The Identity Code
The 8 Essential Questions for Finding Your Purpose and Place in the World
By: Larry Ackerman
Published: December 27, 2005
Format: Hardcover: 208 pages
ISBN-10: 1400064171
ISBN-13: 978-1400064175
Publisher: Random House
"This book is designed to introduce you to yourself. Not the person you see in the mirror, physically speaking, or the one people necessarily interact with every day, but the person inside. The powerful one", writes leading authority on organizational and personal identity, Larry Ackerman, in his inspirational and life transforming book The Identity Code: The 8 Essential Questions for Finding Your Purpose and Place in the World. The author describes how who a person really is has already been built into them in the form of their identity code.
Larry Ackerman understands that for a person to know who they really are, as well as their purpose and destiny in life, they must crack their own identity code.The author makes the bold statement, that the identity code is so powerful, that you are already the person you were meant to be in life. This concept goes against the conventional wisdom that a person can be whatever they want to be life. Instead, Larry Ackerman presents the identity code as a map to the real person within, in a similar way that a person's DNA forms their genetic code. For the author, answering the eight questions that help to uncover an individual's identity code unlocks the outline of one's life. For the author, this self discovery process creates both a stronger and a larger identity, that has a positive effect, on every aspect of life.
Larry Ackerman (photo left) recognizes the importance of a transformation to a larger life through uncovering the personal identity code. A person who discovers their own identity code is able to apply its powerful force to everything in their life, from their personal relationships, to their overall careers. With the author considering personal freedom to be a myth, and that the life imperative encoded within the self, Larry Ackerman points out the liberating aspect of this personal revelation. While a person can't be anything they want to be, the individual will be much more powerful in the areas of their passion and interest,
Larry Ackerman outlines the eight essential questions that accompany and guide the journey toward understanding one's own unique identity code. The eight questions are as follows:
* Who am I?
* What makes me special?
* Is there a pattern to my life?
* Where am I going?
* What is my gift?
* Who can I trust?
* What is my message?
* Will my life be rich?
For me, the power of the book is how Larry Ackerman takes the unconventional position that a person cannot be anything they want, and then offers the reasons as to why this is the case. The author presents a compelling case for the existence of a personal identity code, and provides the steps and questions for unlocking the messages within that code. The process is through the answering and understanding of the eight essential questions that form the heart of the book.
Each question is composed of three parts: the story that brings forth insights and lessons; the promise to understand accept the self; and the pathways to prepare for change. The author provides a series of exercises to help understand the identity code and how to map it for oneself. The map creates a starting point to move forward to the next phase of understanding oneself more deeply.
I highly recommend the engaging and deeply personal understanding based book The Identity Code: The 8 Essential Questions for Finding Your Purpose and Place in the World by Larry Ackerman, to anyone seeking to discover the true purpose and destiny for their lives. This book will guide you on that critical path to self discovery that will transform your life to one with purpose and empowerment.
