Jan. 5, 2026
What is Your Relationship with Power, and How is it Affecting Your Actions and Decisions?
As Nonprofit leaders, we all have a relationship with power. But it's not something that we tend to take a look at much. And I think perhaps the reason for that is what a lot of Nonprofit leaders tell me – that they're not super comfortable with the concept of power. Today I want to really dig into some questions that will help us all understand our relationship with power a little bit better, and perhaps begin to shift that relationship a little bit. The thing is, our relations...
As Nonprofit leaders, we all have a relationship with power. But it's not something that we tend to take a look at much. And I think perhaps the reason for that is what a lot of Nonprofit leaders tell me – that they're not super comfortable with the concept of power.
Today I want to really dig into some questions that will help us all understand our relationship with power a little bit better, and perhaps begin to shift that relationship a little bit.
The thing is, our relationship with power is often pretty complex. What we don't always consider is that we're also walking around with a whole set of beliefs about power that shape that relationship.
Our beliefs about power in particular have been shaped over a lifetime of experience. But they’ve also been informed by things we heard growing up. And by the environment we're operating in now.
If we're operating in an environment with a lot of other Nonprofit leaders, and that's our primary thought ecosystem, what happens a lot is that we start reinforcing one another's beliefs about power. And what I've noticed is that a lot of times those beliefs may not always be serving us very well. In fact, they may be holding us back from the things we most want.
In this episode, we share:
- How and why our beliefs about power affect our actions and decisions
- The most common beliefs about power held by many Nonprofit leaders
- A simple exercise to help you uncover your hidden beliefs about power
- The most powerful questions you can ask yourself to rewire your beliefs
- How to change your relationship with power to one that truly serves you
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WEBVTT
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You're listening to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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In today's episode, we take a hard look at two important questions.
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What is your relationship with power, and how is it affecting your actions and decisions?
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So stay tuned.
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If you wanna have real and powerful influence over the money and policy decisions that impact your organization and the people you serve, then you're in the right place.
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I'm Kath Patrick, and I've helped dozens of progressive Nonprofit leaders take their organizations to new and higher levels of impact and success by building powerful influence with the decision makers that matter.
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It is possible to get a critical mass of the money and policy decision makers in your world to be as invested in your success as you are, to have them seeking you out as an equal partner and to have them.
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Bringing opportunities and resources to you.
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This podcast will help you do just that.
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Welcome to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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Hey there folks.
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Welcome to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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I'm your host, Kath Patrick.
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I'm so glad you're here for today's episode because as Nonprofit leaders, we all have a relationship with power.
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And it's not something that we tend to take a look at much.
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And I think perhaps the reason for that is that a lot of Nonprofit leaders tell me that they're not super comfortable with the concept of power.
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So what I wanna do today is really dig into some questions that will help us all understand our relationship with power a little bit better, and perhaps begin to shift that relationship a little bit.
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Before we jump in, first of all, happy New Year.
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Welcome to 2026.
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It is probably gonna be a really interesting year.
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And perhaps there's no better time than right now to take a look at our relationship with power.
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The thing is, we all have a relationship with power.
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And it's often pretty complex.
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What we don't always consider is that we're also walking around with a whole set of beliefs about power that shape that relationship.
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Our beliefs about power in particular have been shaped over a lifetime of experience.
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But also it's been formed by things we heard growing up.
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And the environment we're operating in.
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If we're operating in an environment with a lot of other Nonprofit leaders, and that's our primary thought ecosystem, what happens a lot is that we start reinforcing one another's beliefs about power.
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And what I've noticed is that a lot of times those beliefs may not always be serving us very well.
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In my work with Nonprofit leaders, I've found that there are some pretty common recurring themes in beliefs about power.
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And some of them are things that are so common in the world that they are almost cliches.
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They're stock phrases.
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Who hasn't heard the phrase power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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Right?
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A lot of the beliefs that I hear Nonprofit leaders express about power sort of fall into that general category.
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So beliefs like people in power mostly abuse that power.
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People in power use it mostly to benefit themselves and not to help the greater good.
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Power is exploitative and coercive by nature.
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Power is about control and dominance.
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Power is used to perpetuate inequity.
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And when you take all those together, people with power are immoral.
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So that's some of the beliefs that are very common about people who have power.
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And then there's the set of beliefs about us and our prospects of having power.
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Those beliefs tend to fall into categories like, people like me don't have power, or don't get to have power.
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People who have power use it against people like me.
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Power is generally used to harm people like me.
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So let's think about that.
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First of all, those views of power are overwhelmingly negative.
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And understandable when they come from the perspective of we don't have power, other people have power.
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So power is something that happens to us, not something that we wield.
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And so the question becomes, if those are our beliefs about power, how is that likely to shape our approach to it?
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How is that likely to shape our willingness to ever build or acquire power for ourselves and for how we approach our relationships with people who do have power?
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How does it affect what we believe is possible in terms of results that could come from those relationships?
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And the big one, how does that affect what results could come from us having and wielding power ourselves?
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So here's the tricky bit.
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If we hold all those negative views about power, number one, it is absolutely shaping our approach to it.
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But it's also shaping how we view what is possible.
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If we allow those beliefs to go unexamined and unchallenged, what impact is that likely to have on us and our sense of what's possible and how we approach all those things?
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I think it's pretty clear that our relationship with power and our beliefs about power is having a greater impact on our actions and decisions than we often realize or acknowledge.
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And if we don't take a hard look at that, we can find ourselves in positions of disadvantage a lot more often than we maybe need to.
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So how do we do that?
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Here's the problem with beliefs from the brain science perspective.
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A belief in this context is a thought that has been repeated often enough that it becomes truth or fact in your mind.
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Once that happens, the reticular activating system is automatically filtering in all the things that affirm that belief, and it is filtering out things that contradict it.
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So if we wanna take a look at our beliefs about power and how they're affecting our relationship with it, we have to give the conscious brain an assignment, which is to investigate those beliefs very intentionally.
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And determine whether in fact they are true.
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And if we discover they're not universally true, then we might decide that, you know what?
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Actually, maybe some of these beliefs about power are not serving us very well.
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And perhaps it would be more productive to adopt some different beliefs about power.
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If we wanna do that, we have to be very intentional about it in our conscious thinking brain.
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Because what we have to do is teach the reticular activating system a new belief so that it will create a new filter for us.
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So that it will start bringing in more evidence of a different way of looking at power.
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If you've been listening for a while, you hear me talk about this fairly frequently because it's so essential to everything we do as human beings.
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If we don't understand how our brain is working, how it operates, then it's very difficult for us to take a hard look at these kind of squishy things that we've been living with so long that they just feel true, that that's just a given.
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That's how things are.
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And I would submit that that's actually a very useful flag right there.
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If you ever find yourself saying to yourself, ah, well, that's just how things are.
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Chances are very good that is your reticular activating system, keeping you in the safe and familiar.
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That's its job.
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Don't be mad at it, that's its job.
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But if we are not happy with the job it's doing, we have to teach it a new way.
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If we don't do that, the RAS will continue doing what we told it to do years ago.
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And it'll just keep bringing us more and more stuff that affirms what we decided was true five, 10, maybe 30 years ago.
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Maybe some of this stuff has been with us since we were kids.
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Because our parents talked about this.
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Our parents had a relationship with power.
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The people we grew up around had a relationship with power.
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And I promise you that if you grew up in an environment where the adults in your world had power and were comfortable with it, you grew up with a very different set of beliefs about power than if you grew up in an environment where the adults in your world tended not to have power and tended to have a bad experience with it, and that power was often used against them in ways that were harmful.
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So you heard things like power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
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I remember hearing that when I was in elementary school and probably before then I just, my memory doesn't go back that far, but I can remember hearing that when I was in grade school.
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I heard that a lot, and it wasn't until I got into advocacy work that I started hearing a different perspective on power.
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Which is power is important.
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And if we want to get things done, we're going to need some.
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And that was when I began to reframe my views about power.
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When other advocates who were my mentors were acquiring and using power in all sorts of interesting ways.
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And I thought, oh, wait a second.
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This is using power for good.
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This is what that looks like.
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A lot of my mentors ran for office and became city council members, county board members, state legislators, state senators.
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Some of them rose to very powerful positions within the legislative bodies they were in, and became leadership.
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And suddenly they wielded even more power.
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They were able to shape entire realms of policy.
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So my advocacy growing up years when I was a baby advocate and learning how to do this work, I got to watch mentors who had a really healthy relationship with power and who said, okay, power itself is neutral.
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It can be used for good or bad.
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It's like a hammer.
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You can use it to build a house.
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You can use it to destroy a house.
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But it's very difficult to build a house without it.
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And so that's how my views around power, my beliefs around power began to shift.
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And it got reinforced because I then chose to surround myself with people who reinforced those more positive and aspirational views of power, and ideas about how power could be used for good.
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And that if we as progressive advocates didn't have power, our ability to be successful was going to be greatly reduced.
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So that's how my shift came about.
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But I sure as heck didn't grow up with that.
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I grew up with all the working class beliefs about how power was bad and people who had power were not nice people.
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They were immoral people.
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If anybody got power, they were probably gonna use it for their own gain and against other people, and it was just bad.
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I got lucky.
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I got into an environment where that entire belief system, first of all, had not solidified all that much.
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Cause I was still in high school when I got involved in advocacy work.
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But also my reticular activating system got exposed to repeat inputs of a different belief set.
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And my conscious thinking brain said yes to that.
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It was like, yeah, that's how I wanna look at power.
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Power is something we need to have in order to do good work, and in order to make the world a better place.
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So let's go get some.
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And then I learned about all the different ways that you do that.
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And there are many, many different ways to acquire and wield power.
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It's not just about being in a formal elected body where you have power given to you through the consent of the voters.
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Power occurs through all sorts of avenues.
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And that's a topic for another episode.
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However long you've held a belief, it's completely possible to shift that belief if you discover that it's not serving you.
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But the only way you can do that is to, first of all, identify that you have the belief And then investigate it, determine if it's actually true, is it a fact?
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Or is it a belief?
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And when we discover that it is a belief and not hardened fact, it's not a law of physics, it's not gravity.
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Then we have to make a conscious decision that we wish to shift that belief to something that serves us more effectively.
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That is an established process that is grounded in brain science and we use it for all kinds of things.
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In this case, we can use it to examine our beliefs about and our relationship to power.
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And fundamentally what we're asking is, are our beliefs and our relationship to power serving us as well as they could?
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Is it helping us get the outcomes we want?
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Is it helping us make the world a better place?
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And if it's not, then what would we like to change?
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So if you're interested in playing along and taking a look at this.
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And just for the fun of it, saying so, huh, it's not like I go around thinking about power on a conscious level all that much.
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Except maybe when it smacks me up against the head because it's being used against me or the people I serve.
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So if you think about power not that often, and when you do, you find yourself thinking negatively, then that's where you are right now.
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If you have more of a mixed feeling about it, like, well, sometimes it's good.
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It depends on who's got it.
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And sometimes people use it for good and sometimes people don't.
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If you have any beliefs hanging around about, well, people like me just don't ever get to have power Any of those.
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The very first thing we have to do is identify what those beliefs are.
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write them down, preferably on a piece of paper with a pen.
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Not a keyboard, not a voice note.
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These kinds of exercises are best done, actually putting pen to paper.
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You internalize the work far more effectively.
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Your brain absorbs the work far more effectively if you're actually physically writing with a pen on paper than it does if you're typing at a keyboard or dictating a voice note.
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And I know.
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I use the keyboard and voice memos all the time.
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I live by them.
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But for this kind of work, it's pen to paper because it's just more effective.
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That is the only reason.
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So it's worth doing.
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Grab your journal, grab a blank piece of paper.
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It doesn't matter.
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Just write it down.
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So try this, this way.
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Make two columns, and in one column, write down all of your negative beliefs about power.
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And then in the other column, write down all your positive beliefs about power.
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Including the things that you think are just the way things are.
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They're established fact, that is just the truth about power.
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Go ahead and put it all in there.
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You don't have to do this all in one sitting.
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You can do it over a few days if you just get a minute here and there, or you want to think about it some more, that's fine.
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But get a starting list.
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And first of all, notice are they roughly equally balanced?
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Do you have about the same number of negatives as positives, or is one side or the other a lot longer?
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If you're like most Nonprofit leaders that I work with, your negative column is gonna be longer.
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If you are lucky enough that your positive column is long and your negative column is short, then congratulations.
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You're gonna have less work to do here.
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But if you find that there's a substantial number of negative beliefs about power, then the next step is to take each one of those and individually prosecute them like you're in a court.
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And basically what you wanna ask is, is this true all the time in every situation for everyone, everywhere, every time.
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And if the answer is no, then it's not a fact.
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It's not a law of physics, it's not gravity.
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It's a belief.
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And that's the first thing we have to do is understand that they're beliefs.
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Once you've established that it's a belief, then the next question you can ask is, how does this belief serve me?
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How is it benefiting me to hold this belief?
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And how might it be getting in the way of what I want?
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And don't just dash this off.
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Really think about this.
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Because here's the thing.
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We all hold beliefs that don't necessarily serve us very well.
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But they're serving us in some way, or we would've dumped them by now.
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The first layer of questioning is, is this serving me in terms of helping me get what I want?
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More resources, more support, better policies to support the work we do and the services we provide and the people we help.
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Is it moving me closer to that?
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Is it helping me get that?
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Or is it maybe in the way?
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That's the first layer.
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If you want to go really deep, optional bonus points.
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If you've answered that, and it's like, no, not really.
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It's actually not helping me all that much.
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It's kind of getting in the way.
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Then you can go one layer deeper and ask yourself, so why am I holding onto it?
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Is there some way in which that is serving me emotionally, personally?
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Not connected to what I'm trying to make happen in the world, but how is it serving me personally?
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Spoiler alert.
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The core answer to that is always some version of it is helping keep you feeling safe.
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I'm not clairvoyant.
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I don't know that because I read your mind.
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I know that because I've studied brain science and that is your reticular activating system doing its job.
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It's one and only job is to keep you in the safe and familiar all the time.
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Because what has worked in the past, worked in quotes, what has kept you alive up to this point.
00:18:32.545 --> 00:18:34.615
The RAS is like, do more of that.
00:18:35.470 --> 00:18:36.309
You're still here.
00:18:36.309 --> 00:18:36.670
Great.
00:18:36.670 --> 00:18:41.500
We'll just keep doing that the same way because anything outside of that might get us killed.
00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:43.950
That's its basic rationale in life.
00:18:44.339 --> 00:18:47.339
So the why is always gonna be some version of keeping you safe.
00:18:47.890 --> 00:18:52.890
But then what's useful to explore further is to ask the question, well, safe in what way?
00:18:53.444 --> 00:19:01.549
If that belief isn't true all the time, what about this not being true makes me uncomfortable or feel scary or threatening?
00:19:02.450 --> 00:19:04.849
Very often it's about identity.
00:19:05.660 --> 00:19:10.640
Perceived threats to identity are like a five alarm fire for your RAS.
00:19:11.230 --> 00:19:26.531
For example, if you're holding onto even a shred of a belief that people who have power are immoral or bad, your RAS will not let you have or hold or use power because your identity is as a good person.
00:19:27.199 --> 00:19:31.999
In the filter of that belief, having power is a threat to your identity.
00:19:32.778 --> 00:19:45.182
There is no more fundamental threat than that, so the RAS will never let your conscious brain pursue or use power as long as it holds the belief that people who have power are bad.
00:19:45.679 --> 00:19:48.108
Because that conflicts with your core identity.
00:19:49.338 --> 00:19:55.848
That's just one example of how this can all work and how it can affect both your decisions and your actions.
00:19:56.881 --> 00:20:00.221
You've established there's this belief that we now know is a belief.
00:20:00.221 --> 00:20:01.631
It's not true all the time.
00:20:02.131 --> 00:20:04.020
It's not serving you all the time.
00:20:04.111 --> 00:20:05.131
Maybe not at all.
00:20:05.631 --> 00:20:07.371
Then there's two more questions.
00:20:07.871 --> 00:20:09.851
First of all, what else could be true?
00:20:10.497 --> 00:20:18.067
If that's not true, if that's not a fact, what are some other ways that we could look at this that would serve me better?
00:20:18.567 --> 00:20:22.616
That would help me move closer to what I actually want.
00:20:23.116 --> 00:20:29.376
And so a super simple example, not saying this is easy, just saying it's simple and easily illustrated.
00:20:30.067 --> 00:20:34.432
If you're in the place of feeling like people like me don't get to have power.
00:20:35.478 --> 00:20:38.208
First of all, you have to identify what does people like me mean?
00:20:38.778 --> 00:20:43.188
This is usually about gender, race, sexuality, and class.
00:20:43.688 --> 00:20:51.307
Could be other things, but those are the four categories that most commonly surface when we think those thoughts about people like me don't get to have power.
00:20:51.842 --> 00:20:53.582
Education sometimes comes in there too.
00:20:54.414 --> 00:20:57.234
Identify which people like me you're talking about.
00:20:57.484 --> 00:20:58.355
What context?
00:20:58.355 --> 00:21:00.184
When you say like me, what do you mean?
00:21:00.788 --> 00:21:02.258
And flesh that out a little bit.
00:21:02.685 --> 00:21:11.376
And then what I invite you to do is to think about people who fit in the category you just identified, who have power.
00:21:11.842 --> 00:21:13.731
Who hold significant power.
00:21:14.031 --> 00:21:14.961
Just think about that.
00:21:15.172 --> 00:21:16.041
'Cause they're out there.
00:21:16.541 --> 00:21:20.346
They may not be the norm, but they exist and they are proof of what's possible.
00:21:21.374 --> 00:21:23.503
Then you can ask yourself, well, what would serve me?
00:21:23.554 --> 00:21:35.849
What approach to power in this context, whatever the context is that you've identified, whether it's power is always corrupt, or power is always coercive, or power is not for people like me, whatever.
00:21:35.849 --> 00:21:37.059
Whichever one you're working on.
00:21:37.940 --> 00:21:41.025
You flip it around and say, well, what if it were for people like me?
00:21:41.025 --> 00:21:43.065
Or what if I could have power?
00:21:43.365 --> 00:21:45.285
First of all, what would I do with that?
00:21:45.285 --> 00:21:46.934
What would I want that for?
00:21:46.934 --> 00:21:50.255
How would I use that and would that be a good thing?
00:21:50.944 --> 00:21:53.015
Would that be a really great thing?
00:21:53.644 --> 00:21:58.605
If I had the power to do that thing, how amazing would that be?
00:21:59.298 --> 00:22:06.077
Then you can start to identify a set of beliefs that will serve you more powerfully.
00:22:06.377 --> 00:22:18.694
An example of a belief that might serve you powerfully would be to say, when I have power, I can use it to do great things to help people.
00:22:19.194 --> 00:22:22.315
I can use power to help others.
00:22:23.184 --> 00:22:30.204
The more power I have, the more I can help others, the more I can change the world for the better.
00:22:30.704 --> 00:22:35.835
So it doesn't have to be an exact reversal of the belief that you were trying to debunk.
00:22:36.295 --> 00:22:44.448
The most critical part of addressing a belief that's not serving you is to, first of all, identify that it's a belief, and secondly, to prove it's not actually true all the time.
00:22:44.998 --> 00:22:47.461
Cause that then puts a wedge in there for a new belief.
00:22:48.105 --> 00:22:52.055
And the new belief does not have to be the polar opposite of the thing you started with.
00:22:52.565 --> 00:22:54.724
It rarely is in this context.
00:22:54.964 --> 00:23:00.644
So instead you want to cultivate a set of beliefs that truly serve you and what you're hoping to do in the world.
00:23:01.480 --> 00:23:06.114
Some other questions to play with are, how would I use power if I had it?
00:23:06.614 --> 00:23:09.554
What do I believe is the right way to wield power?
00:23:10.019 --> 00:23:11.068
Could I do that?
00:23:11.669 --> 00:23:12.778
Would I like to do that?
00:23:13.709 --> 00:23:14.788
How would that feel?
00:23:15.148 --> 00:23:16.558
How amazing would that be?
00:23:17.058 --> 00:23:21.618
How can power be used to benefit people who've traditionally been disenfranchised?
00:23:22.118 --> 00:23:23.618
Ah, what about that?
00:23:24.118 --> 00:23:27.501
How can power be used to build a more equitable world?
00:23:28.231 --> 00:23:31.471
Those are sort of abstract questions, and then you can insert yourself in there.
00:23:31.998 --> 00:23:34.097
How can I use power?
00:23:34.614 --> 00:23:38.493
How could I use power to build a more equitable world?
00:23:38.703 --> 00:23:44.884
How could I use power to benefit people who've traditionally been locked out of power?
00:23:45.384 --> 00:23:48.503
How could I use power for good?
00:23:49.500 --> 00:23:55.255
This is such a simple exercise and process, and we use it for lots of things.
00:23:55.755 --> 00:24:01.035
But I wanted to focus today on the question of power because I think it has never been more critical.
00:24:01.904 --> 00:24:06.308
And it's a relationship we often don't acknowledge even having.
00:24:06.970 --> 00:24:11.463
Because we're operating from beliefs, we feel like things are just the way they are.
00:24:11.963 --> 00:24:14.634
And the relationship with power is the relationship with power.
00:24:14.634 --> 00:24:15.894
We either have it or we don't.
00:24:15.894 --> 00:24:18.623
We're either a victim of it or the wielder of it.
00:24:19.173 --> 00:24:25.653
And we have all these beliefs about what that means and who tends to wield it and how they tend to abuse it when they have it, on and on.
00:24:26.153 --> 00:24:30.948
What's important to understand is that our beliefs run our actions.
00:24:31.698 --> 00:24:33.133
They run our decisions.
00:24:33.432 --> 00:24:34.722
That's just how the brain works.
00:24:35.222 --> 00:24:50.219
And so if we're not investigating those beliefs and our relationship to power, the chances are very good we will allow some limiting beliefs around power to continue to limit our ability to be effective in the world.
00:24:50.929 --> 00:24:52.189
Nobody signed up for that goal.
00:24:52.689 --> 00:24:54.669
I don't know a single Nonprofit leader who said, well,.
00:24:54.669 --> 00:24:56.528
I just wanna be okay at this.
00:24:57.219 --> 00:25:00.038
I just wanna like serve some people and help a little.
00:25:00.538 --> 00:25:07.278
There may be people working in nonprofits who feel comfortable with that, but I have yet to meet a Nonprofit leader who believes that.
00:25:07.778 --> 00:25:11.097
The leaders I know and that I work with want more.
00:25:11.488 --> 00:25:13.952
They want ever larger impact.
00:25:14.012 --> 00:25:15.272
They want to help more people.
00:25:15.272 --> 00:25:18.363
They want to increase the level of impact of their work.
00:25:18.482 --> 00:25:29.702
They want to draw more resources to the work, and they want to build a policy environment that helps people and that works better for the people they serve so that everyone can thrive.
00:25:30.502 --> 00:25:42.502
How much better are the chances of making that happen when we have a strong and healthy relationship with power, and have comfort with acquiring some power to be able to use it for good?
00:25:43.159 --> 00:25:45.469
I hope you'll take some of these ideas for a spin.
00:25:46.009 --> 00:25:57.638
See what you discover about your relationship with power and how you can use those discoveries to become more powerful, and to embrace the identity of a powerful Nonprofit leader.
00:25:58.372 --> 00:26:03.291
Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode right here on the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:26:03.888 --> 00:26:07.365
Before you go, I have some news I think you're gonna want to hear.
00:26:08.105 --> 00:26:14.875
To kick off the new year, i'm offering a brand new program designed to help you take your advocacy results to the next level.
00:26:16.070 --> 00:26:28.191
I've designed this program to focus on a handful of the most powerful and effective strategies for engaging your money and policy decision makers in a way that gets you the results you want.
00:26:28.934 --> 00:26:39.464
We cover lots of different strategies and techniques here on the podcast, and I've heard so much wonderful feedback about the value folks are getting from that, which is awesome.
00:26:40.386 --> 00:26:41.951
But I also hear that it's a lot.
00:26:42.846 --> 00:26:48.876
And what I hear more and more is just gimme the things I absolutely have to have.
00:26:49.356 --> 00:26:54.997
Tell me what's gonna be the most effective, the most powerful, and let me focus on that.
00:26:55.866 --> 00:26:57.771
So that's what I've decided to do with this new program.
00:26:58.642 --> 00:27:05.751
It's laser focused on a set of core strategies that are incredibly powerful and universally effective.
00:27:06.172 --> 00:27:09.892
It doesn't matter where you live, it doesn't matter what service niche you're in.
00:27:10.251 --> 00:27:12.922
This is the shortest path to success.
00:27:13.778 --> 00:27:23.413
I'll be teaching those core strategies and supporting you with lots of coaching and weekly conversations, all designed to equip you to get the results you want.
00:27:24.616 --> 00:27:27.797
I am limiting this to the first 10 founding members who step up.
00:27:28.396 --> 00:27:35.237
I'm limiting it because I wanna make sure that you get exactly what you need from the teaching and the coaching.
00:27:35.926 --> 00:27:41.267
And as a founding member, you'll have the opportunity to direct the focus of the coaching as we go.
00:27:42.387 --> 00:27:52.498
Think about how many times you've been frustrated with a decision maker not getting it, not getting the true value of your work and its impact.
00:27:53.067 --> 00:27:55.137
This is where we fix that.
00:27:55.907 --> 00:27:56.867
So come on in.
00:27:57.167 --> 00:28:00.377
Shoot me a message on either LinkedIn or the podcast website.
00:28:00.647 --> 00:28:02.117
I'll put those links in the show notes.
00:28:02.508 --> 00:28:08.113
And let's make a plan to work together in the new year and start getting you those next level results.
00:00:00.050 --> 00:00:02.600
You're listening to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:00:02.720 --> 00:00:06.902
In today's episode, we take a hard look at two important questions.
00:00:07.142 --> 00:00:12.602
What is your relationship with power, and how is it affecting your actions and decisions?
00:00:12.842 --> 00:00:14.131
So stay tuned.
00:00:20.295 --> 00:00:29.205
If you wanna have real and powerful influence over the money and policy decisions that impact your organization and the people you serve, then you're in the right place.
00:00:29.806 --> 00:00:42.826
I'm Kath Patrick, and I've helped dozens of progressive Nonprofit leaders take their organizations to new and higher levels of impact and success by building powerful influence with the decision makers that matter.
00:00:43.456 --> 00:00:55.996
It is possible to get a critical mass of the money and policy decision makers in your world to be as invested in your success as you are, to have them seeking you out as an equal partner and to have them.
00:00:56.055 --> 00:00:58.845
Bringing opportunities and resources to you.
00:00:59.445 --> 00:01:01.576
This podcast will help you do just that.
00:01:02.026 --> 00:01:05.055
Welcome to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:01:10.549 --> 00:01:11.269
Hey there folks.
00:01:11.269 --> 00:01:13.250
Welcome to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:14.959
I'm your host, Kath Patrick.
00:01:15.390 --> 00:01:21.900
I'm so glad you're here for today's episode because as Nonprofit leaders, we all have a relationship with power.
00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:26.503
And it's not something that we tend to take a look at much.
00:01:26.593 --> 00:01:35.533
And I think perhaps the reason for that is that a lot of Nonprofit leaders tell me that they're not super comfortable with the concept of power.
00:01:36.206 --> 00:01:49.159
So what I wanna do today is really dig into some questions that will help us all understand our relationship with power a little bit better, and perhaps begin to shift that relationship a little bit.
00:01:51.015 --> 00:01:53.584
Before we jump in, first of all, happy New Year.
00:01:54.245 --> 00:01:56.105
Welcome to 2026.
00:01:56.405 --> 00:01:59.435
It is probably gonna be a really interesting year.
00:01:59.795 --> 00:02:05.674
And perhaps there's no better time than right now to take a look at our relationship with power.
00:02:06.484 --> 00:02:08.944
The thing is, we all have a relationship with power.
00:02:09.289 --> 00:02:11.319
And it's often pretty complex.
00:02:12.022 --> 00:02:19.312
What we don't always consider is that we're also walking around with a whole set of beliefs about power that shape that relationship.
00:02:20.215 --> 00:02:25.899
Our beliefs about power in particular have been shaped over a lifetime of experience.
00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:30.653
But also it's been formed by things we heard growing up.
00:02:31.268 --> 00:02:33.074
And the environment we're operating in.
00:02:33.123 --> 00:02:42.967
If we're operating in an environment with a lot of other Nonprofit leaders, and that's our primary thought ecosystem, what happens a lot is that we start reinforcing one another's beliefs about power.
00:02:44.074 --> 00:02:51.415
And what I've noticed is that a lot of times those beliefs may not always be serving us very well.
00:02:52.139 --> 00:02:58.609
In my work with Nonprofit leaders, I've found that there are some pretty common recurring themes in beliefs about power.
00:02:59.109 --> 00:03:05.960
And some of them are things that are so common in the world that they are almost cliches.
00:03:06.060 --> 00:03:07.139
They're stock phrases.
00:03:07.469 --> 00:03:13.650
Who hasn't heard the phrase power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
00:03:14.150 --> 00:03:14.569
Right?
00:03:15.389 --> 00:03:23.038
A lot of the beliefs that I hear Nonprofit leaders express about power sort of fall into that general category.
00:03:23.573 --> 00:03:28.193
So beliefs like people in power mostly abuse that power.
00:03:28.693 --> 00:03:34.062
People in power use it mostly to benefit themselves and not to help the greater good.
00:03:34.562 --> 00:03:38.402
Power is exploitative and coercive by nature.
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Power is about control and dominance.
00:03:41.712 --> 00:03:44.443
Power is used to perpetuate inequity.
00:03:44.943 --> 00:03:48.302
And when you take all those together, people with power are immoral.
00:03:49.050 --> 00:03:53.039
So that's some of the beliefs that are very common about people who have power.
00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:59.544
And then there's the set of beliefs about us and our prospects of having power.
00:04:00.228 --> 00:04:08.457
Those beliefs tend to fall into categories like, people like me don't have power, or don't get to have power.
00:04:08.957 --> 00:04:12.168
People who have power use it against people like me.
00:04:13.012 --> 00:04:15.681
Power is generally used to harm people like me.
00:04:16.524 --> 00:04:17.904
So let's think about that.
00:04:18.084 --> 00:04:22.464
First of all, those views of power are overwhelmingly negative.
00:04:22.964 --> 00:04:29.595
And understandable when they come from the perspective of we don't have power, other people have power.
00:04:30.120 --> 00:04:33.899
So power is something that happens to us, not something that we wield.
00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:42.759
And so the question becomes, if those are our beliefs about power, how is that likely to shape our approach to it?
00:04:43.259 --> 00:04:54.576
How is that likely to shape our willingness to ever build or acquire power for ourselves and for how we approach our relationships with people who do have power?
00:04:55.879 --> 00:05:01.665
How does it affect what we believe is possible in terms of results that could come from those relationships?
00:05:02.165 --> 00:05:10.209
And the big one, how does that affect what results could come from us having and wielding power ourselves?
00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:12.250
So here's the tricky bit.
00:05:12.699 --> 00:05:18.915
If we hold all those negative views about power, number one, it is absolutely shaping our approach to it.
00:05:19.396 --> 00:05:23.550
But it's also shaping how we view what is possible.
00:05:24.757 --> 00:05:34.466
If we allow those beliefs to go unexamined and unchallenged, what impact is that likely to have on us and our sense of what's possible and how we approach all those things?
00:05:34.966 --> 00:05:45.637
I think it's pretty clear that our relationship with power and our beliefs about power is having a greater impact on our actions and decisions than we often realize or acknowledge.
00:05:46.343 --> 00:05:54.286
And if we don't take a hard look at that, we can find ourselves in positions of disadvantage a lot more often than we maybe need to.
00:05:55.053 --> 00:05:56.043
So how do we do that?
00:05:56.749 --> 00:06:00.348
Here's the problem with beliefs from the brain science perspective.
00:06:00.858 --> 00:06:09.351
A belief in this context is a thought that has been repeated often enough that it becomes truth or fact in your mind.
00:06:10.019 --> 00:06:22.502
Once that happens, the reticular activating system is automatically filtering in all the things that affirm that belief, and it is filtering out things that contradict it.
00:06:23.002 --> 00:06:35.168
So if we wanna take a look at our beliefs about power and how they're affecting our relationship with it, we have to give the conscious brain an assignment, which is to investigate those beliefs very intentionally.
00:06:35.668 --> 00:06:39.459
And determine whether in fact they are true.
00:06:39.862 --> 00:06:45.319
And if we discover they're not universally true, then we might decide that, you know what?
00:06:45.529 --> 00:06:50.449
Actually, maybe some of these beliefs about power are not serving us very well.
00:06:51.380 --> 00:06:55.730
And perhaps it would be more productive to adopt some different beliefs about power.
00:06:56.271 --> 00:07:01.040
If we wanna do that, we have to be very intentional about it in our conscious thinking brain.
00:07:01.281 --> 00:07:09.137
Because what we have to do is teach the reticular activating system a new belief so that it will create a new filter for us.
00:07:09.646 --> 00:07:15.053
So that it will start bringing in more evidence of a different way of looking at power.
00:07:15.874 --> 00:07:22.624
If you've been listening for a while, you hear me talk about this fairly frequently because it's so essential to everything we do as human beings.
00:07:22.954 --> 00:07:38.103
If we don't understand how our brain is working, how it operates, then it's very difficult for us to take a hard look at these kind of squishy things that we've been living with so long that they just feel true, that that's just a given.
00:07:38.103 --> 00:07:39.454
That's how things are.
00:07:39.954 --> 00:07:44.867
And I would submit that that's actually a very useful flag right there.
00:07:45.406 --> 00:07:49.576
If you ever find yourself saying to yourself, ah, well, that's just how things are.
00:07:50.076 --> 00:07:57.896
Chances are very good that is your reticular activating system, keeping you in the safe and familiar.
00:07:58.396 --> 00:07:58.971
That's its job.
00:07:59.882 --> 00:08:01.891
Don't be mad at it, that's its job.
00:08:02.382 --> 00:08:06.882
But if we are not happy with the job it's doing, we have to teach it a new way.
00:08:07.451 --> 00:08:12.646
If we don't do that, the RAS will continue doing what we told it to do years ago.
00:08:13.670 --> 00:08:21.629
And it'll just keep bringing us more and more stuff that affirms what we decided was true five, 10, maybe 30 years ago.
00:08:21.629 --> 00:08:25.709
Maybe some of this stuff has been with us since we were kids.
00:08:26.259 --> 00:08:28.629
Because our parents talked about this.
00:08:28.810 --> 00:08:31.360
Our parents had a relationship with power.
00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:35.350
The people we grew up around had a relationship with power.
00:08:35.899 --> 00:09:02.269
And I promise you that if you grew up in an environment where the adults in your world had power and were comfortable with it, you grew up with a very different set of beliefs about power than if you grew up in an environment where the adults in your world tended not to have power and tended to have a bad experience with it, and that power was often used against them in ways that were harmful.
00:09:02.769 --> 00:09:08.769
So you heard things like power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
00:09:09.100 --> 00:09:18.899
I remember hearing that when I was in elementary school and probably before then I just, my memory doesn't go back that far, but I can remember hearing that when I was in grade school.
00:09:19.419 --> 00:09:28.311
I heard that a lot, and it wasn't until I got into advocacy work that I started hearing a different perspective on power.
00:09:29.030 --> 00:09:31.691
Which is power is important.
00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:36.441
And if we want to get things done, we're going to need some.
00:09:36.941 --> 00:09:40.600
And that was when I began to reframe my views about power.
00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:48.750
When other advocates who were my mentors were acquiring and using power in all sorts of interesting ways.
00:09:48.750 --> 00:09:51.870
And I thought, oh, wait a second.
00:09:52.370 --> 00:09:54.201
This is using power for good.
00:09:54.201 --> 00:09:55.760
This is what that looks like.
00:09:56.285 --> 00:10:04.219
A lot of my mentors ran for office and became city council members, county board members, state legislators, state senators.
00:10:04.557 --> 00:10:10.267
Some of them rose to very powerful positions within the legislative bodies they were in, and became leadership.
00:10:11.047 --> 00:10:13.687
And suddenly they wielded even more power.
00:10:13.687 --> 00:10:17.331
They were able to shape entire realms of policy.
00:10:18.341 --> 00:10:32.922
So my advocacy growing up years when I was a baby advocate and learning how to do this work, I got to watch mentors who had a really healthy relationship with power and who said, okay, power itself is neutral.
00:10:33.422 --> 00:10:34.861
It can be used for good or bad.
00:10:34.861 --> 00:10:35.792
It's like a hammer.
00:10:35.851 --> 00:10:37.231
You can use it to build a house.
00:10:37.231 --> 00:10:38.701
You can use it to destroy a house.
00:10:39.201 --> 00:10:41.572
But it's very difficult to build a house without it.
00:10:42.072 --> 00:10:48.062
And so that's how my views around power, my beliefs around power began to shift.
00:10:48.611 --> 00:11:02.450
And it got reinforced because I then chose to surround myself with people who reinforced those more positive and aspirational views of power, and ideas about how power could be used for good.
00:11:03.259 --> 00:11:10.789
And that if we as progressive advocates didn't have power, our ability to be successful was going to be greatly reduced.
00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:13.414
So that's how my shift came about.
00:11:13.434 --> 00:11:15.529
But I sure as heck didn't grow up with that.
00:11:15.529 --> 00:11:24.575
I grew up with all the working class beliefs about how power was bad and people who had power were not nice people.
00:11:24.815 --> 00:11:26.105
They were immoral people.
00:11:26.365 --> 00:11:31.585
If anybody got power, they were probably gonna use it for their own gain and against other people, and it was just bad.
00:11:32.519 --> 00:11:33.239
I got lucky.
00:11:33.339 --> 00:11:38.769
I got into an environment where that entire belief system, first of all, had not solidified all that much.
00:11:39.269 --> 00:11:42.616
Cause I was still in high school when I got involved in advocacy work.
00:11:43.140 --> 00:11:50.562
But also my reticular activating system got exposed to repeat inputs of a different belief set.
00:11:51.062 --> 00:11:54.717
And my conscious thinking brain said yes to that.
00:11:54.778 --> 00:11:56.837
It was like, yeah, that's how I wanna look at power.
00:11:57.337 --> 00:12:02.618
Power is something we need to have in order to do good work, and in order to make the world a better place.
00:12:02.768 --> 00:12:03.673
So let's go get some.
00:12:04.423 --> 00:12:06.763
And then I learned about all the different ways that you do that.
00:12:07.123 --> 00:12:10.633
And there are many, many different ways to acquire and wield power.
00:12:10.633 --> 00:12:17.999
It's not just about being in a formal elected body where you have power given to you through the consent of the voters.
00:12:17.999 --> 00:12:20.458
Power occurs through all sorts of avenues.
00:12:20.458 --> 00:12:22.259
And that's a topic for another episode.
00:12:23.099 --> 00:12:29.899
However long you've held a belief, it's completely possible to shift that belief if you discover that it's not serving you.
00:12:30.581 --> 00:12:41.359
But the only way you can do that is to, first of all, identify that you have the belief And then investigate it, determine if it's actually true, is it a fact?
00:12:41.629 --> 00:12:43.129
Or is it a belief?
00:12:43.629 --> 00:12:49.859
And when we discover that it is a belief and not hardened fact, it's not a law of physics, it's not gravity.
00:12:50.408 --> 00:12:58.501
Then we have to make a conscious decision that we wish to shift that belief to something that serves us more effectively.
00:12:59.197 --> 00:13:05.533
That is an established process that is grounded in brain science and we use it for all kinds of things.
00:13:06.091 --> 00:13:11.371
In this case, we can use it to examine our beliefs about and our relationship to power.
00:13:11.672 --> 00:13:19.498
And fundamentally what we're asking is, are our beliefs and our relationship to power serving us as well as they could?
00:13:20.097 --> 00:13:23.278
Is it helping us get the outcomes we want?
00:13:23.278 --> 00:13:26.366
Is it helping us make the world a better place?
00:13:26.866 --> 00:13:30.620
And if it's not, then what would we like to change?
00:13:31.474 --> 00:13:35.399
So if you're interested in playing along and taking a look at this.
00:13:35.729 --> 00:13:43.481
And just for the fun of it, saying so, huh, it's not like I go around thinking about power on a conscious level all that much.
00:13:44.032 --> 00:13:50.581
Except maybe when it smacks me up against the head because it's being used against me or the people I serve.
00:13:51.313 --> 00:13:58.652
So if you think about power not that often, and when you do, you find yourself thinking negatively, then that's where you are right now.
00:13:59.131 --> 00:14:02.642
If you have more of a mixed feeling about it, like, well, sometimes it's good.
00:14:02.642 --> 00:14:03.991
It depends on who's got it.
00:14:04.052 --> 00:14:07.711
And sometimes people use it for good and sometimes people don't.
00:14:08.429 --> 00:14:15.581
If you have any beliefs hanging around about, well, people like me just don't ever get to have power Any of those.
00:14:15.895 --> 00:14:19.933
The very first thing we have to do is identify what those beliefs are.
00:14:21.105 --> 00:14:25.602
write them down, preferably on a piece of paper with a pen.
00:14:26.057 --> 00:14:28.091
Not a keyboard, not a voice note.
00:14:28.542 --> 00:14:33.169
These kinds of exercises are best done, actually putting pen to paper.
00:14:33.730 --> 00:14:37.484
You internalize the work far more effectively.
00:14:37.484 --> 00:14:47.203
Your brain absorbs the work far more effectively if you're actually physically writing with a pen on paper than it does if you're typing at a keyboard or dictating a voice note.
00:14:47.703 --> 00:14:48.903
And I know.
00:14:49.413 --> 00:14:52.443
I use the keyboard and voice memos all the time.
00:14:52.811 --> 00:14:53.681
I live by them.
00:14:54.147 --> 00:14:58.706
But for this kind of work, it's pen to paper because it's just more effective.
00:14:59.126 --> 00:15:00.297
That is the only reason.
00:15:00.797 --> 00:15:01.667
So it's worth doing.
00:15:01.966 --> 00:15:04.067
Grab your journal, grab a blank piece of paper.
00:15:04.067 --> 00:15:05.027
It doesn't matter.
00:15:05.267 --> 00:15:06.557
Just write it down.
00:15:07.248 --> 00:15:08.508
So try this, this way.
00:15:08.904 --> 00:15:14.804
Make two columns, and in one column, write down all of your negative beliefs about power.
00:15:15.304 --> 00:15:17.884
And then in the other column, write down all your positive beliefs about power.
00:15:18.748 --> 00:15:21.868
Including the things that you think are just the way things are.
00:15:21.868 --> 00:15:24.778
They're established fact, that is just the truth about power.
00:15:25.311 --> 00:15:26.510
Go ahead and put it all in there.
00:15:27.461 --> 00:15:28.931
You don't have to do this all in one sitting.
00:15:28.931 --> 00:15:33.816
You can do it over a few days if you just get a minute here and there, or you want to think about it some more, that's fine.
00:15:34.365 --> 00:15:35.716
But get a starting list.
00:15:36.327 --> 00:15:39.956
And first of all, notice are they roughly equally balanced?
00:15:39.956 --> 00:15:47.417
Do you have about the same number of negatives as positives, or is one side or the other a lot longer?
00:15:47.917 --> 00:15:53.498
If you're like most Nonprofit leaders that I work with, your negative column is gonna be longer.
00:15:53.998 --> 00:16:02.248
If you are lucky enough that your positive column is long and your negative column is short, then congratulations.
00:16:02.278 --> 00:16:03.837
You're gonna have less work to do here.
00:16:04.667 --> 00:16:17.168
But if you find that there's a substantial number of negative beliefs about power, then the next step is to take each one of those and individually prosecute them like you're in a court.
00:16:17.668 --> 00:16:28.316
And basically what you wanna ask is, is this true all the time in every situation for everyone, everywhere, every time.
00:16:28.816 --> 00:16:32.375
And if the answer is no, then it's not a fact.
00:16:32.875 --> 00:16:35.160
It's not a law of physics, it's not gravity.
00:16:35.660 --> 00:16:36.561
It's a belief.
00:16:37.110 --> 00:16:40.350
And that's the first thing we have to do is understand that they're beliefs.
00:16:40.850 --> 00:16:47.652
Once you've established that it's a belief, then the next question you can ask is, how does this belief serve me?
00:16:48.152 --> 00:16:51.241
How is it benefiting me to hold this belief?
00:16:51.741 --> 00:16:54.940
And how might it be getting in the way of what I want?
00:16:55.909 --> 00:16:57.769
And don't just dash this off.
00:16:57.769 --> 00:16:58.940
Really think about this.
00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:01.279
Because here's the thing.
00:17:01.330 --> 00:17:05.380
We all hold beliefs that don't necessarily serve us very well.
00:17:05.930 --> 00:17:09.682
But they're serving us in some way, or we would've dumped them by now.
00:17:10.694 --> 00:17:15.855
The first layer of questioning is, is this serving me in terms of helping me get what I want?
00:17:16.154 --> 00:17:22.799
More resources, more support, better policies to support the work we do and the services we provide and the people we help.
00:17:23.194 --> 00:17:25.085
Is it moving me closer to that?
00:17:25.085 --> 00:17:26.795
Is it helping me get that?
00:17:27.650 --> 00:17:28.849
Or is it maybe in the way?
00:17:29.180 --> 00:17:30.319
That's the first layer.
00:17:30.980 --> 00:17:34.180
If you want to go really deep, optional bonus points.
00:17:34.730 --> 00:17:37.250
If you've answered that, and it's like, no, not really.
00:17:37.250 --> 00:17:39.170
It's actually not helping me all that much.
00:17:39.170 --> 00:17:40.549
It's kind of getting in the way.
00:17:41.049 --> 00:17:47.010
Then you can go one layer deeper and ask yourself, so why am I holding onto it?
00:17:47.564 --> 00:17:53.213
Is there some way in which that is serving me emotionally, personally?
00:17:53.763 --> 00:17:59.884
Not connected to what I'm trying to make happen in the world, but how is it serving me personally?
00:18:00.453 --> 00:18:01.443
Spoiler alert.
00:18:01.503 --> 00:18:07.880
The core answer to that is always some version of it is helping keep you feeling safe.
00:18:08.483 --> 00:18:09.594
I'm not clairvoyant.
00:18:10.134 --> 00:18:12.384
I don't know that because I read your mind.
00:18:12.413 --> 00:18:20.634
I know that because I've studied brain science and that is your reticular activating system doing its job.
00:18:21.203 --> 00:18:26.034
It's one and only job is to keep you in the safe and familiar all the time.
00:18:26.243 --> 00:18:32.214
Because what has worked in the past, worked in quotes, what has kept you alive up to this point.
00:18:32.545 --> 00:18:34.615
The RAS is like, do more of that.
00:18:35.470 --> 00:18:36.309
You're still here.
00:18:36.309 --> 00:18:36.670
Great.
00:18:36.670 --> 00:18:41.500
We'll just keep doing that the same way because anything outside of that might get us killed.
00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:43.950
That's its basic rationale in life.
00:18:44.339 --> 00:18:47.339
So the why is always gonna be some version of keeping you safe.
00:18:47.890 --> 00:18:52.890
But then what's useful to explore further is to ask the question, well, safe in what way?
00:18:53.444 --> 00:19:01.549
If that belief isn't true all the time, what about this not being true makes me uncomfortable or feel scary or threatening?
00:19:02.450 --> 00:19:04.849
Very often it's about identity.
00:19:05.660 --> 00:19:10.640
Perceived threats to identity are like a five alarm fire for your RAS.
00:19:11.230 --> 00:19:26.531
For example, if you're holding onto even a shred of a belief that people who have power are immoral or bad, your RAS will not let you have or hold or use power because your identity is as a good person.
00:19:27.199 --> 00:19:31.999
In the filter of that belief, having power is a threat to your identity.
00:19:32.778 --> 00:19:45.182
There is no more fundamental threat than that, so the RAS will never let your conscious brain pursue or use power as long as it holds the belief that people who have power are bad.
00:19:45.679 --> 00:19:48.108
Because that conflicts with your core identity.
00:19:49.338 --> 00:19:55.848
That's just one example of how this can all work and how it can affect both your decisions and your actions.
00:19:56.881 --> 00:20:00.221
You've established there's this belief that we now know is a belief.
00:20:00.221 --> 00:20:01.631
It's not true all the time.
00:20:02.131 --> 00:20:04.020
It's not serving you all the time.
00:20:04.111 --> 00:20:05.131
Maybe not at all.
00:20:05.631 --> 00:20:07.371
Then there's two more questions.
00:20:07.871 --> 00:20:09.851
First of all, what else could be true?
00:20:10.497 --> 00:20:18.067
If that's not true, if that's not a fact, what are some other ways that we could look at this that would serve me better?
00:20:18.567 --> 00:20:22.616
That would help me move closer to what I actually want.
00:20:23.116 --> 00:20:29.376
And so a super simple example, not saying this is easy, just saying it's simple and easily illustrated.
00:20:30.067 --> 00:20:34.432
If you're in the place of feeling like people like me don't get to have power.
00:20:35.478 --> 00:20:38.208
First of all, you have to identify what does people like me mean?
00:20:38.778 --> 00:20:43.188
This is usually about gender, race, sexuality, and class.
00:20:43.688 --> 00:20:51.307
Could be other things, but those are the four categories that most commonly surface when we think those thoughts about people like me don't get to have power.
00:20:51.842 --> 00:20:53.582
Education sometimes comes in there too.
00:20:54.414 --> 00:20:57.234
Identify which people like me you're talking about.
00:20:57.484 --> 00:20:58.355
What context?
00:20:58.355 --> 00:21:00.184
When you say like me, what do you mean?
00:21:00.788 --> 00:21:02.258
And flesh that out a little bit.
00:21:02.685 --> 00:21:11.376
And then what I invite you to do is to think about people who fit in the category you just identified, who have power.
00:21:11.842 --> 00:21:13.731
Who hold significant power.
00:21:14.031 --> 00:21:14.961
Just think about that.
00:21:15.172 --> 00:21:16.041
'Cause they're out there.
00:21:16.541 --> 00:21:20.346
They may not be the norm, but they exist and they are proof of what's possible.
00:21:21.374 --> 00:21:23.503
Then you can ask yourself, well, what would serve me?
00:21:23.554 --> 00:21:35.849
What approach to power in this context, whatever the context is that you've identified, whether it's power is always corrupt, or power is always coercive, or power is not for people like me, whatever.
00:21:35.849 --> 00:21:37.059
Whichever one you're working on.
00:21:37.940 --> 00:21:41.025
You flip it around and say, well, what if it were for people like me?
00:21:41.025 --> 00:21:43.065
Or what if I could have power?
00:21:43.365 --> 00:21:45.285
First of all, what would I do with that?
00:21:45.285 --> 00:21:46.934
What would I want that for?
00:21:46.934 --> 00:21:50.255
How would I use that and would that be a good thing?
00:21:50.944 --> 00:21:53.015
Would that be a really great thing?
00:21:53.644 --> 00:21:58.605
If I had the power to do that thing, how amazing would that be?
00:21:59.298 --> 00:22:06.077
Then you can start to identify a set of beliefs that will serve you more powerfully.
00:22:06.377 --> 00:22:18.694
An example of a belief that might serve you powerfully would be to say, when I have power, I can use it to do great things to help people.
00:22:19.194 --> 00:22:22.315
I can use power to help others.
00:22:23.184 --> 00:22:30.204
The more power I have, the more I can help others, the more I can change the world for the better.
00:22:30.704 --> 00:22:35.835
So it doesn't have to be an exact reversal of the belief that you were trying to debunk.
00:22:36.295 --> 00:22:44.448
The most critical part of addressing a belief that's not serving you is to, first of all, identify that it's a belief, and secondly, to prove it's not actually true all the time.
00:22:44.998 --> 00:22:47.461
Cause that then puts a wedge in there for a new belief.
00:22:48.105 --> 00:22:52.055
And the new belief does not have to be the polar opposite of the thing you started with.
00:22:52.565 --> 00:22:54.724
It rarely is in this context.
00:22:54.964 --> 00:23:00.644
So instead you want to cultivate a set of beliefs that truly serve you and what you're hoping to do in the world.
00:23:01.480 --> 00:23:06.114
Some other questions to play with are, how would I use power if I had it?
00:23:06.614 --> 00:23:09.554
What do I believe is the right way to wield power?
00:23:10.019 --> 00:23:11.068
Could I do that?
00:23:11.669 --> 00:23:12.778
Would I like to do that?
00:23:13.709 --> 00:23:14.788
How would that feel?
00:23:15.148 --> 00:23:16.558
How amazing would that be?
00:23:17.058 --> 00:23:21.618
How can power be used to benefit people who've traditionally been disenfranchised?
00:23:22.118 --> 00:23:23.618
Ah, what about that?
00:23:24.118 --> 00:23:27.501
How can power be used to build a more equitable world?
00:23:28.231 --> 00:23:31.471
Those are sort of abstract questions, and then you can insert yourself in there.
00:23:31.998 --> 00:23:34.097
How can I use power?
00:23:34.614 --> 00:23:38.493
How could I use power to build a more equitable world?
00:23:38.703 --> 00:23:44.884
How could I use power to benefit people who've traditionally been locked out of power?
00:23:45.384 --> 00:23:48.503
How could I use power for good?
00:23:49.500 --> 00:23:55.255
This is such a simple exercise and process, and we use it for lots of things.
00:23:55.755 --> 00:24:01.035
But I wanted to focus today on the question of power because I think it has never been more critical.
00:24:01.904 --> 00:24:06.308
And it's a relationship we often don't acknowledge even having.
00:24:06.970 --> 00:24:11.463
Because we're operating from beliefs, we feel like things are just the way they are.
00:24:11.963 --> 00:24:14.634
And the relationship with power is the relationship with power.
00:24:14.634 --> 00:24:15.894
We either have it or we don't.
00:24:15.894 --> 00:24:18.623
We're either a victim of it or the wielder of it.
00:24:19.173 --> 00:24:25.653
And we have all these beliefs about what that means and who tends to wield it and how they tend to abuse it when they have it, on and on.
00:24:26.153 --> 00:24:30.948
What's important to understand is that our beliefs run our actions.
00:24:31.698 --> 00:24:33.133
They run our decisions.
00:24:33.432 --> 00:24:34.722
That's just how the brain works.
00:24:35.222 --> 00:24:50.219
And so if we're not investigating those beliefs and our relationship to power, the chances are very good we will allow some limiting beliefs around power to continue to limit our ability to be effective in the world.
00:24:50.929 --> 00:24:52.189
Nobody signed up for that goal.
00:24:52.689 --> 00:24:54.669
I don't know a single Nonprofit leader who said, well,.
00:24:54.669 --> 00:24:56.528
I just wanna be okay at this.
00:24:57.219 --> 00:25:00.038
I just wanna like serve some people and help a little.
00:25:00.538 --> 00:25:07.278
There may be people working in nonprofits who feel comfortable with that, but I have yet to meet a Nonprofit leader who believes that.
00:25:07.778 --> 00:25:11.097
The leaders I know and that I work with want more.
00:25:11.488 --> 00:25:13.952
They want ever larger impact.
00:25:14.012 --> 00:25:15.272
They want to help more people.
00:25:15.272 --> 00:25:18.363
They want to increase the level of impact of their work.
00:25:18.482 --> 00:25:29.702
They want to draw more resources to the work, and they want to build a policy environment that helps people and that works better for the people they serve so that everyone can thrive.
00:25:30.502 --> 00:25:42.502
How much better are the chances of making that happen when we have a strong and healthy relationship with power, and have comfort with acquiring some power to be able to use it for good?
00:25:43.159 --> 00:25:45.469
I hope you'll take some of these ideas for a spin.
00:25:46.009 --> 00:25:57.638
See what you discover about your relationship with power and how you can use those discoveries to become more powerful, and to embrace the identity of a powerful Nonprofit leader.
00:25:58.372 --> 00:26:03.291
Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode right here on the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
00:26:03.888 --> 00:26:07.365
Before you go, I have some news I think you're gonna want to hear.
00:26:08.105 --> 00:26:14.875
To kick off the new year, i'm offering a brand new program designed to help you take your advocacy results to the next level.
00:26:16.070 --> 00:26:28.191
I've designed this program to focus on a handful of the most powerful and effective strategies for engaging your money and policy decision makers in a way that gets you the results you want.
00:26:28.934 --> 00:26:39.464
We cover lots of different strategies and techniques here on the podcast, and I've heard so much wonderful feedback about the value folks are getting from that, which is awesome.
00:26:40.386 --> 00:26:41.951
But I also hear that it's a lot.
00:26:42.846 --> 00:26:48.876
And what I hear more and more is just gimme the things I absolutely have to have.
00:26:49.356 --> 00:26:54.997
Tell me what's gonna be the most effective, the most powerful, and let me focus on that.
00:26:55.866 --> 00:26:57.771
So that's what I've decided to do with this new program.
00:26:58.642 --> 00:27:05.751
It's laser focused on a set of core strategies that are incredibly powerful and universally effective.
00:27:06.172 --> 00:27:09.892
It doesn't matter where you live, it doesn't matter what service niche you're in.
00:27:10.251 --> 00:27:12.922
This is the shortest path to success.
00:27:13.778 --> 00:27:23.413
I'll be teaching those core strategies and supporting you with lots of coaching and weekly conversations, all designed to equip you to get the results you want.
00:27:24.616 --> 00:27:27.797
I am limiting this to the first 10 founding members who step up.
00:27:28.396 --> 00:27:35.237
I'm limiting it because I wanna make sure that you get exactly what you need from the teaching and the coaching.
00:27:35.926 --> 00:27:41.267
And as a founding member, you'll have the opportunity to direct the focus of the coaching as we go.
00:27:42.387 --> 00:27:52.498
Think about how many times you've been frustrated with a decision maker not getting it, not getting the true value of your work and its impact.
00:27:53.067 --> 00:27:55.137
This is where we fix that.
00:27:55.907 --> 00:27:56.867
So come on in.
00:27:57.167 --> 00:28:00.377
Shoot me a message on either LinkedIn or the podcast website.
00:28:00.647 --> 00:28:02.117
I'll put those links in the show notes.
00:28:02.508 --> 00:28:08.113
And let's make a plan to work together in the new year and start getting you those next level results.
