Chapter 5

Titles: how they give and take authority

A person with titles, young and H R, speaks to another person with titles, boss, male, annoying.

We all go through life wearing titles. Some we choose for ourselves, some come with the job we do or the station we are at in life, and some are put on us by others. In this chapter, you will examine why you cannot help but apply titles, labels and categories to yourself and to others. You will discover how that process fundamentally affects whether you feel you have the status and authority to speak up and whether you consider others worthy of being listened to.

As human beings, we dole out titles and labels, such as CEO, woman, Asian, consultant, cashier, introvert and elderly, all the ...

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