From Wall Street to Purpose: New Book Reveals Five Principles for Redefining Success

Durham, North Carolina Oct 16, 2025 (EMWNews.com) – More than half of professionals report being unhappy at work. Students graduate with debt–but without direction. A quiet epidemic of wasted potential is unfolding. Former Wall Street lawyer turned career coach and professor Sarah D. Carlson says Henry David Thoreau had a name for it: lives of quiet desperation.

Her solution? A skill most universities fail to teach: self-advocacy.

In her upcoming book, The Five Principles of Effective Self-Advocacy: Your Guide to Claiming Your Power, Carlson introduces a practical, powerful framework to help students and professionals escape unfulfilling paths and step into purpose-driven lives.

“The world isn’t made better by douchebags or doormats,” Carlson says. “Humility–the midpoint between the two–is where real power lives.”

Carlson’s message is both timely and deeply personal. After graduating from Harvard and landing a coveted role defending major banks post-financial crisis, she found herself deeply unfulfilled. Her search for meaning led her from corporate law to a tent in Haiti, and eventually to the classroom–teaching and coaching students at top institutions like Duke and Emory.

“I saw brilliant students, saddled with debt and uncertainty, struggling to find direction,” she says. “I became obsessed with answering one question: Why aren’t the best students always the most successful graduates?”

Her answer: they don’t know how to claim their power.

Self-advocacy, Carlson argues, is the missing link between talent and opportunity. It’s not about empty self-promotion or chasing validation–it’s about understanding and owning and communicating your value so others can see it too.

The book outlines five essential principles to help readers:

• Clarify who they are

• Claim what they really want

• Communicate their value

• Trust in their inherent worth

• Align action with purpose

Not through perfection or performance–but through presence and self-trust.

Carlson also introduces tools like the Douchebag-to-Doormat Scale–a funny but effective way to help readers find the sweet spot of self-advocacy: not too much, not too little, but just right.

“Most people think humility means shrinking,” she says. “But real humility is knowing the full truth of your gifts–and claiming them, not an iota more.”

To support readers, Carlson offers a free Self-Advocacy Quiz that helps individuals assess where they are in the process–whether they’re just beginning or already embodying their values with confidence.

With The Five Principles of Effective Self-Advocacy, Carlson isn’t just launching a book–she’s starting a movement. One that helps people stop performing for approval and start living with purpose.

About the Author:
Sarah D. Carlson, JD, is a former Wall Street lawyer turned career transformation coach and professional development professor. She has taught at Duke, Emory, and other top universities, coached hundreds across industries, and now leads a mission-driven business helping people discover and live their purpose.

Book Title: The Five Principles of Effective Self-Advocacy: Your Guide to Claiming Your Power
Release Date: September 2025
Website: www.SarahDCarlson.com
Quiz: Claim Your Power Quiz
Media Contact: Sarah D. Carlson | [email protected]