How Power Actually Works in Organizations (And Why Women Are Taught the Wrong Things)
Most women are taught a comforting myth about work.
Do good work.
Be reliable.
Be prepared.
Be reasonable.
Authority will follow.
It rarely does.
Power inside organizations is not merit-based, moral, or evenly distributed. It is relational, perceptual, and enforced through repetition. Women are trained to self-improve inside systems they were never taught to read.
This is not a personal failure. It is a literacy gap.
The Myth That Good Work Produces Authority
Good work does not automatically create influence.
In many organizations, high performers are rewarded with more labor, not more power. Execution is mistaken for leadership. Helpfulness is mistaken for readiness.
The result is a familiar frustration: you carry responsibility without control, accountability without authority, and expectations without leverage.
How Power Works in Organizations
Power is the ability to affect decisions without persuasion.
It shows up before the meeting, not during it. It lives in who is deferred to, who is referenced, and whose absence changes outcomes.
Formal roles matter, but informal enforcement matters more. Titles grant access. Power determines impact.
Power Is Relational, Not Moral
Being right does not guarantee influence.
Power is enforced through patterns:
- Repetition of whose ideas get echoed
- Alignment between decision-makers
- Visibility at the moment decisions are shaped
- Consequences for disagreement, or lack of them
Power is not about deserving. It is about position.
The Gendered Miseducation of Women
Women are trained to be helpful instead of effective.
Clarity is praised. Deference is rewarded. Collaboration is encouraged. Meanwhile, power literacy is quietly withheld.
Instead of learning how decisions are actually made, women are given confidence training, communication tips, and motivation frameworks. These help you cope. They do not help you move the system.
Why Confidence Training Fails High-Level Women
Confidence without power awareness backfires.
At senior levels, being confident without leverage reads as naive. Being articulate without enforcement reads as optional. Being prepared without alignment reads as expendable.
This is why so many capable women feel stuck despite doing everything they were taught to do.
Power Literacy vs Self-Improvement
Power literacy means understanding:
- Who decides
- Who influences the deciders
- Who enforces outcomes
- What behavior is actually rewarded
It is not about becoming aggressive or abandoning your values. It is about seeing the system clearly enough to move within it without self-erasure.
Start Here
Start Here is the entry point for women who want to understand how power is actually operating around them.
This is not motivation.
This is not mindset work.
This is pattern recognition.
If you want to stop confusing effort with influence and learn how power actually works in organizations, start here:
👉 https://redhotannie.com/start-here/
