Is POWER a dirty word? - Talk About Talk

What do you think of when you hear the word POWER?

Is it something negative or sinister? Is “power” a slightly dirty word, like “networking” or “sales”?

Whatever your associations with power may be, I recommend reading Power for All: How It Really Works and Why It’s Everyone’s Business by Tiziana Casciaro and Julie Battilana.

I devoured this book when I first came across it on Audible, and I was thrilled when Tiziana accepted my invitation to appear on the Talk About Talk podcast. Thank you, Tiziana!

Are you ready to shift your perception of power?

3 things to Talk About this week:

1. Power for All with Tiziana Casciaro
2. Leadership, Influence & Power
3. Podcast Cover Art Poll (a distraction from “power”… I would ❤️ love your opinion!)

1️⃣ Power for All with Tiziana Casciaro

I’m delighted to introduce you to Dr. Tiziana Casciaro, Professor of Organizational Behaviour and the Marcel Desautels Chair in Integrative Thinking at the Rotman School of Management of the University of Toronto.

Her research on organizational networks, professional networking, power dynamics, and change leadership has appeared in top academic journals, and has received distinguished scientific achievement awards from the Academy of Management.

In 2022, Tiziana and co-author Julie Battilana published Power for All, which received the Academy of Management’s 2022 George R. Terry book award.

According to Tiziana, this book was written for two kinds of people:

1. People who struggle with their relationship with power, and who are looking for more constructive ways to relate to it.
2. People who have power and need a reminder of what it means to do good work with it.

This book
will change the way you think about
what power can and should be.

2️⃣ Leadership, Influence & Power

One of the takeaways from Power for All and from my conversation with Tiziana, is that leadership, influence, and power are inextricably linked.

Tiziana and her co-author define power as “the ability to influence the behaviour of others.”

This is key to leadership, which Tiziana describes as “an exercise in influence.”

Leaders must be able to direct or conduct others, and you cannot direct them anywhere if they don’t change their behaviour in response to your leadership.

This doesn’t mean that only leaders hold the power. Power is relational and depends on context, and we derive our power from having something the other person wants or needs.

In other words,
power goes beyond formal authority.

3️⃣ Podcast Cover Art Poll

I recognize this is a complete change of topic, but I’d love to learn

Your opinion please!

I’m considering updating the Talk About Talk podcast cover art. Can you share your opinion regarding these five options?

Please check out these five options, then click the link to vote for your favourite and to share your comments and suggestions.

Thank you for voting!

There you go – 3 things to Talk About this week: Power for All with Tiziana Casciaro; Leadership, Influence & Power; the Podcast Cover Art Poll.

Did Tiziana’s definition of power change your perception of it? Please email me or message me on LinkedIn to let me know. I love hearing from you.

Talk soon,