. People see you in a new space and subconsciously treat you as a new person. Luna: There's research on that — physical proximity drives familiarity and association. So changing your location literally changes how people perceive you. Lucas: It does. And then the final piece is the six-month reset window. In the first six months after a transfer, you have a grace period where people are forming their impression of you. You want to be hyper-visible in that window. Volunteer for the high-profile projects. Send the status updates. Be the person who over-communicates results. Luna: Because after six months, that impression starts to harden. Lucas: Exactly. After that, it's much harder to change. So use that window aggressively. One of my favorite tactics is what I call the 'Three Stories' exercise. Before you start the new role, write down three specific stories you want someone to tell about you six months from now. Not general traits — actual stories with a beginning, middle, and end. Luna: Like 'she took over that stalled project and delivered it two weeks early'? That kind of story? Lucas: Exactly. And then you reverse-engineer your first few months to make those stories inevitable. You schedule the meetings, you send the updates, you create the conditions for that story to happen. Luna: That's a lot more specific than 'just do a good job.' It's narrative design. Lucas: It is. And it works because most people don't think about their career in narrative terms. They just react. But if you proactively design the story, you're far more likely to end up with the reputation you want. Luna: One thing I'd add — this only works if the transfer is genuinely to a different context. If you move to a similar role in the same department, same manager, people will just see the same old you. Lucas: Big caveat. You need a clean break. That might mean a different function, a different product line, a different office, or at minimum, a different manager. The more change, the easier the rebrand. Luna: And what about the old reputation? Does it just disappear? Lucas: It fades. But you can accelerate that by not talking about your past work. If someone brings up the old project, pivot quickly. 'Yeah, that was a different context. Here's what I'm excited about now.' You literally change the subject. Luna: That takes discipline. Most people want to explain their past failures. Lucas: And that's the trap. Every time you re-litigate an old failure, you reinforce it. Instead, let the silence around it do the work. New colleagues will eventually stop asking. Luna: So for someone listening who's considering an internal transfer right now — maybe they've been in their role two years, reputation is okay but they want a bigger future — what's the first thing they should do tomorrow? Lucas: Start the reputation audit. Ask three people: 'What's one thing I'm known for that I should change?' If you can't get honest feedback, look at your last performance review. What's the one constructive criticism that keeps showing up? That's your target. Luna: And then line up a transfer that lets you escape that narrative. Lucas: Yes. And once you're in the new role, be patient. Rebranding takes six to twelve months. But the payoff is huge — you get to stay at a company you may like, with a reputation you actually choose. Luna: I like that framing. Most people think internal transfers are about the role or the money. But this episode argues the real value might be the story you get to tell. Lucas: Exactly. And that story can change everything.