Exactly What the Heck is POWER?

I've been doing a lot of media interviews about the Dynamic Components of Personal POWER over the past few months and one question keeps coming up: What, exactly, is Power? Power is one of those words people use quite a bit without having a clear, functional definition.

Here it is:

Power: n, Your ability or capacity to perform or act effectively.

Simple! Best of all, this definition applies as well to an organization as for an individual. I constructed my entire philosophy around the word Power because using this definition; Power speaks directly to the never-ending process of self-perfection. Embrace perfection as a process rather than a destination and you create a life of continual self-improvement. The result of a life of continual self-improvement is that you become Powerful: You become a person with the ability and capacity to perform effectively to create your personal vision of success and happiness.

And, you become a powerful resource for others.

Nobody is attracted to weakness. Nobody truly wants to cultivate weakness. Don't confuse convenient translations of humility with weakness. Weakness is ineffectiveness, complacency, scarcity and poverty. When you're weak, you're a burden to others.

We all have moments of weakness; that's inevitable. A person who embraces the process of generating personal Power moves beyond those moments of weakness and continues the process of personal development and self-improvement. Successful people fail, a lot! We just keep moving!

When you embrace self-perfection as a process rather than a destination you are always in a moment of perfection. Failures are just part of the process of eventual success, natural and cyclical.

Dedicate yourself to becoming Powerful. Apply your Power for your benefit and the benefit of others. Sharing your Power always creates greater abundance; that's the way it works. Sharing Power always expands it. Try to hoard power and you'll see it attacked and diminished.

An organization can apply the same philosophy by creating a strong vision, sharing a consistent mission and assuring that every individual in the organization has the freedom to cultivate and express Power for his own benefit as well as the benefit of the organization. The organization that nourishes the cultivation of individual Power, with equanimity, multiplies its capacity to perform effectively.

To paraphrase Kipling: "The Power of the Wolf is the Pack, The Power of the Pack is the Wolf!"

You want to help your organization become Powerful? Make yourself more Powerful! You want more Power to realize your personal vision of success? Help those around you cultivate Power and apply your Power for the success of your organization!

Power is simply your ability to act effectively. Power is your ability to take your vision of success and make it a reality.

One of the most difficult concepts to embrace in the business world relating to power is that power, to be truly effective, must be shared unconditionally. That's why it's so important to develop good mentoring and coaching skills to help everyone on your team become powerful. The more powerful your team is, the more power and effectiveness you have in your organization.

Simple; not easy!