What labels do you wear? I’m not talking about Coach or Gucci or Channel, I’m talking about the labels others have given you. “Supermom” is one that’s been thrown around at me. “Wife,” “Mother,” “Type-A,” “Introvert,” “Neurotic,” are others. When we receive labels, it can be hard to break out of them. I know in graduate school, receiving the label “outstanding Ph.D. candidate” made me extremely anxious. I didn’t feel like such a label fit me. In Maureen Chiquet’s Beyond The Label, she takes a hard look at the labels women have received and how we can break through from them to lead a life that is our own.
The way she does this, however, is unique. She tells her own story of how she left college and the path that she took to become a CEO. Through her journey, she had to break out of every and label that had been set for her. At the end of one chapter, she writes:
Long story short: No opportunity is ever too small to show you what you can accomplish, and no boss is ever so mean that you can’t learn something, even if it’s only to show you how not to lead. If you keep your eyes open, if you’re willing to reframe and recast what you’re seeing–yes to go beyond the label–you’ll find plenty of raw material to help you make your case.
It’s way easy to miss opportunities because we choose not to see beyond the label or because we choose to focus only on the negative. If instead, we turn around such experiences and look for what we can learn from them, this can help us to move forward to higher levels of success. Here’s a little insight into the way I do things: After I finish a project for a client or customer, I create a brief project closing document. In this document, I list what was involved with the project, a photo of the finished product if applicable, and I list off any challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned that cropped up. This helps me to continually improve my work process.
Chiquet’s point is an important one – we need to rise beyond the labels we give things – both in our own lives and when looking at the opportunities and challenges that come our way.
How will you go beyond the label?
About Beyond the Label
• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness (April 18, 2017)
The former global CEO of Chanel charts her unlikely path from literature major to global chief executive, guiding readers to move beyond the confines of staid expectations and discover their own true paths, strengths, and leadership values.
Driven. Shy. Leader. Wife. Mother. We live in a world of categories — labels designed to tell the world, and ourselves, who we are and ought to be. Some we may covet, others we may fear or disdain; but creating a life that’s truly your own, means learning to define yourself on your own terms.
In Beyond the Label, Maureen Chiquet charts her unlikely path from literature major to global chief executive. Sharing the inklings, risks and (re)defining moments that have shaped her exemplary career, Chiquet seeks to inspire a new generation of women, liberal arts grads, and unconventional thinkers to cultivate a way of living and leading that is all their own.
Through vivid storytelling and provocative insights, Chiquet guides readers to consider the pressing questions and inherent paradoxes of creating a successful, fulfilling life in today’s increasingly complex and competitive world.
“Why should we separate art from business, feelings from logic, intuition from judgment?” Chiquet poses. “Who decided you can’t be determined and flexible, introspective and attuned, mother and top executive? And where does it state standing unflinchingly in your vulnerability, embracing your femininity, won’t make you stronger?”
Wise, inspiring, and deeply felt, Beyond the Label is for anyone who longs for a life without limits on who she is or who she will become.
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About Maureen Chiquet
Maureen Chiquet began her career in marketing at L’Oreal Paris in 1985. She has worked at The Gap, helped launch Old Navy, and was president of Banana Republic before becoming COO and President of US operations of Chanel in 2003. In 2007 she became its first Global CEO, where she oversaw the business and brand’s world-wide expansion. She left Chanel in 2016 to focus on writing, speaking, and developing new leadership initiatives. She is a Trustee to the Yale Corporation and fellow of Yale University, where she graduated in 1985.
I like her focus on no opportunity being too small … that’s an important fact to remember!
Thanks for being a part of the tour.
It really is important to remember. So many people get caught up in waiting for the big opportunity, when often it’s the little ones that help us to build up to where we want to be.