The cohort of leaders who will reclaim leadership to achieve great things in the world won’t succeed out of idealism, an extreme sense of perfection or personal heroism. We will succeed because we see ourselves and the world for what is and because we master the ability to motivate groups we lead to access their full power to create transformative outcomes.
InPower Leaders derive our power from within ourselves first and foremost, owning who we are and freeing ourselves to be at choice and at cause in the world, regardless of our external circumstances. We move through the world with intention and trust, taking what is and working with it productively. With such clarity and perspective we excel at group process and choose our own actions purposefully to manage relationships, energy and intention in ways that make our teams powerful too. With powerful and purpose-driven teams alongside us, InPower Leaders advocate and create organizations, movements and cultures that unfold amazing change in the world.
Recognizing InPower Leaders Among Us
InPower Leaders come in all forms, business managers, nonprofit directors, PTA presidents and everything in between, including women in leadership. What characterizes them is not the role they play but the way they play it. Here are some dead giveaways that you’re dealing with an InPower Leader.
- They know reality but do not let fear inform their actions when living in it.
- They are driven by a sense of trust and purpose, pursuing a higher goal through the specific objectives of their day-to-day efforts.
- They work with what shows up and do not waste energy in judgment and attachment.
- They are effective at achieving group agreement and shared intent.
- They are masters at managing group energy towards shared goals.
- They create form and culture in the world, which allows amazing things to become possible.
- Their standard of success is their own, persisting in bringing the gifts of failure and success forward into each successive effort.
The External Trappings of Power
Some InPower Leaders have the external trappings of power – title, authority, financial reward – but many do not. InPower Leaders recognize that if we accept someone else’s external power symbol by giving up our own self-directed leadership abilities, we give our personal power away. We understand this potential paradox of being “in power,” which is that too many sacrifice their own personal power to be “in power” in the world.
InPower Leaders choose to stay in their personal power. We may accept external power symbols to help us achieve our goals, but we do not become beholden to them and stand prepared to give them back in order to retain what is ours. InPower Leaders persist beyond any job, project or organization.
Achieving InPower Leadership Is Yours The Moment You Claim It
InPower Leadership is accessible to us all. It is a way of being in the world, not an achievement in itself. Each step we take in our power is its own achievement and every skill gained on the path of gathering our power back to us (for we’ve all given much of it away), is the path of success.
Don’t expect it to be easy if you’re looking for external support. The world does not necessarily think it wants to change and there are plenty of people who don’t want us in our power, because they perceive our success to be their failure. Don’t buy into that either/or mentality. That game only matters if you let it.
Your power is living inside you at this very moment. Celebrate your strength to lead and change the world that you were born with and take your next action – and every other one after that – in your own personal power.
