Redefining power: An excerpt from Jo’s upcoming book

We have a word problem.

Power.

That word. 

It’s laced with undercurrents of “power over”, domination, oppression. 

And frankly, whether we’ve experienced it personally or not… as a gender we’ve suffered at the hands of that kind of power for too many generations to count. To say nothing of the impact colonialism has had on generations of women of colour.

So relatively intelligent, capable women like us have a shaky relationship with power. And so, we’re living not-quite-fully-expressed lives. 

It’s time for us to claim it back. To own the WORD. To own our unique, natural power. And to use it to damn well shake up the world we live in and shape it the way we want it. 

We need to start by redefining power. So, let’s go to the dictionary. Let’s look at the root of the word (I love a good bit of etymology):

power (n): from the Old French povoir: “to be able”

Look at that: it turns out it need not be about domination. Not about oppression. But about ability. It’s about getting stuff done. Agency. That’s it. So, it is time to own yours more fully.

Being powerful is the difference between being a polite and tame you, or being confident enough to take a stand and ruffle some feathers for what you believe in.

Being powerful is the difference between flipping your lid and turning into shouty-mama while wrangling the kids into bed or finding your centred, loving self, even when it’s tough.

Being powerful is the difference between being overlooked or ignored; and being seen, heard and taken seriously.

Being powerful is the difference between putting everyone else’s needs before your own or recognising that prioritising you is the only path to sanity. 

My dearest wish is that this book helps you to shift from the Superwoman’s relatively shallow power base, into the deep access to power that I know is your birthright.

I believe that in order to be the women the world needs us to be, to be the women we want to be, we need a new kind of power. Not superpower. But until we’ve properly redefined power for all of us, I like to give it a different term. I like to call it soft power. Not the political approach. Not even the tactical leadership techniques gaining more visibility in the business media. 

I see soft power as a personal place to stand. It is a way of being and operating in the world which is both aligned with a person’s truest sense of themselves and is effective in creating results. 

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