"The Identity Code" - The 8 Essential Questions for Finding Your Purpose and Place in the World
This book will introduce you to yourself.
Despite what you may have been told when you were a child, you cannot be whatever you want to be in
life -- you are already what you were meant to be. The secret to uncovering who you are, and your
purpose, is built into you in the form of a code -- the identity code. Much like your genetic code,
your identity code provides a complete map of how you were designed to live.
Answer the questions that frame the identity code, and the contours of your life will shift. You will
not only emerge stronger, you will emerge larger. Larger in heart, larger in influence, larger in your
capacity to love and be loved. You will understand the why of your life.
In this life-transforming book, Larry Ackerman shows you how to crack your identity code. With more
than twenty years of experience helping organizations and individuals identify their purpose. Ackerman
reveals the Laws of Identity and the 8 Essential Questions they encompass. As you answer these questions,
your identity will gradually become clear. It will becomes the foundation upon which you'll make truly
meaningful decisions about what work is right for you, build and maintain relationships that matter,
and even discover the interests and hobbies that make sense for you. These 8 questions, and the call
to action each one implies, are:
- Who am I?
Define yourself as separate from all others.
- What makes me special?
Unearth what you love.
- Is there a pattern to my life?
Make the connections that explain past events and foreshadow your future.
- Where am I going?
Commit yourself to the path revealed in what you've learned so far.
- What is my gift?
Follow the signs of joy.
- Who can I trust?
Take stock of who matters and why.
- What is my message?
Declare yourself on the strength of your gift.
- Will my life be rich?
Surrender to the pull of identity.
As Ackerman points out, unbridled freedom actually weighs you down. The myth of personal
freedom -- the notion that you have infinite choices in the course you set for yourself -- is the
unspoken agony of the modern person. True freedom comes with knowing your identity: the unique
characteristics that define your potential for creating value in the world, for making a contribution
that springs naturally fro the core of your being and touches the lives of others. Within this
framework, life's seeming boundaries melt away.
Intelligent, provocative, and always practical, The Identity Code sets the reader on the classic
quest: the discovery of self. Take the journey.
Larry Ackerman is a leading authority on organized and personal identity. As group director for
the international identity- and brand-consulting firm Siegel & Gale, Ackerman is widely regarded as
the pioneer in the field of identity-based management. His many and diverse clients include Alcoa,
Maytag, Fidelity Investments, the Dow Chemical Company, Ernst & Young, Norsk Hydro, Interbrew, and
Boise Cascade. His first book, Identity is Destiny, set forth a revolutionary view of the nature of
identity and its fundamental impact on organizational and leadership development. He lives in Weston,
Connecticut, with his wife and son. Contact the author at www.theidentitycode.com.
This excerpt from "The Identity Code" is featured here with the permission of the publisher.
