The power to participate, to invent, to encourage, to connect

Library of Congress: Federal Theater Project 1934-1943 (search LOC: power)

 Two recent posts by Seth Godin that reflect on power from below and above.  How it's easy to pretend we don't have power (and what that power might come disguised as  (things that are less flowery, less headliney) and how real power is different than coercion.   I like how he refers to power as "trust and the benefit of the doubt"

Unaware

If you don’t realize that you have power, you might not be able to exercise it.

The power to speak up, to participate, to invent, to lead, to encourage, to vote, to connect, to organize, to march, to write, to say ‘no’ or to say ‘yes’.

It’s tempting to imagine we have less power than we do. It lets us off the hook. For now.

Coercion

One way to look at power is “you get to tell people what to do.”

But an alternative is that the most powerful institutions, brands and people are the ones who are in alignment with their audience.

Trust and the benefit of the doubt are more powerful and resilient than command and control.

It’s more difficult to earn this leadership role, and more valuable once you have it.