Special Offers

Resource Links

****************

Labels Are Static - We're Not
(click for podcast)

Forced Reductionism
"Once you label me you negate me." - Soren Kierkegaard

"When the individual must live up to the label, the self ceases to exist. The same is true of self-labels. You could be negating yourself by identifying with your trademarks, rather than your own potential for growth.” ― Wayne W. Dyer, Your Erroneous Zones

As our lives get increasingly busier and more complicated, simplification has become more prevalent. We feel all kinds of pressure, and look for ways to reduce our workloads. Ironically, there’s an element of this drive to simplify that actually makes things worse. We generally call this issue diminishing returns, and we find ourselves chasing those more and more.

One of the ways we simplify is by labeling, and as long as we're talking about inanimate objects, this isn't a big deal. We can talk about a "car" or a "tree," and unless we're going much deeper, the specifics aren't all that necessary. In this way, we're making our communication more efficient. If we want to go deeper, our labels can then have sub-labels, which can have sub-sub-labels, etc. A car can also be a sports car, a Ferrari, a red Ferrari, a fast, red, Ferrari, and so forth. Notice that as many labels as we’re capable of generating, we still know very little about the car or the tree. In 15 different languages, the labels would change, and still no real understanding would be achieved.



Where we get into even more trouble is when these labels get applied to living beings, especially other humans. A singular label cannot describe the richness and multitude of characteristics of a real life human being. We humans are dynamic, organic, growing, changing entities, whose descriptions eclipse any material object.

This means that any labeling we do of our fellow humans must be incredibly reductionist. Reductionism tries to simplify by removing what’s perceived as inessential. The problem is that perception is limited to begin with, so we're getting into a recursive, vicious cycle. This inaccurate label/assessment creates approximate meaning at best. Settling on that label, it's rare to go back, look for what was removed, and add it back in to the equation, and then start over. That means these labels can easily turn into stereotypes, which we know de-humanize us.



Missing Important Information
This reductionist method of labeling results in a lot of conflict and missed opportunities. It's been totally overused in the corporate world, as a misbegotten attempt to simplify management and HR concerns. 

For example, a client of mine (let's call him "Bill") was labeled as a “driver.” The label didn’t say anything about him other than how people perceived his behavior. This put him in a box, and prescribed how people "should" treat him (or avoid him.) Have you noticed that sometimes you're relaxed and sometimes you're anxious? Sometimes you're super involved and sometimes a little disengaged? Your behavior is driven by motivations crashing into the real world and adjusting for that. Your behavior is not "who you are." It's "what you do," and what you do is driven by who you are. It's actually a one-way street. You and I could do completely different things, given the same motivation, or do the same things with different motivations. To label who we are by what we do is incredibly inaccurate.



So we chose to look at why "Bill" felt the need to “drive,” in the first place. What made him choose this tactic? Could he see getting the job done another way? What would need to change? Would he like to try implementing that?

When we looked at why he was behaving as a “driver,” we uncovered much more relevant issues of trust and anxiety, that once addressed and solved, (better training and quality control milestones) transformed his behavior entirely and permanently. So he wasn't a "driver" anymore, and really wasn't one starting off. Driving was one strategy born of concern for the quality of work being turned out, and there were other ways to achieve that.

Labels take us further and further from the complexities that make us human. Generalizations follow, and those generalizations miss what's truly important. In a way, we could look at a label as a finger pointing toward the real thing. And as Bruce Lee once aptly said, "don't concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all of the heavenly glory."



Want to learn more about how to become the best you possible?  Come visit the web site, or better yet, contact me and see how we can design a program to fit your needs and desired outcomes.

     - Ian J. Blei

****************

September Special:
Back to school?

Or even if you're not, there are plenty of expenses to deal with right now. From now until September 30th, I'm cutting fees in half for both Dynamic Exploration Sessions and Laser Single Sessions

"Ian has changed my life in so many ways and in all aspects. I have learned so much about myself, and grown into someone I never thought possible." - J.G., S.F.

"To say Ian has made a huge impact in both my personal and professional life, would be the biggest understatement. Words cannot express my gratitude to this man who has changed my approach and perceptions to life." - E.D., S.F.

"I felt overwhelmed and was beginning to doubt myself and my success.  Ian helped me harness what I had within to do what was needed.  He's extremely insightful and effective, and in no time I found myself focused, organized, and best of all relaxed and stress-free." - T.U. - attorney, San Francisco

Click to Schedule.

****************