Short excerpt from a Kathy Caprino YouTube video (career coaching) arguing that many mid-to-senior women reject the idea and language of 'power,' preferring terms like influence and impact; the speaker contends those outcomes require power and that cultural associations paint power negatively for women.
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About 1,600 people.
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What I've seen in working with thousands of women around the world and we're talking mid to high level women, women with supposed leadership, power and impact. They shun having power. Women shun the word, they shun the concept. And when I asked, I did a poll, something like 1600 people answered. Women said, I don't want power. I said, what do you want? They said, influence, impact, making a difference. I said, I hate to break it to you and I don't mean to sound snarky but but you can't have those things without power. I understand why women shun power because they think of it as harsh, abusive, aggressive, cruel. Even on one of my courses a very senior woman said, you know, I'm afraid to be powerful. I don't want to put anyone off. And I said, hang on, hang on. I think our whole culture defines power in a negative way, but particularly women who've been under the thumb of power.