They’re all labels. And they’re all holding us back.
Labels invite judgement. Breed bias. Subdivide us into cultural siloes that keep us from more deeply connecting, to ourselves and each other. But beneath these designations lives a you that can’t be labeled. A one-of-a-kind energetic cocktail of driving passions, innate talents, abiding truths, and oddball quirks. This is your individual human nature. The youiest version of you. And when you free yourself from all the labels the world has saddled you with, you can find it. Own it. Use it to build stronger careers, communities and cultures. You were born to be more than a series of labels. We all were.
How to Step Out of the Labels That Divide Us and Into the Humanity That Unites Us
Before even being born, we are labeled by gender. And from that moment on, the labels keep coming - superficially categorizing us by everything from where we live and who we love to how we vote and the color of our skin. Every one of these labels is systematically dividing us. Separating us into camp after camp. Focusing us more and more on our differences. And putting a stranglehold on our ability to understand all we are individually and all we are meant to be collectively. This book is dedicated to breaking that stranglehold. It exposes the ways our cultural labels mislead us. Explores how they are used to manipulate us. And excavates the depth and strength that awaits when we stop allowing ourselves to be categorized and start insisting we be recognized for the unique human nature we possess.
“Enterprise requires empathy. Powers’ beautifully written book takes on immense topics, like identity and perception, and breaks them down into digestible and actionable insights. If you’ve felt “the deeper stirring for more: more meaning, more purpose, more fulfillment, more connection,” this book if for you. Timely and urgent, the messages here are for leaders of any business, including the business of your life and of all our lives, together.”
“I loved this book! It’s a refreshing departure from the typical success narratives (and encouragement of following in their footsteps), but one that shows you how to define your own success, and the path to find it. This is a book I’m going to look at throughout my life, not just once. Highly recommended for all those who want to see a more accepting world, both individually or collectively.”
“I found this book to be particularly thought provoking and helpful. Many books are filled with platitudes or a “this is what worked for me” story line. This book calls out and then deconstructs the generally accepted “way it works”. This helps you to help you dig deeply and figure out who you really are, not just based on your labels. In this process, you can also begin to see others not for their labels, but for who they are deep down inside.
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“Merry Carole Powers has found a way to poetically highlight a pivotal moment for all of us to challenge the status quo and actively participate in evolving how humankind relates to one another. Her perspective-driven creativity calls attention to the divisions we as leaders, and more importantly humans, experience while also challenging negative mindsets and standards that are on their way out of the traditional societal and corporate realms we have inherited.”
“From beginning to end this was truly a phenomenal book. This book helped me realize how we let labels dictate who we are and what we’re supposed to be in society but these labels are incredibly limiting and harmful. Labels that I thought defined me, are just what other people use to silence me; Merry Carole Powers’ words helped me realize I can be so much more than just what other people restrict me to.”
“Merry Carole’s book reads like a runaway train - it never slows down while dissecting and weaving together an incredible mix of human characteristics and experiences - values, traits, talent, behaviors, social norms/divisive pressures, money. This is the most thoughtful expression of our human flaws and solutions I have come across!
A very special book.”
