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In this paper we organize research on work-related identities into a four-perspective typology that captures different ways identities can be "positive." Each perspective on positive identity-virtue, evaluative, developmental, and structural-highlights a different source of positivity and opens new avenues for theorizing about identity construction. We use these four perspectives to develop propositions about how different forms of positive work-related identity construction can strengthen employees through building social resources.

We present a theory of how individuals compose their reflected best-self portrait, which we define as a changing self-knowledge structure about who one is at one's best. We posit that people compose their reflected best-self portrait through social experiences that draw on intrapsychic and interpersonal resources. By weaving together microlevel theories of personal change and macrolevel theories of human resource development, our theory reveals an important means by which work organizations affect people's capacity to realize their potential.Being extraordinary does not necessarily mean obtaining a position of honor or glory or even of becoming successful in other people's eyes. It means being true to self. It means pursuing our full potential (Quinn & Quinn, 2002: 35).Being extraordinary. All of us can recall our own extraordinary moments-those moments when we felt that our best-self was brought to light, affirmed by others, and put into practice in the world. These memories are seared into our minds as moments or situations in which we felt alive, true to our deepest selves, and pursuing our full potential as human beings. Over time, we collect these experiences into a portrait of who we are when we are at our personal best. Sometimes this portrait is composed gradually and without much conscious attention or selfawareness. Other times, work organizations play an active role in providing us feedback, furnishing goals, and enabling relationships with others in ways that make this portrait explicit and consciously changing over time. Whether implicit or explicit, stable or changing, this portrait serves as both an anchor and a beacon, a personal touchstone of who we are and a guide for who we can become. We call this portrait the "reflected best-self" (hereafter referred to as the RBS).We choose the word "reflected" to emphasize that this self-portrait is based on our perceptions of how others view us. Family members, friends and acquaintances, and organizations provide us with feedback about who we are, and this information is integrated into our selfconcept (Cooley, 1902;Tice & Wallace, 2003). We choose the word "best" to refer to the strengths, contributions, and enduring talents that each person brings to a situation. Taken together, this means that through interpretations of experiences and interactions in the social world, each person composes a self-portrait of his or her own strengths and contributions. We posit that the process of composing the RBS portrait creates a pathway to becoming extraordinary, in that it involves envisioning the self at one's best, and then acting on this vision to translate possibilities for the extraordinary into reality.Our purpose here is to define the RBS, describe how and when it changes, and articulate the ways in which it influences individual funcWe thank Art Brief, two anonymous reviewers, the faculty and staff at the University of Michigan Business School, Brianna Barker, Robin Ely, Monica Higgins, Joshua Margolis, Leslie Perlow, Jeffrey Polzer, Ryan Quinn, Lloyd Sand...