0006 - Dan Pink is Dead Wrong!

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. You know, it's not often when I disagree with Dan Pink, but he's absolutely wrong on this one. Empowerment is not bullshit. I'm Jim Bouchard, founder of the Sensei Leader Movement. I was listening to the Mindvalley podcast, and that's a great podcast, by the way. You need to need to listen to that. And they were interviewing Dan Pink. Now, I'm gonna be an unabashed disciple of Dan Pink. I love his research, love his books, love his, his talks, and especially his ideas about autonomy, mastery, and purpose being the key drivers that motivate people. And he's done a lot of research to back that up. I think he really, really covered that well. But it was, it was shocking to me when I was listening to this interview that somehow they got on the idea of empowerment. And Dan Pink said empowerment is bullshit. And in fact, he quoted somebody else, a researcher who came to that same conclusion. And I couldn't help but thinking though that if we were sitting in the same room and we cleared up the semantics a little bit, I think we'd probably be singing in harmony. Because I believe what he was trying to say, and I would support him in this, is this kind of soft new agey idea of empowerment, you know, something that you— I don't know, you get it by osmosis or something, or just because, uh, you know, you, you think good of people that somehow they'll be more powerful. That, that type of empowerment, no, I, I would agree with him, is probably, probably not very effective. But empowerment, if we really understand what it is— and again, I'm going to borrow as usual from my martial arts tradition— let's talk about what empowerment means. And of course Here at the Sensei Leader Movement, that's one of the 3 key purposes of a leader: to inspire, to empower, and guide people to their very best. So let's break it down and really understand what empowerment is and how we can put that to work. When we're talking about empowerment in a martial arts sense, it's not soft at all. First of all, we're talking about giving people the information they need, the knowledge they need in order to succeed in whatever they're whatever goal they're going after. I don't care if it's another belt rank in martial arts, or if you're trying to complete a task at work, you're trying to complete a project, you're trying to innovate. Okay, you need information, you need good information, you need knowledge, you need training and preparation. You're not going to get very far without those things. And of course, it's our job as leaders to provide that environment for the people we serve. Now, along with that, empowerment also means providing any material resources you might need. That brings me to, you know, my— and I'm really cocky about this— my definition of success. And I'll defend it. I'm going to throw it out there for you, and you tell me if I'm right or wrong. But I've learned that success is nothing more than the product of abundance. Now, people argue because they say you can't define success, right? It's different for everybody. It can't be. It can't be. Why do we work so hard for something we can't even define? No, it's a product of abundance. That's all it is. It means we have enough, and we have enough in 3 major areas of life: material, emotional, and spiritual. So that brings us back to this idea of empowerment. Really, you know, no matter how you use the word, when we're talking about empowerment, I think the, the end, the end goal is to be successful or help other people become successful, so, right, so we can get something done together. Now think about that. The material resources they need. Do they have the equipment? Do they have the money? Do they have the funds available to complete whatever task, you know, they're trying to do? That's pretty simple. Emotional. Now this means, do they have the support of the people around them? Is the team cohesive? Are people being encouraged? Are they being corrected when necessary? Are they being corrected forward? Are they being corrected in a positive and constructive way? This is all part of what we call empowerment. Now, the spiritual part of it— we're not talking about this in a religious sense at all. It can be for you. I mean, that's up to you. But really, what I'm talking about— what I'm talking about spiritual— we're talking about spiritual in the martial arts sense is just stuff that is intangible. Intangible is a good substitute word for that. It's things that we can't really weigh or measure, but we know they're there. And one of the things that, that really falls into that category is purpose. And again, that's one of the leader's prime responsibilities, to unite people around a purpose, around a clear, clear and energizing purpose. And that means you've got to walk the walk, right? That means you've got to embody that purpose, and you've got to be enthusiastic if you expect other people to be. You got to model the behavior and the response you expect from others. That's one of the jobs of leaders. So that's what we're talking about when we're talking about empowerment. Making sure people have what they need to get the job done. Now, I think it also breaks down to where the dictionary definition of empowerment means granting authority to a degree. And that's true too. Sometimes leaders are a little bit miserly with things they should be sharing. And if you've heard any of the Sensei Leader Movement programs, or if you've been to a live event, I'm sure you've heard me say this. I wrap up every presentation with this idea. When you press me to summarize leadership as succinctly and clearly as possible, you're going to hear this: leadership is sharing. A leader shares, and the rest of the discussion centers on that. What exactly are we going to share? Now, two of the things that are most important for a leader to share, unless you're working all by yourself, is power and authority. And so now we're going to tie it back to that idea of empowerment. The dictionary definition talks about that. It's granting someone the power or authority to, to do their job or to, to do a certain task, right? Let's define power very clearly before we go any further. Power is nothing more than your ability or capacity to perform or act effectively. It's all it is. And again, I learned a lot of this from my life as a martial artist. Let's face it, martial arts is about power. It's about becoming more powerful. You want to become more powerful and effective, whether that's in the context of a self-defense technique Or whether you're trying to break a pile of boards, doesn't matter. You want to be more powerful. You want to perform effectively. You want to get the job done. And you want to get it done to the best of your ability. So that's what it's all about. One of the problems in leadership— I won't say today because it's always been a problem— is that sometimes people in a position of authority are very hesitant to share that authority or share power with others. And that's why we, we're so hung on those words inspire, empower, and guide. When you, when you embrace those three purposes, what you are really doing is sharing. And when you're empowering people, you're sharing power. And how? Well, that circles back to what we were just talking about— by making sure they have the resources they need, giving them the, the instruction, the training, the preparation, the knowledge, the information, and guiding them and encouraging through that process. So that, that's what empowerment is. So I can't imagine I mean, I could be wrong, but I really can't imagine it, you know, being a student of Dan Pink's work for so long that he would disagree with that interpretation of what empowerment means. So as always with One Step, we're trying to arrive at a discipline, right, or something we can do, some action steps. So here's what I'm going to ask you to think about today. Here's your discipline. What are you willing to share? How are you willing to share power with other people around you? And that's going to lead you to how you're going to provide information, resources, and whatnot. I'm going to say— I'm a little bit biased about this, but I'm going to say one of the best ways to empower people, to help them become more powerful and more effective, is to mentor them, is to really make this personal and get involved on a one-on-one level with somebody., right, and really make that connection and help them become more effective, help them act and perform more effectively. That's it. So all empowerment really is, if we get to it in a practical sense, is nothing more than sharing power, helping other people around you become more powerful. That's so critical as a leader because, right, how are you— how is your success measured? Again, unless you're working completely alone and nobody is, your success is only measured by the success of the people you serve. Your power expands in direct proportion with the power you're willing to share with others. So that's it. Anyway, I hope— hey, if you know Dan Pink, please share this with him. If he wants to debate me, that, that's cool. I'm not expecting everybody to agree with me all the time, but again, I'd be really surprised, I think, if we were on opposite ends of this one once we, once we talk about it in those terms. Now, as always, want you to get more involved with the Sensei Leader Movement. Really cool, we're now on Patreon. Look us up there because there's nice ways for you to get involved and a lot of benefits that go along with an ongoing patronage at, at Patreon. And as always, you can just go to thesenseileader.com and subscribe there. You'll get free online access to the Sensei Leader ebook. I'm very, very grateful for all the time you spend with me. Really appreciate the opportunity to share these ideas with you, and I hope you're enjoying it. I'm Jim Bouchard, founder of the Sensei Leader Movement.