Labels are neutral. It is an identifier that helps describe stuffs short and succinctly. It can be a license certificate, a job title, an INTJ personality trait etc.
On the one hand, it is an admission ticket towards opportunities. When someone is labeled as the “go-to person” of some domain. It’s usually an acknowledgement of earned trust. People tend to come to you for questions in that domain and your reputation gets build up over the time. Besides reputation, it is also a motivation pill that drive you to learn and grow to live up to that entitlement. This is a good way to earn career capitals.
However, it comes with obvious costs as well. With more fame, regardless wanted or not, there is likely to be more responsibilities. You will be expected to having more impact, helping more people, and more importantly, producing more outcomes. Without mastering the art of effectiveness, it is nothing different than “working longer hours”. In the meanwhile, your amplified skill in one area diminishes or your skills or potentials in other areas. People tend to build stereotypes about you and it will take a lot of extra efforts to break those stereotypes. What’s even worse, as time goes, you might get yourself attached to it. The more you are attached to those labels, the less likely you’ll change, the more stagnant you eventually become. Not even mentioning all the freedom you might be sacrificing alongside.
At the end of day, we will all recognize it’s just how the corporate system works. It is a giant unstoppable machine filled with small tiny components indistinguishable from each other. To identify appropriate components for particular task, labeling helps make the process more efficient.