How Being A Multipotentialite Can Be A Superpower At Work

Forbes

3 days ago

Astika Gupta | Product management coach and founder of The Product Seat | Former Big Tech Sr PM at Meta, Microsoft, eBay | Model | LinkedIn.
Early in my career, I used to scrub my weekend life from my Monday persona. I'd spend Saturdays walking fashion runways, reading scripts to produce short films or posing for fashion photoshoots, then show up to work on Monday in a blazer, ready to talk OKRs and quarterly product goals. I thought I had to keep those worlds separate. Tech was about logic and staying in your lane. What would they think if they knew I loved the stage, the camera and the mic?
But here's what no one told me: That stage presence would one day help me command boardrooms. That storytelling instinct would let me build compelling product visions. The vulnerability I learned as a performer would allow me to lead teams with empathy.
Today, I'm the founder of a career coaching and consulting company that helps women break into tech and thrive in leadership roles. I've worked in product management at Meta, Microsoft and eBay, and I continue to coach clients around the world. But I am also still an actor, a model, a coach and a creator. The parts of me I once tried to hide have become the foundation of my brand.
Silicon Valley rewards innovation. But true innovation doesn't come from echo chambers. It comes from the collision of disciplines, cultures and experiences. Multipotentialites, by nature, live in that space of creative friction. We're constantly learning, adapting and synthesizing. And that is the very skill set the future of work demands.
Being a product leader with a background in performance taught me how to read the room, not just the data. It taught me to listen beyond words, spot nonverbal cues in stakeholder meetings and create roadmaps that tell a story. Coaching taught me to hold space for ambiguity. And entrepreneurship taught me how to weave all my passions into something greater than a job: a purpose.
Too often, high-achieving women and minorities in particular are told to simplify their stories. 'Pick a lane,' they say. But what if your lane doesn't exist yet? What if you're here to build it?
We need more leaders who reflect the multifaceted reality of life today. Multipotentialites can bring emotional depth, strategic flexibility and unexpected insight. We don't just build products—we build bridges between ideas that rarely meet.
But even beyond innovation, there's a deeper reason to embrace your multidimensional self: fulfillment. You only get one life. And if you spend it suppressing your creativity, your joy or your curiosity just to be seen as serious, you might end up resenting the very job that once excited you.
I've seen it firsthand: clients earning multiple six figures, leading high-impact teams—yet quietly burning out because they've left their other identities starving. That resentment doesn't stem from the job itself. It comes from what the job demands that we leave behind.
So, here's the invitation: Identify what your current role gives you. Maybe it's financial stability, a strong network, industry credibility or access to global impact. Acknowledge that. Then ask yourself: What part of me is still unfed? Is it the writer, the dancer, the parent, the traveler, the activist? You don't have to quit your job to feed it. Maybe it's one hour a week. Maybe it's a personal project. Maybe it's simply permitting yourself.
We're told not to chase too many dreams. But I've learned to make space for them instead. You don't need to monetize every passion. You don't need to explain every interest. You just need to live a life that feels whole.
Multipotentiality isn't about doing everything at once. It's about not amputating parts of yourself to fit a mold. When you let all your identities breathe, your leadership becomes magnetic. Your creativity expands. And your life—your one precious life—starts to feel fully lived.
So, if you're standing at the intersection of multiple passions, unsure which road to take, consider this: Maybe your power isn't in choosing just one. Maybe your superpower is the intersection itself.
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