The phrase “authentic power” is popping up in books, articles and Web sites with various definitions. Author Gary Zukav defines authentic power as aligning personality with soul, while a Web site promoting the Esposto Institute describes authentic power as “the personal excellence that comes from leading with integrity, heart, and wisdom.”
Ethel Person, author of “Feeling Strong: The Achievement of Authentic Power,” says that authentic power is true power. Person makes the distinction between true power and manipulation, coercive power and compensatory power.
Yet another author, Jim Britt, defines authentic power as “resistance-free living” and focuses his teaching on living in the present instead of obsessing about the past or worrying about the future.
I define authentic power as taking full responsibility in every area of your life while placing a priority on integrity in human relationships. This definition encapsulates all of the other theories and descriptions.
This particular definition theorizes that any area where you are having problems or experiencing unhappiness is an area where you are not taking full responsibility. This can be because you are not fully present, or because your heart and soul are not aligned, or because you are relying on manipulation instead of true power, or because you lack wisdom, integrity or heart.
Apply this definition as you look at your personal relationships, your relationships with your employees, your level of life satisfaction, your finances or any other area in which you are experiencing problems.
When businesses support teaching the principles of authentic power to their staff, their customer service improves. Authentic power enables the individual to take responsibility to make the situation right instead of relying on policies or justifying why the problem can’t be resolved. Read this real life example that Mary B. wrote about:
“My mother is 81 years old and has little hearing or eyesight left. Mom overdrew her checking account for the first time in 30 years. She had $40,000 in a money market account with the same bank. They returned her checks and charged her $25 for each return.
“My sister Meg drove Mom to the bank on the first Saturday after this happened knowing that the bank would value the relationship and make things right with mom. Meg explained the situation to the teller and requested them to refund her overdraft fees. The teller told her that they couldn’t; it wasn’t their policy.
“My 81-year old mother spun around on her heel and said, ‘Obviously you have a no tolerance policy … and so do I.’ Meg withdrew Mom’s money as mom added one last comment: ‘It is sad to grow old and it’s sad to go blind, but what is even more sad is when you lose your compassion for other people, and I feel more sorry for you than I do for myself.’”
Teaching the employees the concepts of authentic power would have yielded different results. The teller would have listened to the customer and been given the authority to change the situation or, at the least, she would have had the wisdom and courage to get with the person who could.
Another example of how personal responsibility promotes good customer service is from a grocery store. Belinda, a manager for a grocery chain gives, an account of a sacker that exhibited authentic power.
“A regular customer came into the store and tried to use a dollar coupon. Upon examining the coupon, the cashier noticed that the coupon was not valid. This upset the customer and she continued to complain about the situation to the man who sacked her groceries. The woman said, ‘I shop here every week and spend between $70 and $100 and they won’t accept a dollar coupon.’ Upon hearing her story, the sacker grabbed a dollar out of his wallet and said, ‘You are exactly right. Here, take this dollar.’ The woman left happy.”
According to Belinda, “He took personal responsibility and realized that it was better to keep the customer than to argue over whether or not a dollar coupon was valid.”
When an individual commits to traveling the path of authentic power, that person starts living from purpose and intention. The authentically empowered employee sees the big picture, puts a high value on relationships and takes joint responsibility for the success of the business.
When a person fully accepts responsibility for his or her life and commits to integrity in relationships, this commitment spills over into the company for which he or she works. The path to authentic power is where heart and soul are aligned and personal excellence is the natural outgrowth of leading with integrity and wisdom. The result is solid business relationships that we call customers.
Marlene Chism, president of ICARE Presentations in Springfield, works with companies that want to build strong business relationships and with individuals who want to be better communicators.
