Tania Luna, an expert on power and its role in the workplace, joins the podcast to discuss power sharing and its importance in the future of work. The hosts explore the different perceptions of power across cultures and contrast it with Western notions of coercion and control. They also delve into the concept of power over versus power with, emphasizing the inefficiency of operating in a power over paradigm. Additionally, they discuss feminist solidarity, questioning power dynamics, and advocating for power sharing, interdependence, and freedom.
Understanding how to effectively wield and cultivate power is influenced by cultural and institutional factors.
Power with involves including all voices, encouraging participation, and enabling individuals and teams to grow their power through skill development, decision-making authority, and sharing knowledge and context.
Deep dives
Power as the Capacity to Get Things Done
Power is the ability to accomplish tasks and make things happen. It is crucial for success in any endeavor, whether it's achieving sales goals or simply turning on a light switch. Understanding how to effectively wield and cultivate power is influenced by cultural and institutional factors. While some cultures emphasize power sharing at all community levels, Western society often promotes Machiavellian strategies and unequal power distribution. This common association of power with control and violence can lead to distrust or avoidance of power.
Exploring Power in Literature: The Lathe of Heaven
The novel 'The Lathe of Heaven' by Ursula K. Le Guin examines the concept of power through the protagonist, George Orr, who possesses the ability to change reality through his dreams. Initially fearing the consequences of his power, George falls under the manipulation of a psychologist named Dr. Haber, who exploits George's dreams to alter reality to his own benefit. However, as the story unfolds, it becomes clear that power can be perilous when misused. The novel challenges the notion of power by presenting an unconventional exercise of power that diverges from the Machiavellian paradigm.
Power Sharing: Moving from Power Over to Power With
Traditional power structures often operate under the power over paradigm, where authority and control are exerted over others. This top-down approach stifles individual growth and does not effectively empower people. An alternative approach is power with, where power is shared and capacity is cultivated collaboratively. Mary Parker Follett, a management theorist, distinguished between power over and power with paradigms, emphasizing the importance of mutual empowerment and co-creation. Power with involves including all voices, encouraging participation, and enabling individuals and teams to grow their power through skill development, decision-making authority, and sharing knowledge and context. Balancing power and creating structures that support power with requires intentional effort, but it promotes creativity, participation, and collective impact.
This is the final installment in Strange New Work, a series that uses speculative fiction to explore radical work futures.
Power. Some fear it. Others hoard it. Some with power speak softly. Others carry a big stick. Power is charisma, or coercion, or violence. Power is name recognition, or money, or computer code.
Regardless of your definition or perceptions of it, power plays a critical role in how we work.
Today, we explore power—what we can do with it, how we can grow it, and, critically, how we can share it—because power in the future of work will look very different than it does today.