How to become the most effective leader by honing in on your inside power

Inside power is the certainty that you can achieve anything you set your mind to. Also known as personal power, your inside power gives you your sense of self-efficacy, and your agency.

Having a low sense of personal power will diminish your effectiveness as a leader, because the core attributes of leadership rely on it.

Signs of a high sense of inside power

• Fast decision-making: you know that, in business, making a decision fast is better than spending a lot of time trying to make the perfect decision
• Assertiveness: you can say what you mean without the need to attack other people's points of view or feeling attacked by other people's opinions
• Executive presence: you can command a room and don't feel intimidated by people in higher positions than yours; outside events or people's reactions don't affect your behavior, communication, or self-confidence
• Productive-conflict mindset: you don't try to prevent conflict from happening because you understand it is a necessary aspect of healthy relationships at work; you go into conflict with a desire to learn and grow (not to win the argument)

Why is a strong sense of personal power a pre-requisite for effective leadership?

Even if you don't want it, your leadership role gives you positional power (i.e., rank), which in turn puts you in a position of privilege.

Thanks to your rank and privilege, your words and actions have more weight than the words of others who're not in your position.

People look up to you. You are a role model, a standard, and also the target of scrutiny and potential criticism.

If your personal sense of power is underdeveloped, it won't be easy for you to have all your actions, words, and behaviors seen, assessed, and potentially criticized by people on your team, by your peers, and by your boss or board members.

When that happens, your run the risk of misusing or abusing your role, or underperforming in it.

Causes of low sense of personal power

The main cause of underdeveloped inner power is feeling like there's something inside of you that is so "bad" and "dangerous" that you need to hide it.

That's what I've seen time and time again in the leaders I've worked with.

• childhood trauma: from sexual abuse to abandonment by an addicted parent, to being consistently mocked by caregivers
• neurological differences: ADHD, Autism
• invisible disabilities: I worked with a music producer who had hearing loss and was deeply ashamed, because, who was he without his hearing?
• values misalignment: for example, a very creative person working as an accountant may feel they need to hide their intrinsic creativity for fear of not being taken seriously

How to regain your sense of inside power

Recognize and accept all parts of yourself, even those that make you uncomfortable.

Now, I'm not saying you need to disclose everything that's ever happened to you that you don't feel proud about.

But accepting it and allowing it to be inside of you sends a message to your own mind that you're 100% with who you are, warts and all. And if someone finds out, so be it.

What you're saying to yourself is that you know that those things don't detract from your greatness.

You're great AND you were abused as a child.

Or you're great AND you have ADHD.

Or you're great AND your hearing is not as perfect as it once was.

Or you're great AND you're a poet doing accounting work.

What's your greatness?

I'm Dr. Carolina Perez Sanz. I help leaders multiply their success by "getting" people and maximizing the four key relationships (with themselves, with money, with work partners/colleagues/team, with life partner).

If you liked this article, consider subscribing. If you'd like to explore how I can help you regain your full sense of personal power, visit co-luminacoaching.com or email me at [email protected].