We love it when smart thinkers challenge buzzwords, which is why we love Laurie’s post this week as she endeavors to define Authentic behavior in the workplace and explore the deeper meanings of this important idea. After reading the post, take a moment and think about what is most authentic about...
There are many kinds of leadership and power and I choose to focus on personal power for myself and with my clients – I call it InPower. InPower is that special ability leaders can develop to free themselves from the culture around them so they can choose where and how they place their energy in service to the world and themselves. Our dominant culture doesn’t train us to see InPower and many can’t appreciate it until you do.
If you pay attention to your language it will provide you insight and power over your subconscious – “natural” – InPower stance. As you practice obtaining and maintaining InPower balance, your language – internal and external – will begin to shift and change, becoming a source of your power. But first you must learn to “hear” yourself from an InPower perspective and listen for your InPower and out-of-power voice. In another post we’ll talk about what you are saying, but for now, just learn to listen to how you are saying it. When you speak – to yourself or to others – your choice of words can quickly tap you into your current power stance. Here are some examples.
Language is important indicator of everyone’s InPower stance, but it may be especially important for women, based on a new study by Judith Baxter.
As we approach summer, I'm reminded of the family road trip. The kind with screaming kids, barking dogs and parents hoping they don't harm one of those screaming kids. The family road trip seems an apt analogy to end this month's theme of preserving your mental health with emotional...
When I was a kid I loved action movies and magic. I sprained my ankle jumping off a roof as a member of the Three Musketeers (not sure which one since we all thought we were D'Artagnan.) I read comic books and even wrote a fantastical story of star voyagers to mars. I had an imagination run wild....
Every time I speak about building confidence I’m asked, “Can I fake it ‘til I figure out how to make it?” I usually ask the crowd their opinion. Vigorous discussion ensues, making my job really easy. Many have experienced the hollow feelings of inauthenticity that faking it brings, and they argue...
It’s both a trope and a truth that working twice as hard will help you get ahead in your career. It’s also, not surprisingly, a key assumption that under-represented leaders assume they must overwork in order to prove themselves in order to advance their careers. Talk to most women, Black people...
Leadership, career and success gurus place a huge focus on goals as keys to success. There are tons of articles, books, videos, classes and “systems” on how to set goals, how to organize them and how to “keep” them. Entire franchises have been built on this one productivity skill. And with good...
Think about each time you swallow a lump in your throat, swallow the words that are on the tip of your tongue in anger, or inhale deeply to keep from expressing frustration. Where do you think those negative emotions go? It would be nice if they just disappeared but they don’t. They actually get...
Just like balancing on one foot, once you understand the feeling of InPower, it’s easier to identify when you unconsciously give your power away and can take steps to retrieve it and catch yourself earlier next time. “Taking back your power” is as simple – and as hard – as paying attention to these emotional signals and putting yourself in a genuinely positive state. Sometimes this is easier than others, causing us to learn to let go of beliefs and unconscious reactions that no longer serve us, and other times it’s really quite easy. Always it is a choice. Once we become adept at managing our own InPower balanced state, we can also practice it in the world, helping others around us attain more InPower so that the groups we lead as a whole can access more power. An InPower leader can not only foster group power, but direct it into achieving great things in the world.
This is the second post in the Take Back Your Power series of posts.
