Everywhere, the Power Paradox ensnares.
We assume that others are powerful, and we are weak. The truth is that others are less powerful than we think they are, and we are more powerful than we have imagined.
We take these assumptions of who does and doesn’t have power for granted and never test them. We feebly take our changes to the people we think have power and beg them to support us.
How many weeks or months did you spend trying to get that executive to sponsor your change?
Well . . .
Or if your change was executive directed, how many weeks or months did you spend crafting the perfect plan for the executive to bless it with their authority only to find out that no one in the organization cares if that executive sponsors something because even the people who report to that executive don’t comply with their orders?
Yeah . . .
Did you ever pursue a promotion thinking that when you made the next level of leadership, suddenly you’d have the genuine power to make change happen?
Yes.
Did you get the promotion?
Yes.
Did you get the power?
No.
Then did you think you still needed one more promotion to really get something done?
Yes. Ugh.
There is no magical step on the ladder that conveys enough power to Drive People. I’ve met senators, admirals, and CEOs who claimed they lacked the power to implement their changes.
Maybe the issue isn’t how much power we have but how much we think we have and what we do with it.
If you think you aren’t powerful, you will prove yourself right. And the opposite is true. If you look for your own power, you will find it everywhere.
If you aren’t a senator, you can’t offer legislation on the floor of the Senate Chamber and vote to pass it, but you can create the language for a bill and work with a senator to influence other senators to vote for it.
If you aren’t the CEO, you can’t set company strategy, but you can partner with the CEO on parts of the CEO’s strategy that you believe in and work to make it succeed in your area and spread your example from there.
Make your escape from the Power Paradox
The elegant escape from the Power Paradox is to discover and leverage your own power and help others discover and leverage theirs too. If you don’t know where to look to discover your power, look back to the Change Agent’s Motto:
I will do what I can, with what I have, where I am.
When you list all the things you can do and the things you have and the unique place in space, time, and history you inhabit, you’ll see how richly powerful you really are.
Help others escape too!
Partner with people in other positions who have unique authority to help make the changes you want to make.
Help a mid-level leader see that even though they don’t have $10 million and 100 people to put to work on the change, they have their 10-person team and their $500 discretionary budget, and there is a lot they can do with that.
Help a new employee see that they possess a rare gem—a fresh perspective—in an established, market-leading company. That’s rare and powerful.
Once you are free of the Power Paradox and living the Change Agent’s Motto, you can continue to do powerful things and free others from the Power Paradox.
Freeing them from the Power Paradox may be one of the greatest gifts you can give them.
For more on the Power Paradox
See Tactic #3 in Change Tactics where you’ll find the Power Paradox Freedom Worksheet.
