Understanding Power and Influence

Leadership can manifest as the combination of power and influence.
Within the WKKF Community Leadership Network with the Center for Creative Leadership program, power is defined as the capacity to exert influence, while influence is defined as the ability to affect the behavior of others in a particular direction as an expression of that power.
As leaders committed to systemic change, the effective and responsible deployment of power and influence is central to addressing the needs of children and families. Power and influence are often sensitive topics because many communities have been disempowered or influenced in harmful ways. Effective leadership requires an intentional understanding of the power dynamics at play to avoid contributing to historical harms and the ability to influence others to achieve a common goal.
During the class three fellowship gathering in Jackson, Mississippi, fellows were encouraged to explore their relationship with power and influence to effectively inhabit their roles as community leaders.
As part of a facilitated roundtable discussion, we sat down with Alison McCrary of New Orleans, Allytra Perryman of Mississippi, Corrine Sanchez of New Mexico, and Scott Rumpsa of Michigan to hear about their understanding of power and influence and how their learnings will impact their work in communities.

Can you please introduce yourself, your organization and the focus of your work?
Scott: I lead Community Action House, a human services organization based in West Michigan that addresses food, housing and financial security.
Alison: For the past 20 years, my work has primarily been with the formerly and currently incarcerated community, and I have served as a spiritual advisor on Louisiana’s death row.
Corrine: I am the executive director of Tewa Women United, an Indigenous organization based in New Mexico that does multi-issue work, including environmental justice, reproductive rights/ justice, gender justice and healing.
Allytra: I actually have two jobs! In my part-time role, I run the East Biloxi Community Collaborative, a group of community-based organizations and community members working to address education, health, and economic security in East Biloxi, Mississippi. My full-time job is the deputy director for the Mississippi NAACP State Conference – a 100-year-old organization and the home of the civil rights movement in Mississippi.

What does power mean to you?
Allytra: To me, power is understood as the ability and freedom to make your own choices, regardless of circumstances and anything that confines you.
Alison: When I think of power, my mind immediately goes to the people who have money, the people who have bombs, the people who have the power and ability to take life and decide who lives or who dies. On the other hand, when I think about what I’d like power to be, I also understand power as our ability to make systemic change. It can represent our ability to organize, educate and mobilize one another to be a positive force.
Scott: In the context of organizations, movements and this fellowship, I understand power as both personal and positional and sowing the seeds for influence. This has been used very negatively historically, but in a positive lens, it also represents the ability to influence change and build community power in the right sorts of ways.
Corrine: I think of the energy that we all possess. It can certainly be destructive, but it’s also something that we want all people to exercise. No matter how young or old a person is, everyone has the power to influence somebody else. The critical thing is to find processes to ensure that this power is used in a positive way.

How do you distinguish between power and influence?
Corrine: As leaders, it’s important to nurture everyone’s understanding that they have the energy and power to influence. This is as true for our children and young people as it is for us. In our organizations it’s the same, we want our staff to have the power to influence change while wanting them to follow certain practices. We are also influenced by different people’s perspectives of who we are supposed to be. The big question is how do we remain nurturing while being aware of where our influence ends and the influence of others begins.
Allytra: In many ways, how we are influenced determines how we use our power. Like Corrine said, our children influence us all the time, even though as parents we are the ones who have the power to decide what they can do based on our belief systems. So, in many ways, power and influence goes both ways.
Scott: Influence is the intentional deployment of different degrees of power. That power can come from a number of things, whether it’s relational, the power of storytelling or subject matter expertise, we exercise power to achieve a desirable end.
Alison: I’m always thinking about who I build power with and to what end. During moments of chaos and crisis, like the moment we are in now, it’s about being able to influence those with less power. It’s about making people feel heard and seen and intentionally developing a community of care. To use influence responsibly, we have to go to the margins of the margins to build power, while letting people know that we are with them and that we have their backs.

What role do power and influence play in your community?
Scott: As a leader, I’m at my best when I’m being intentionally cognizant of the dramatic imbalance between people with resources and people without. That imbalance can be between an organization and funders, as well as between an organization and the guests engaging with services. When there’s that dramatic imbalance, it takes great intentionality to make sure there’s still a two-way engagement so that the true relationship isn’t overpowered.
Allytra: We have to be very conscientious of power and influence and be aware of both the opportunities and pitfalls. In my position, I work to build intentional structures because power and influence disparities are always going to be there, but it’s about determining a direction together.
Alison: The way we see power is in the building and shifting of power. It’s about reminding the people who are closest to the pain and problems that they are also closest to the solutions, and emphasizing the power of their stories. They have lived experiences that no one in the state legislature has. They are the experts in criminal justice, and it is their stories that hold the power to influence.
Corrine: The power of story is critical for us to shift the narrative and take responsibility for the places we have the power to influence and change. For us, it’s about having deeper conversations about the world we want to co-create. How are we able to dream a new world into reality? If we’ve only had this system that is rooted in genocide and white supremacy, how then do we create the space for us, and for our young people, to really dream?