Wednesday Wisdom: What is Power?

The Syracuse Post Standard sports section had its typical headlines about local teams getting ready for their upcoming season and scores from Major League baseball games. You would have thought it was the same ole sports section until the corporate headshot of a beautiful woman with long blonde hair struck your attention. I knew the face. It was someone my oldest son had come to love because she was the mother of one of his best basketball buddies since junior high school. The article spoke about this woman’s kindness which was reminiscent of the characteristics my son often spoke of about her.

The headlines of the article next to her photo said, “Heart of men’s program dies at 53.” The article spoke about Kelly Seubert, Syracuse University Basketball Head Coach Jim Boeheim’s administrative assistant for 13 years who passed away Friday from cancer. My son told me she was home on hospice in May. I worried about her four sons, the oldest one being my son’s friend. All the article spoke about was how caring and kind she was to the basketball team and the staff. She was adored by many.

When I was thinking about the Women TIES upcoming event called “POWER,” I wanted to write about the power women entrepreneurs have to create a successful business thinking it would be the typical reasons like money, connections, etc. but then I stopped when I remembered Kelly’s funeral is today. I thought of the type of power she displayed which was a gentle, warm, giving power.

We all have that same power within us. It is the power of allowing a customer to pay a late bill. The power of giving our staff time off because they have a personal crisis or giving more time to a client than their contract allows. It is the power of opening a door for someone and sharing a compliment. Power is making time for people who deserve it. Power is really how we handle ourselves in times of hardship and triumph with grace.

We don’t have to be nose-to-the-grindstone, workaholics to be seen as powerful. It isn’t who we know or what awards we receive. It comes down to how we treat the people around us who matter a lot or even a little in our daily personal and professional lives. Power can move people not with bank rolls or fancy cars but by simple gestures of kindness and respect combined with a beautiful smile.

Today’s Wednesday Wisdom is meant to have you think about what makes you “powerful” in a unique way in business. Is it your character, charm, talents, or skills? Is it the way you take care of people, treat others and act kindly whenever you can? Have you ever stopped to think about the influence that kind of power really has over your professional and personal destiny?