Why Your Leadership Labels are Holding You Back
Today’s leaders are exhausted. You’re exhausted. You’ve taken the tests. You’ve read your 360-degree feedback. You’re a “High D”, an Enneagram 3. You’re too much of this and not enough of that. You lack executive presence.
Labels are static. They tell you what you are, but they don’t tell you how to move. They can create shame, not change.
At The Grow Point, we start by Unlabeling. We strip away the corporate verdicts. We keep what’s useful, the data points, and we toss the rest.
Try this shift today:
The next time you catch yourself using a label pause and strip the judgement away.
Instead of: “I’m a micromanager.”
Try: “I have a pattern of staying close to the details to ensure quality.”
When you unlabel, you lower the emotional stakes. You can look at your leadership style with the same objectivity you look at a P&L statement or an operational bottleneck. We turn flaws into design challenges.
When we stop labeling behavior, we can start to Map the patterns. That’s when the useful work begins.
Sign up for The Grow Point newsletter to learn more about The Grow Point Protocol.
Jason Michael is a leadership coach and consultant at The Grow Point, helping people-first leaders get clarity on what’s stuck and find a path forward.
