Hey, it's Rachel Cook, your modern mentor.

I'm the founder of Lead Above Noise, a firm specializing in activating workplaces.

We find your blind spots and opportunities and build you a custom blueprint to get your teams delivering their best work, efficiently, collaboratively and with full engagement.

Do you have a question for me?

Leave me a voicemail at 201-67-8113, and I may respond with an episode just for you. So when I was a kid, my parents

moved us to a town with a really great public school system. I was incredibly fortunate to

receive the education that I did.

But as is often the case here in the U.S., a town with great public schools is often a town with a lot of disposable income.

Which meant for me, growing up, the kids around me were often wearing and carrying things with labels that were just out of reach for me,

which meant that I grew up with feelings about labels that weren't so positive. I believed labels

to be something designed to make some feel superior and others feel less than, to highlight status

and privilege. And those things may still be true.

But as I got older, and I seriously hope wiser,

I've discovered an upside to labels.

When we understand the power they hold and we learn to use them for good,

they can actually help us achieve big and meaningful things.

So let's talk today about some of the ways I love using labels as rocket fuel for success. First, empower yourself and others with identities that matter.

I still remember when my kids, one of whom is now driving and college hunting, were in preschool. I would pick them up at the

end of each day while they were in the middle of cleanup time. There was a song they all sang

together. I think it came from Barney the Dinosaur, and you're welcome, but I will not sing it for you

because 15 years later, I guarantee it will still be triggering.

But my point is that this is where I learned an important lesson from the amazing teachers

...