Hi ,

I’m Mark Truelson, and I’ll be the voice in your inbox going forward. More on that in a moment, but first, I want to share something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.

Change doesn’t hit everyone the same way. Your Sparketype explains why.

We tend to sort ourselves into two camps when it comes to change: people who are good with it and people who aren’t. But after years of working with the Sparketype framework (coaching with it, teaching it, and building my own career around it) I’ve come to believe that’s the wrong lens entirely.

It’s not that you’re good or bad with change. It’s that certain kinds of change light you up, while other kinds quietly gut you. And the difference almost always traces back to your Sparketype.

Here’s what I mean:

If you’re a Maker, change that gives you something new to build (a new project, a new constraint, a new medium) can feel genuinely exciting. But change that pulls you away from the thing you’re in the middle of creating? That can feel like someone ripped a page out of the book you were writing mid-sentence.

If you’re a Maven, change that opens up a new area to explore and learn can send you into that beautiful state of full-on absorption. But change that invalidates the expertise you’ve spent years building? That lands differently. It can feel less like a fresh start and more like the ground just moved under your feet.

If you’re an Advisor, change that brings new people to guide and support can re-energize you overnight. But change that cuts you off from the people you’ve been serving? That’s the one that stings.

The pattern holds across all the Sparketypes. Change itself is neutral. What makes it feel like possibility or loss depends on whether it’s aligned with your core impulse or working against it.

My Own Reckoning with Change

I experienced this firsthand a few years ago. Following COVID, I had to put my consulting career on pause and take a role that checked a lot of boxes on paper: innovation potential, solid compensation, interesting-enough problems. But I was restless in a way I couldn’t quite name.

When I finally sat with my own Sparketype results and got honest about what was actually driving me, I realized the role had slowly drifted away from the work that made me come alive. Some of the aspects hadn’t changed. I had. Or more accurately, I’d finally gotten clear enough to see the misalignment that had been there for a while.

The change I made after that, walking away from something stable to build work aligned with my Sparketype, was terrifying. But it also felt like exhaling after holding my breath for two years.

That’s the thing about Sparketype-informed change. When you understand your impulse, you stop asking, “Am I someone who handles change well?” and start asking a better question: “Is this change moving me closer to or further from the work that makes me come alive?”

Something to sit with this week

The power of Sparketypes is that they give people something rare: clarity about who they are.

Think about a change you’re in the middle of right now, or one you’ve been avoiding. Ask yourself: Is this change aligned with my Sparketype or working against it?

You don’t need to do anything with the answer yet. Just notice what comes up.

One more thing before I go

You might have noticed a new name at the top of this email. The Sparketype body of work has a new home.

I’ve been a Certified Sparketype Advisor for years, and along with my co-founder, Paul Williamson, I’ve started an organization called Sparked Group to carry this work forward and expand what it can do for this community.

Jonathan Fields built something extraordinary with the Sparketypes, and we feel incredibly privileged and grateful for the foundation he created. And Jonathan isn’t disappearing. He remains close as an advisor and guide, and that matters deeply to us.

The world of work has changed and it’s still changing. Careers are no longer linear. Roles are no longer stable. Identity is no longer anchored to a single job.

Our focus now is on expanding the tools, resources, and experiences available to you, and finding new ways to make this framework useful in your life and work.

You can expect this newsletter to keep doing what it’s always done: giving you something grounded and practical to work with, rooted in the Sparketype methodology.

We have some new ideas we’re excited to bring to you in the coming weeks. For now, I just wanted to say hello and let you know that the work you’ve come to value isn’t going anywhere. It’s growing.

And as Carl Jung said: “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”

If you ever want to reach out, just reply to this email. I read everything.

Talk soon,
Mark