I finally realized something late in my career: as you get more senior, influential, and are listened to….

You have power.

That concept was uncomfortable for me. It seemed presumptuous, egotistical. But, here’s what power can mean:   the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events. 

You don’t need to be the most senior person in the organization to have power. You can have power at any level. So how do you use it?Here are some things I like to use my power for:

1. Speak up for someone who can’t speak up for themselves. This comes in a lot of different ways: the ability to adjust someone’s comp who is too low, to provide your opinion on someone you think is being unfairly maligned. Do something…don’t just be a bystander.
2. Visibly support the right side of the argument…regardless of politics. Ever walk in the meeting where you know there are two views, because it’s political? Forget the politics, and side with the right side. I’m not saying to call out your boss as an idiot, but you can acknowledge where the other group has a point.  It builds credibility when people know you’re going to see both sides.
3. Be observant, available, and accessible: spend time mentoring/helping others. Sometimes it’s formal, sometimes it’s a hallway conversation: “you look stressed, what’s going on?”.  Or the best: “How can I help?”  Over and over in my career, I find managers get frustrated with their people. “I’ve told them 100 times what they need to do.”  Here’s the thing….they know the what, they don’t know the how. It’s like telling your kid they need to get their algebra homework right….yes, but how? Help with the how.

I always shied away from senior positions because of the responsibility. I felt I was unqualified a lot of the time. But the positive side of more responsibility is that you have more power….and you can help others.