Powerbrokers

 

Who are the power brokers in the organizations you belong to and how do they exert their power? I thought about this today as I came across a tweet by a power broker that was a member of a group I belonged to. In that group, few to no women were ever given any power, and the women who did get power appeared to mostly look like models instead of ordinary, hard working women. Did these power broker men realize the way they used their power? Did they purposely exclude most women from the power they had? Were they more attractive to the public because they were men rather than women? I'm not really sure about this, but what I know is the following:

• The men in the group stuck together
• The men in the group made some money from their individual and collective work
• The men in the group mostly ignored women who were members of the group

While I was drawn to the group by the good ideas exchanged, I never felt apart of the group in positive, meaningful ways. I tried to be apart of the group, but was never that successful. Some women like me started groups of their own. In time, the group, for the most part, fell apart due to changing times and focus, yet some remain. 

No matter what groups we belong to and where we fit into those groups, we have to beware of the role of powerbroker. We all hold power in some groups, and when we hold that power, we have to be cognizant of less powerful members of the group and why they hold less power. When we empower the less powerful in any group, the group profits. 

I want to think more on this topic.