Dr. Lee Ann De Reus - Founder, Badass University

“Own your power” has become common advice. But what does it actually mean?

Many of us recognize power in its most visible forms: titles, authority, influence, wealth, and public leadership. Those are certainly expressions of power, but they don’t tell the whole story.

In The Purpose of Power, activist Alicia Garza defines power simply:

I find that definition compelling because it shifts our attention from position to possibility. More importantly, it reminds us that how we understand power shapes how we use it.

We often think we need more power. What we really need is to recognize the power we already possess.

A former coaching client once told me she felt powerless. She had recently lost her job, gone through a divorce, and was sleeping on her couch because her unemployed adult daughter had moved back home to their one-bedroom apartment. From her perspective, life was happening to her.

As we talked, a different picture emerged. She had organized an event that generated new business opportunities. She had used her network to help her daughter secure a job interview. She had developed a plan for her own job search and was taking action every day. Those steps weren’t just changing her circumstances. They were rebuilding her confidence and changing the conditions of both her life and her daughter’s.

She didn’t need more power. She needed to recognize the power she already possessed.

That’s often true for us.

We exercise power every day:

Even choosing not to act is an exercise of power — because our silence, avoidance, and inaction shape conditions, too.

Whether we recognize it or not, we’re constantly influencing what becomes possible.

One of the simplest ways to begin recognizing your own power is to ask a different question:

That question shifts our attention from what we hope will happen to the conditions we’re actively creating through our choices.

Another framework that has profoundly shaped my thinking comes from CREA, which describes five forms of power: power over, power under, power to, power with, and power within.

I’ll never forget sitting in a graduate seminar on Paulo Freire when I first encountered the distinction between power with and power over. Until then, I understood power primarily as hierarchy. The discussion introduced me to the possibility that power could also be created through collaboration. Looking back, it’s clear the seeds of Badass University were planted that day.

That distinction changed what leadership means to me.

Garza helps us understand what power is. CREA helps us understand how power can be exercised.

For me, owning your power means recognizing your ability to impact the conditions of your own life and the lives of others, accepting responsibility for that power, and choosing to exercise it intentionally.

Power gives us the ability to shape lives. Integrity determines whether we use that power in ways that reflect our values. Without integrity, power can become manipulation or self-interest. Without power, our values often remain convictions rather than actions.

I’ve experienced this myself.

Years ago, I had someone on my staff whose contempt for others and hostile behavior created a toxic workplace. At first, I made myself smaller. I operated from what CREA would call power under, avoided interaction, and even tiptoed off the elevator some mornings hoping she wouldn’t see me.

Everything changed when she berated a colleague in front of the rest of the staff.

In that moment, I realized that doing nothing was also an exercise of power. My silence was allowing conditions that were harming the entire team.

With the support of my Board, I had several difficult conversations with her and ultimately removed her from the organization.

It was one of the hardest leadership challenges I’ve ever faced. I left that experience with a deeper understanding of what it means to own your power. Sometimes the greatest act of owning our power isn’t asserting authority. It’s finding the courage to use the power we already have to change conditions that no longer reflect our values.

When we step into our power with integrity and practice power with, we create conditions where others can flourish:

That’s how lasting change happens — not because one extraordinary person changes the world alone, but because ordinary people recognize the power they already possess and choose to use it with integrity.

That’s what I mean by owning your power.

OWN YOUR POWER  ·  PRACTICE INTEGRITY  ·  RISE TOGETHER

— Dr. Lee Ann De Reus, Founder