Empowerment

For some reason this thought popped into my head this morning. Here it is, Friday, also payday, and I am starting to realize a weekend where I may actually do something (have plans), then this idea formed.

I do not know if this is original. It probably is not my idea -- I do read a lot and I could just be ruminating someone else's thoughts. But, I knew I needed to write it down, lest I forget it, so here goes:

Empowerment

Think of life as a series of choices: when we wake up in the morning, what we eat for breakfast, how fast we drive to work, etc. Most of these choices have limited options and have small consequences if a wrong choice is made. But, these choices are our own.

Power can be defined as important choices. Your boss has more power than you because his choices can determine the options for your choices. In other words, your boss can choose to not employ you, and now you need to radically update your choices for things like food and housing. This means that the more people that are impacted by your choices the more power you have.

A good leader does not abuse his choices (power). A good leader does two things:
(S)he shows others that their individual choices are important, thereby elevating the perceived value of their choices;

and (s)he abdicates their trust to others by allowing them to make certain choices (empowerment). This can also be know as delegation or representation. It is what we do when we vote. We give our power of choice to someone else.

OK, that is all I have for now, but it felt good to get it documented.