You are a bigger deal than you are used to noticing.
Posted on October 05, 2022 by George Miller, One of Thousands of Leadership Coaches on Noomii.
You are power. So, what are you going to do about it?
“Absolutely – power corrupts.”
This is the excuse most people give themselves to suppress their ability to get things done. It is a convenient soundbyte that people internalize far too often, creating a self-inflicted helplessness.
What is power really?
The primary definition of power, according to Merriam-Webster, is the ability to do work. So, you could say the more effective someone is, the more powerful they are—they’re able to get more done.
We often think of “take charge” people as being the people in the spotlight, people who get a lot of attention and are in control of making big decisions. They’re the most powerful, right? While they might affect change, does the change last? Not to mention, was the change even beneficial? Simply acting on something may give the appearance of power but lack permanence or even benefit and, by our society’s standards, we could still consider that action to be proof of power.
Our understanding of a powerful leader is out of whack.
In an article in the Economist titled, “Absolutely—Power corrupts, but it corrupts only those who think they deserve it,” the author cites Adam Galinsky’s research about how people who are given responsibilities to manage others “do indeed behave hypocritically, condemning the transgressions of others more than they condemn their own.” Galinsky’s research also shows that the people being led tend to “be harsh on themselves and less harsh on others.” This dynamic of “control/not in control” ends up being a problem. You can see the harmful effects of inequality in our world that stem from our interpretation of power.
The author of, “Absolutely—Power corrupts,” concludes, “Perhaps the lesson, then, is that corruption and hypocrisy are the price that societies pay for being led by alpha males (and, in some cases, alpha females). The alternative, though cleaner, is leadership by wimps.”
This is an incorrect assumption about the nature of power that is prevalent in our society.
If we again consider our basic definition of power—the ability to do work—we could conclude that it is more accurate to say that people we consider to be powerful may not actually be that powerful. If we really look at leaders who demonstrate the ability to do work, our notion of power may shift.
So what?
What I’m getting at is that you are powerful, you are influential—the odds are in your favor that you’re a bigger deal than you’re used to noticing—You are power. So, what are you going to do about it?
