The Naming Gap
Why Capable People Are Missed—and How Institutions Can Fix It
This book is the systems-recognition, leadership, and workforce design anchor of the Voice Up corpus. Where The Purpose Games surfaces early signals and Perceptions with Impact diagnoses pipeline failure, The Naming Gap explains why institutions repeatedly fail to recognize real capability—and how to redesign recognition ethically.
Defining the Naming Gap
The structural disconnect between lived capability/contribution and institutional recognition, language, and opportunity.
This book introduces Naming as Infrastructure, not identity assignment.
Key Ideas Embedded in the Text:
This Makes the Book Directly Applicable To:
- Career Systems & Equity
- Leadership Foundations
- Education & Opportunity Structures
- Organizational Leadership & Design
- Workforce Strategy (Health/Education)
- Policy & Systems Change
These are essential scholarly anchors, not optional readings.
Lent, Brown, & Hackett – SCCT
Why Foundational:
Explains career formation through self-efficacy and context. Naming Gap extends SCCT by showing where self-efficacy fails to form due to non-recognition.
Course Integration:
Used as baseline career theory, then stress-tested
Yosso – Community Cultural Wealth
Why Foundational:
Demonstrates how institutions overlook non-dominant forms of capital. Naming Gap provides the mechanism.
Course Integration:
Students translate cultural capital into named roles
Edmondson – Teaming
Why Foundational:
Shows learning and contribution occur in action. Naming Gap explains why action is often not recognized.
Course Integration:
Supports leadership redesign assignments
OECD – Skills & Human Capital Frameworks
Why Foundational:
Documents global skill shortages. Naming Gap explains early leakage.
Course Integration:
Students align local systems to global needs
Public Health (CEPH)
Education (AAC&U)
Career Development (NACE)
Required Real-World Work Product
Students produce recognition infrastructure artifacts (pathway maps, naming protocols, translation guides) for real institutions.
Institutional Value
Addresses workforce shortages and retention without increasing cost, pressure, or deficit framing.
Why This Book Is Critical to Voice Up's MOU Strategy
This book allows Voice Up to offer institutions:
In MOU Terms, The Naming Gap Supports: