Power “in service of”
leading with purpose, integrity and responsbility
If the first six blogs explored how power is felt, practised and embodied, this one looks at the question beneath all of that:
What is my power in service of?
It’s a deceptively simple question, and yet I’ve found that how I or others, answer it, consciously or unconsciously, shapes everything through culture, relationships, decisions, and the tone of our lives and workplaces.
Power always serves something
In organisations, power is often spoken about as if it were a neutral tool - a set of levers and permissions that leaders either have or don’t. But power is never neutral. It always tends toward a purpose.
Sometimes that purpose is explicit:
to grow a business
to serve a community
to deliver on a mission
to make a difference
to meet a deadline or standard
to improve people’s wellbeing
But often it’s unspoken, and that’s where power becomes murkier. Where our ever-present shadow has a quiet and potent role.
Power in service of…
not rocking the boat
being liked
staying in control
protecting the status quo
avoiding conflict
my own sense of identity or validation
These unspoken drivers often shape behaviour far more than strategy documents or value statements ever do.
Perhaps one of the most courageous acts for any leader is to name what their power is actually serving - especially when it isn’t flattering.
When ‘in service of’ is clear, decisions can become clearer
I once worked as a coach with a CEO who carried the weight of an organisation that had outgrown its systems and ways of working, something was needed to disrupt the status quo. This is not uncommon. One of the key phase changes comes when organisations, often through successful growth, reach a level of operating where the very approaches that helped then get where they are, are no longer viable for the next phase.
Decision-making had become moribund and familiar. Trust was thinning, commitment was habitual. The senior team were kind people, but they were working in a way that served their own preferences more than the organisation’s needs.
There was a simple conversation:
‘What is your leadership in service of, right now - truthfully?’
‘Honestly? Keeping the peace, and my own position’ she said.
It was a moving moment of honesty. But once spoken, something shifted.
She realised she didn’t need another leadership tool, she needed a purpose worth standing for. Her power needed to be in service of clarity, integrity, the people relying on her, not the avoidance of discomfort. From that moment, conversations sharpened. Not harsher, just clearer. Conflict became generative, not threatening. And her team slowly aligned around something bigger than their own preferences.
That’s what happens when ‘in service of’ becomes conscious, power regains its ethical spine, the person feels internally upright.
Ethical power isn’t polite, it’s anchored
People often hear ‘ethics’ and imagine moral tidiness or gentle niceness. But ethical power is rarely soft. It is discerning, rooted, and it has direction.
Leading in service of something larger than personal comfort and preference often means:
setting boundaries others resist
naming truths others avoid
holding accountability with compassion
saying ‘no’ to short-term wins that cost long-term integrity
choosing people and planet over performance metrics that ignore both
Ethical power doesn’t reduce complexity, it honours it and asks leaders to hold both their humanity and their responsibility.
Whole Person Learning and the question of service
In Whole Person Learning, we place a great deal of attention on intention, noticing not only what we are doing, but what we are bringing, how we want to show up, what we are carrying, and what we are serving in a moment of influence.
The whole person - body, mind, feeling, imagination, ethics - is always in the room. When those parts of us align around a deeper ‘in service of’, presence becomes purposeful. When they don’t, presence becomes confusing or divided. A leader who is internally conflicted often leaks that conflict into the room. A leader who has clarity of purpose transmits coherence and I believe others feel it instinctively.
The Risks of Power Without Service
When power serves nothing but itself, three things happen:
People feel unsafe. Unclear purpose breeds suspicion – ‘What’s this really about?’
Decisions lose meaning. Without a larger frame, choices become reactive, inconsistent, or self-protective.
Culture drifts. If leadership doesn’t articulate what it is in service of, the system fills the gap, often with fear or habit.
Power without service isn’t just ineffective, it’s destabilising.
Choosing what you stand in service of
Here’s a practice our coaches sometimes invite leaders to explore:
Write two lists.
Title one: ‘My power is currently serving…’
Title the other: ‘My power needs to be in service of…’
On the first list, be unflinchingly honest. Write what’s really happening: control, comfort, exhaustion, crisis management, fear of conflict, wanting to please everyone, personal credibility, or survival.
On the second list, write the deeper commitments: the mission or bigger purpose, people’s wellbeing, clarity, fairness, truth, purpose, dignity, sustainability, courage, learning...
The work of leadership, of whole-person, whole-system leadership, is to close the space between those two lists. Not immediately, not perfectly, but consciously.
‘In service of’ as a daily compass
When the day gets hectic, the diary’s packed, and the demands don’t stop, this simple question becomes a compass:
What is my next action in service of?
And a second, sharper question:
What does it need it be in service of?
Even asking the question begins to reorient the system around something more human, more ethical, more purposeful.
Power tethered to purpose is not just good leadership.
It is stabilising.
It is trustworthy.
It is generative - creating conditions for us each to step into our own best contribution.
An Invitation
As you move through your week, notice the moments where your power is clearly serving something bigger, and the moments where it quietly slips into serving avoidance, habit or self-protection. Notice not to judge, but to choose.
This blog series is an invitation into curiosity, honesty, and deeper leadership. We’re glad you’re here.
Nick Ellerby is a coach and Co-Director at Oasis Human Relations, one of a group of thirty plus practitioners working in partnerships across sectors as coaches, hosts, convenors, speaking partners, facilitators, researchers and changemakers.
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