There are times during the year that invite reflection, moments where we are pulled to consider what needs to change. The Easter season, with its emphasis on renewal, provokes this kind of reflection. And for me, it always brings back a phrase I heard early in my career—one that gave shape to how I understand renewal, not just in work, but in life.
Have you ever felt boxed in? Like people only see what you’ve already done — and they don’t see what you’re capable of doing?
When I was younger — earlier in my career — a trusted colleague heard me grumbling. I was frustrated. People kept asking me to do the same old tasks, when I knew I was ready for more. My colleague smiled and said, “Oh, J.B., don’t you know? You’ll never be a prophet in your own hometown.” At the time, I had never heard the phrase. But once I understood it, I never forgot. (These words of wisdom came from my trusted colleague, Becky Nickol.)
The saying she referenced comes from the New Testament — Luke 4:24 — where Jesus says: “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” Christ had returned to Nazareth, but the people there still saw him as the carpenter’s son. They couldn’t hear his message or see him as an authority — they were too attached to their idea of who he had been before he left.
That’s what happens when we stay in a familiar place too long. People hold on to their old perceptions of you — the sidekick, the intern, the assistant, the new guy. They don’t always notice that you’ve grown into a leader.
You can stay and wait for them to see you differently … or you can move on. New relationships aren’t built on your past — they’re built on what you can bring right now. Sometimes, the most strategic thing a leader can do is leave their “hometown” and engage with new people.
Informally, this can be referred to as “pigeonholing,” but there’s a well-established body of research that explains this dynamic more precisely.
- The idea that “first impressions stick” actually comes from two different lines of research. In the late 19th century, Hermann Ebbinghaus showed that people remember the first items in a sequence better, a memory phenomenon known as the primacy effect. (Ebbinghaus, 1885/1913) Decades later, Solomon Asch demonstrated something more powerful: the first things people learn about you don’t just get remembered—they shape how everything else about you is interpreted. (Asch, 1946)
- The idea that people “see what they expect to see” also comes from a specific line of research. In the 1960s, Peter Wason showed that when people form an initial belief, they don’t naturally try to disprove it. Instead, they look for information that confirms it—a pattern he identified in hypothesis-testing experiments that became known as confirmation bias. What begins as a first impression doesn’t just persist; over time, it becomes reinforced as people selectively notice and interpret evidence in ways that support what they already believe. (Wason, 1960)
- The idea that early signals shape how others evaluate your capability comes from a different line of research in sociology. In the 1970s, Joseph Berger and his colleagues developed what became known as Status Characteristics Theory, showing that people form expectations about competence based on available cues—such as role, status, or past performance—and then use those expectations to guide how they interact with others. What begins as a perception about where you stand doesn’t stay neutral; it becomes a framework that shapes how your contributions are interpreted, often long after your actual capability has changed. (Berger et al., 1972)
Put simply: your past can become your reputation. And that poses a problem when your reputation lingers in a way that disguises your growth. Which brings me to these questions to consider:
- Where are you being underestimated?
- Who’s still seeing the old “you” that you’ve already outgrown?
- And where could you go to more fully reach your potential?
These aren’t abstract questions; they sit at the center of how your career unfolds. Because at some point, your capability outpaces your reputation. You’re ready for more, but you’re still being treated as if you’re not. And when that happens, you have a choice. You can stay and wait for people to update their perception of you, or you can step into environments where you are seen for what you bring now.
New relationships don’t come with your history attached to them. They’re built on what you demonstrate in the present; that’s what makes them so powerful. Sometimes that means expanding your circle—raising your visibility with new leaders, engaging with new stakeholders, putting your work in front of people who don’t already think they have figured you out. And sometimes, it means recognizing that you may have outgrown your “hometown.”
There’s a second layer to this as well. If you’re in a leadership role, you are a part of this dynamic. Consider:
- Who on your team are you still seeing the way they were a year ago?
- Who have you quietly categorized—and stopped really looking at?
- Who might be ready for more, but you haven’t noticed?
Because just as it can limit your growth when others don’t update their perception of you … it can limit your team when you don’t update your perceptions of them. This is what renewal really looks like; it’s not just about setting new goals or building new habits. Instead, it’s about reconsidering identity—your own, and the way you see others.
The Easter season invites this kind of reflection. Growth isn’t just about becoming something new; like it or not, it’s also being recognized for it. And sometimes, achieving that means having the courage to leave your hometown – and enter a world that recognizes your full potential.
References
Asch, S. E. (1946). Forming impressions of personality. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 41(3), 258–290. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0055756
Berger, J., Cohen, B. P., & Zelditch, M., Jr. (1972). Status characteristics and social interaction. American Sociological Review, 37(3), 241–255. https://doi.org/10.2307/2093465
Ebbinghaus, H. (1885/1913). Memory: A contribution to experimental psychology (H. A. Ruger & C. E. Bussenius, Trans.). Teachers College, Columbia University. https://archive.org/details/memorycontributi00ebbiuoft
Wason, P. C. (1960). On the failure to eliminate hypotheses in a conceptual task. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 12(3), 129–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470216008416717