The way you relate to power is the way you relate to everything around and within you–your work, your people, your sense of what’s possible. And most of us have never actually examined that relationship.

And in this season we are in, when everything is changing so quickly, any unexamined beliefs we hold will quietly run the show. They will shape the risks we take, the rooms we walk into, and the moments we either step up or shrink back. 

If we don’t have something to ground us internally to our values, our body, our nervous system, and our beliefs, we run the risk of looking to external validation and trying to control everyone and everything around us. We do damage control and play nice at the expense of real connection and progress.

Which is why I am thrilled to welcome back Dr. Amanda Aguilera to talk more about the Right Use of Power framework for personal power and her new book, Shaping Power for Good: Wayfinding to Right Relationship. She reminds us that staying rooted and using our personal power for good isn’t a box to be checked, but a continuous practice and commitment to ourselves and our relationships. 

Dr. Amanda Aguilera currently serves as the Executive Director of the Right Use of Power Institute and co-leader of Sacred Wayfinding. She has dedicated most of her career to helping people and organizations understand systems, conflict, and social power dynamics to create right relationships and a sense of belonging. She has a knack for making difficult conversations easier, complex ideas more accessible, and resistance more workable. Integrating power, contemplative practices, neurobiology, and restorative practices, she works by finding a balance of head and heart and facilitating the co-creation of strategic maps that lead us forward in a more equitable way.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Defining the six core types of power through the lens of relationships to others, ourselves, and the collective
• How four essential aspects of being in right relationship show up in us and others
• Why checking in on power and relationships starts with connecting to our bodies 
• How committing to being in right relationship helps us overcome how we’ve been socialized to access power and belonging
• Why right relationship fundamentally starts with ourselves, our boundaries, and our values
• How each of us can use our power for good, conscientiously and in alignment with our values

Learn more about Dr. Amanda Aguilera:

• Right Use of Power Institute
• Instagram: @rightuseofpowerinstitute
• Shaping Power for Good: Wayfinding to Right Relationship

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• The Unburdened Leader on Substack
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• Parenthood
• EP 88: Right-Use-of-Power: Navigating Leadership Dynamics with Dr. Cedar Barstow
• EP 125: Power, Regulation, and Leadership: Connecting to Your Personal Power with Dr. Amanda Aguilera
• Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides, Geoffrey L. Cohen
• EP 149: Interrupting the Fawning Trauma Response: Leadership, Safety, and Self-Trust with Dr. Ingrid Clayton
• Maya Angelou’s 1992 Commencement Address at Spelman College
• In the Absence of the Ordinary Soul Work for Times of Uncertainty, Francis Weller
• Chico Gospel – ma muse
• Hannah Gadsby