South Africa, Nov. 12 -- Employed. Young. Mother. Voter. These are some of the most useful words in South African business and policy. They help us segment markets, size opportunities, design products and decide where to invest.

However, a label often describes a status, not a life, and when we mistake one for the other, we make decisions about people we have not really understood.

This year, through our MzansiVoice community, we asked South Africans about their lives, in separate studies, as workers, young people, mothers and, in the past fortnight, as voters. Across all four studies, each built around one of those labels, the same pattern emerged.

The label rarely tells you what is really happening.

Employed does not mean moving for...