In this segment of the New Leadership Models interview, Virginie Glaenzer asks Charles Matheus how he discovers his true power to give meaning to life and improve the world. Matheus reflects on feeling sad as an introvert and a white man who feels less compelled to be an activist, acknowledging his privilege. He describes his personal power as emerging from inner work and one‑to‑one client relationships, where a mysterious, ego‑free relational energy arises between participants. This emergent connection, he says, brings simultaneous feelings of power, gratitude, and humility. He links this experience to transformational leadership, emphasizing a slight separation from outcomes, systems thinking, honest sharing, and vulnerability, which together foster joy and meaningful engagement.
What about you, Charles? How do you find your true power in order to give meaning to your lives while making the world a better place?
Yeah, well, just— I'll identify that I'm feeling a little, a little sad right now, uh, in, in listening to Celine because as an introvert and as somebody who, I've been really risk-averse around COVID, so I haven't been spending a lot of time with people. And just recognizing my own privilege as a white man, there's less of a calling, less of a direct calling for me to organize and become an activist and to create that collaborative shared power around that, that common goal, in particular freedom and equality for me.
And, and so my work has been—
my personal work that has given me a lot of joy and a lot of power has been my own inner work and, and work with others in, in a much more, um, kind of one-to-one scale where I feel great joys when I'm working with clients or a group of clients.
And there's that mysterious transfer, or not even really transfer.
When I—
sometimes when I'm working closely with somebody, whether it's a boy or a man, something new will appear between us that's not me and my ego and not him and his ego, but something brand new. And it's very mysterious, and I, and I know that I'm a part of it, but I don't take credit for it. I know that it's part of that other person, but they're not really, you know, it's this, it is relational and it is emergent. Um, and so when I feel really, I feel really powerful and grateful and humble all at the same time when that emergent thing happens. Um, and maybe it is really similar to what, to what you just said, Céline, about how, um, how power and purpose and engagement all sort of arose organically. But this is, this is sort of on a smaller scale, and I take great joy in I think that's one of the things about the sort of transformational leadership is the, is the slight separation from the outcomes and the appreciation of what can emerge through systems thinking, through honest sharing, through vulnerability. You know, I learn when I open my mouth and start talking like, oh, that's what I think. So, and learning a lot just right now. So yeah, I'm not sure if I'm exactly answering the question, but I know when I feel that, that joy joy and that connection.
Maybe it's not really power, but I see something emerge that wasn't there before.
