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The Power Compass
By Dr Steve Vinay Gunther & Dr Paul DonovanSociety & CultureBusinessEducationSelf-ImprovementManagement
The Power Compass episodes
- #10 What Nobody Tells You Before You Take the Promotion: The Real Cost of PowerWhat does power actually cost you? The hidden price of authority, from public scrutiny to isolation
Nobody warns you about this before the promotion. Here's an honest accounting of what power actually costs.
WHAT WE DISCUSS
Using the film Ben-Hur as a springboard, we give a realistic preview of what power actually costs — scrutiny, lost control over your own time, political vulnerability, the addictive pull of its perks, and the isolation that creeps in when no one dares tell you the truth anymore. It's a sober episode, but not a discouraging one — the point is to walk in with your eyes open.In this episode:
• Why problems get more complex, not simpler, as your rank rises• The relentless scrutiny and gossip that comes with visibility• “Golden handcuffs” — why your time stops being your own• The political reality: why leaders must maintain alliances to survive• The addictive pull of power's perks, and why it's so hard to let go• The “death zone” — why leaders stop hearing the truth• Why we still encourage you to step into power, with eyes wide openRESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
• Ben-Hur (1959 film, referenced as an illustrative example) — https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052618/COMING UP NEXT
Next time: you have more power than you think, even without the title. How to lead from down power.ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Dr Steve Vinay GuntherTherapist · author · organisational consultant · founder of Gestalt Therapy International.A practicing therapist since 1986, his life experience includes street theatre, clowning, community activism, and a range of businesses — including a vegetarian cafe, printing press, sign-writing business, and food coop.He founded the Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute in Australia and has been running professional therapy training in China since 2012. He has taught in many countries over the last 25 years, is director of Gestalt Therapy International, and founder of Learn Gestalt.He has practiced meditation since 1973 and was Professor of Spiritual Psychology at Ryokan College in Los Angeles. He is author of the bestseller The Woman In Your Life — A Man's Guide to a Happy Relationship, published in four languages.An accredited career counsellor since 1993, he developed a unique system called Career Decision Coaching. His PhD explored the interpersonal dynamics of power with managers across three countries.Dr Paul Donovan
Organisational consultant and trainer · executive coach · authorOwner and director of The Change Company, founded in 1999. He specialises in working with senior executive teams — facilitating team building and strategy, coaching, and leadership development.That work often involves Paul assisting executives to pause their transactional and familiar conversations and examine the individual and collective tensions that are not being discussed. His research suggests these "undiscussable" topics are often among the most strategic for the organisation.Paul has worked across sectors including property development, higher education, pharmaceutical, defence, food manufacture, high-technology medical, government, consulting, and finance. He has published several research articles including a chapter in the award-winning Realising Critical HRD — Stories of Reflecting, Voicing and Enacting Critical Practice.He wrote the popular book Bosses Behaving Badly, exploring how power can be applied skilfully by those in leadership positions.CostOfBeingALeader #DownsidesOfPromotionToManagement #WhyCeosGetIsolated #GoldenHandcuffsMeaning #IsBeingAManagerWorthIt38 min - #9 Power vs Love | The Essential Leadership BalanceWhy do leaders get stuck on one side of a hidden divide? The power-versus-love polarity, and how to integrate both.
Every leader lives inside a hidden polarity: power on one side, love on the other. Get stuck on either end, and it costs you.
WHAT WE DISCUSS
Drawing on Adam Kahane's Power and Love, we explore what happens when leaders lean too far into “love” — avoiding conflict, saying yes when they mean no — versus too far into “power” — becoming controlling, perfectionistic, and driven by fear of failure. We share personal stories from our own leadership blind spots and make the case that integration, not balance, is the real goal.In this episode:
• The fundamental polarity between power (differentiation) and love (connection)• What happens when leaders get stuck on the “love” side — chaos disguised as harmony• What happens when leaders get stuck on the “power” side — perfectionism and burnout• A personal story about learning to voice needs without losing connection• The “hamburger” dynamic: compliant upward, controlling downward• Adam Kahane's insight — love makes power generative, power makes love generative• Why integration, not balance, is the real goalRESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
• Adam Kahane — Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change — https://bkconnection.com/products/9781605093048_power-and-loveCOMING UP NEXT
Next time: what power actually costs — the honest, unfiltered version nobody tells you before the promotion.ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Dr Steve Vinay GuntherTherapist · author · organisational consultant · founder of Gestalt Therapy International.A practicing therapist since 1986, his life experience includes street theatre, clowning, community activism, and a range of businesses — including a vegetarian cafe, printing press, sign-writing business, and food coop.He founded the Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute in Australia and has been running professional therapy training in China since 2012. He has taught in many countries over the last 25 years, is director of Gestalt Therapy International, and founder of Learn Gestalt.He has practiced meditation since 1973 and was Professor of Spiritual Psychology at Ryokan College in Los Angeles. He is author of the bestseller The Woman In Your Life — A Man's Guide to a Happy Relationship, published in four languages.An accredited career counsellor since 1993, he developed a unique system called Career Decision Coaching. His PhD explored the interpersonal dynamics of power with managers across three countries.Dr Paul Donovan
Organisational consultant and trainer · executive coach · authorOwner and director of The Change Company, founded in 1999. He specialises in working with senior executive teams — facilitating team building and strategy, coaching, and leadership development.That work often involves Paul assisting executives to pause their transactional and familiar conversations and examine the individual and collective tensions that are not being discussed. His research suggests these "undiscussable" topics are often among the most strategic for the organisation.Paul has worked across sectors including property development, higher education, pharmaceutical, defence, food manufacture, high-technology medical, government, consulting, and finance. He has published several research articles including a chapter in the award-winning Realising Critical HRD — Stories of Reflecting, Voicing and Enacting Critical Practice.He wrote the popular book Bosses Behaving Badly, exploring how power can be applied skilfully by those in leadership positions.PowerVsLoveLeadership #AdamKahanePowerAndLove #TaskVsRelationshipLeadershipStyle #WhyLeadersAvoidConflict #ControllingBoss34 min - #8 Leadership Triggers, Shame and Emotional IntelligenceWhy do good leaders suddenly snap? Unexamined triggers and shame hijack leadership behavior — and the fix.
A trigger is just old stress reminding itself in the present moment. Here's what leaders unconsciously do with their rank when it happens.
WHAT WE DISCUSS
We explore how leaders unconsciously use their rank to self-soothe when triggered, the crucial difference between shame and guilt, and a real coaching story of a CEO blindsided by his own team's hidden shame. We introduce TRACE, a five-step method for catching a trigger before it turns into reactive, rank-driven behaviour.In this episode:
• Why a “trigger” is really an old stress reminding itself in the present moment• How leaders unconsciously use their rank to self-soothe when triggered• The crucial difference between shame (“I am a mistake”) and guilt (“I made a mistake”)• A real coaching story: the CEO blindsided by his team's hidden shame• Introducing TRACE: Track, Regulate, Analyze, Choose, Engage• Simple grounding techniques — breathing and small movement — to regulate in the moment• Why naming your triggers to your team can build trust, not weaknessRESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
• Stephen Covey — The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People / FranklinCovey — https://www.franklincovey.com• Dr Julie Diamond — Power: A User's Guide — https://www.amazon.com/Power-Users-Guide-Julie-Diamond/dp/0996660305COMING UP NEXT
Next time: the polarity between power and love that quietly shapes every leader's blind spots — and why integration, not balance, is the goal.ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Dr Steve Vinay GuntherTherapist · author · organisational consultant · founder of Gestalt Therapy International.A practicing therapist since 1986, his life experience includes street theatre, clowning, community activism, and a range of businesses — including a vegetarian cafe, printing press, sign-writing business, and food coop.He founded the Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute in Australia and has been running professional therapy training in China since 2012. He has taught in many countries over the last 25 years, is director of Gestalt Therapy International, and founder of Learn Gestalt.He has practiced meditation since 1973 and was Professor of Spiritual Psychology at Ryokan College in Los Angeles. He is author of the bestseller The Woman In Your Life — A Man's Guide to a Happy Relationship, published in four languages.An accredited career counsellor since 1993, he developed a unique system called Career Decision Coaching. His PhD explored the interpersonal dynamics of power with managers across three countries.Dr Paul Donovan
Organisational consultant and trainer · executive coach · authorOwner and director of The Change Company, founded in 1999. He specialises in working with senior executive teams — facilitating team building and strategy, coaching, and leadership development.That work often involves Paul assisting executives to pause their transactional and familiar conversations and examine the individual and collective tensions that are not being discussed. His research suggests these "undiscussable" topics are often among the most strategic for the organisation.Paul has worked across sectors including property development, higher education, pharmaceutical, defence, food manufacture, high-technology medical, government, consulting, and finance. He has published several research articles including a chapter in the award-winning Realising Critical HRD — Stories of Reflecting, Voicing and Enacting Critical Practice.He wrote the popular book Bosses Behaving Badly, exploring how power can be applied skilfully by those in leadership positions.WhatTriggersLeaders #ShameVsGuiltLeadership #HowToRegulateEmotionsAtWork #SelfSoothingBehaviorInBosses #LeadershipTriggers33 min - #7 The Power Paradox | Why Leaders Lose the Skills That Made Them SuccessfulWhat happens when you get more power? The paradox that quietly erodes the skills that got you there.
The more power someone gains, the worse they get at reading other people's emotions — and the less aware they are that it's even happening.
WHAT WE DISCUSS
This episode is built around Dacher Keltner's landmark research on the power paradox — why gaining power erodes empathy and self-awareness, the physiological changes involved, and just how quickly the effect can kick in. We connect the research to real stakes, from garden-variety bad bosses to far more dramatic falls from grace, and outline what it actually takes to “outsmart” the paradox.In this episode:
• Dacher Keltner's research on the power paradox• Why gaining power instantly reduces your ability to read emotions• The chemistry of power: cortisol, stress, and behavior change• A dramatic case study: dictatorship and downfall• Why anxiety spikes are an early warning sign for leaders• The business case for empathy — it's not just ethics, it's outcomes• How to outsmart the power paradox and build lasting personal powerRESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
• Prof. Dacher Keltner — The Power Paradox — https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/312367/the-power-paradox-by-dacher-keltner/• Robert K. Greenleaf — Servant Leadership / Greenleaf Center — https://greenleaf.orgCOMING UP NEXT
Next time: what actually triggers good leaders to snap — and a five-step method for catching yourself before rank turns into reactivity.ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Dr Steve Vinay GuntherTherapist · author · organisational consultant · founder of Gestalt Therapy International.A practicing therapist since 1986, his life experience includes street theatre, clowning, community activism, and a range of businesses — including a vegetarian cafe, printing press, sign-writing business, and food coop.He founded the Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute in Australia and has been running professional therapy training in China since 2012. He has taught in many countries over the last 25 years, is director of Gestalt Therapy International, and founder of Learn Gestalt.He has practiced meditation since 1973 and was Professor of Spiritual Psychology at Ryokan College in Los Angeles. He is author of the bestseller The Woman In Your Life — A Man's Guide to a Happy Relationship, published in four languages.An accredited career counsellor since 1993, he developed a unique system called Career Decision Coaching. His PhD explored the interpersonal dynamics of power with managers across three countries.Dr Paul Donovan
Organisational consultant and trainer · executive coach · authorOwner and director of The Change Company, founded in 1999. He specialises in working with senior executive teams — facilitating team building and strategy, coaching, and leadership development.That work often involves Paul assisting executives to pause their transactional and familiar conversations and examine the individual and collective tensions that are not being discussed. His research suggests these "undiscussable" topics are often among the most strategic for the organisation.Paul has worked across sectors including property development, higher education, pharmaceutical, defence, food manufacture, high-technology medical, government, consulting, and finance. He has published several research articles including a chapter in the award-winning Realising Critical HRD — Stories of Reflecting, Voicing and Enacting Critical Practice.He wrote the popular book Bosses Behaving Badly, exploring how power can be applied skilfully by those in leadership positions.WhatIsThePowerParadox #DacherKeltnerPowerResearch #WhyPowerCorrupts #EmpathyAndLeadership #HowPowerChangesYourBrain34 min - #6 Choose Honesty: Why Feedback Breaks Down Across the Power GapWhy does feedback go wrong so often? How power distorts giving and receiving it, and the tool that fixes it.
Feedback is never neutral once power is involved. Here's what that means for the next hard conversation you have to have.
WHAT WE DISCUSS
We dig into how rank distorts feedback in both directions — why giving feedback upward can be genuinely risky, and why so few leaders ever ask for it going down. We introduce a well-known three-part tool for delivering feedback that doesn't trigger shame or defensiveness, and explore what's really happening physiologically when a hard conversation goes sideways.In this episode:
• Why feedback is never neutral once power is involved• The real risk of giving feedback upward — a story that cost a contract• Why leaders rarely ask for feedback, and what it costs them• Thomas Gordon's three-part “I-message” for feedback that lands• How shame shapes our resistance to receiving feedback• Emotional regulation: giving feedback from the “cool room,” not the “red room”• Why even equal relationships have hidden power dynamicsRESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
• Dr Thomas Gordon / Gordon Training International — https://www.gordontraining.com/thomas-gordon/• Dr Julie Diamond — Power: A User's Guide — https://www.amazon.com/Power-Users-Guide-Julie-Diamond/dp/0996660305COMING UP NEXT
Next time: the idea that explains why good leaders start losing the very skills that got them promoted — the power paradox.ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Dr Steve Vinay GuntherTherapist · author · organisational consultant · founder of Gestalt Therapy International.A practicing therapist since 1986, his life experience includes street theatre, clowning, community activism, and a range of businesses — including a vegetarian cafe, printing press, sign-writing business, and food coop.He founded the Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute in Australia and has been running professional therapy training in China since 2012. He has taught in many countries over the last 25 years, is director of Gestalt Therapy International, and founder of Learn Gestalt.He has practiced meditation since 1973 and was Professor of Spiritual Psychology at Ryokan College in Los Angeles. He is author of the bestseller The Woman In Your Life — A Man's Guide to a Happy Relationship, published in four languages.An accredited career counsellor since 1993, he developed a unique system called Career Decision Coaching. His PhD explored the interpersonal dynamics of power with managers across three countries.Dr Paul Donovan
Organisational consultant and trainer · executive coach · authorOwner and director of The Change Company, founded in 1999. He specialises in working with senior executive teams — facilitating team building and strategy, coaching, and leadership development.That work often involves Paul assisting executives to pause their transactional and familiar conversations and examine the individual and collective tensions that are not being discussed. His research suggests these "undiscussable" topics are often among the most strategic for the organisation.Paul has worked across sectors including property development, higher education, pharmaceutical, defence, food manufacture, high-technology medical, government, consulting, and finance. He has published several research articles including a chapter in the award-winning Realising Critical HRD — Stories of Reflecting, Voicing and Enacting Critical Practice.He wrote the popular book Bosses Behaving Badly, exploring how power can be applied skilfully by those in leadership positions.HowToGiveFeedbackToYourBoss #FeedbackAndPowerDynamics #HowToReceiveFeedbackWithoutShame #GivingHardFeedback #EmotionalRegulationAtWork55 min - #5 What Your Sense of Self Really Teaches Us About Personal PowerWhat does confidence really have to do with power? The three inner domains that make personal power sustainable.
Confidence isn't the same thing as personal power. Here's the three-part model that actually explains the difference.
WHAT WE DISCUSS
Building on the idea of the “power battery,” this episode unpacks a three-part model of personal power — the capable self, the aware self, and the purposeful self — and why the quietest of the three, purpose, is often what keeps people steady under pressure. Drawing on Viktor Frankl's writing on meaning and some practical, borrowed-from-therapy techniques for shifting your emotional state, we make the case that personal power is buildable, not innate.In this episode:
• Julie Diamond's Diamond Power Index and its three domains of personal power• Capable self: building confidence without overinflating it• Aware self: understanding what triggers your thoughts and reactions• Purposeful self: finding resilience through a bigger sense of meaning• Viktor Frankl's insights on meaning under extreme adversity• Simple NLP techniques for shifting your emotional state• Why introverts can hold just as much personal power as extrovertsRESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
• Dr Julie Diamond — Power: A User's Guide — https://www.amazon.com/Power-Users-Guide-Julie-Diamond/dp/0996660305• Viktor E. Frankl — Man's Search for Meaning — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4069.Man_s_Search_for_Meaning• Barbara Sher (career author) — https://barbarasher.com• Dr Joe Dispenza — https://drjoedispenza.comCOMING UP NEXT
Next time: why feedback so often goes wrong once power enters the room — and the three-part tool that makes hard truths land without triggering shame.ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Dr Steve Vinay GuntherTherapist · author · organisational consultant · founder of Gestalt Therapy International.A practicing therapist since 1986, his life experience includes street theatre, clowning, community activism, and a range of businesses — including a vegetarian cafe, printing press, sign-writing business, and food coop.He founded the Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute in Australia and has been running professional therapy training in China since 2012. He has taught in many countries over the last 25 years, is director of Gestalt Therapy International, and founder of Learn Gestalt.He has practiced meditation since 1973 and was Professor of Spiritual Psychology at Ryokan College in Los Angeles. He is author of the bestseller The Woman In Your Life — A Man's Guide to a Happy Relationship, published in four languages.An accredited career counsellor since 1993, he developed a unique system called Career Decision Coaching. His PhD explored the interpersonal dynamics of power with managers across three countries.Dr Paul Donovan
Organisational consultant and trainer · executive coach · authorOwner and director of The Change Company, founded in 1999. He specialises in working with senior executive teams — facilitating team building and strategy, coaching, and leadership development.That work often involves Paul assisting executives to pause their transactional and familiar conversations and examine the individual and collective tensions that are not being discussed. His research suggests these "undiscussable" topics are often among the most strategic for the organisation.Paul has worked across sectors including property development, higher education, pharmaceutical, defence, food manufacture, high-technology medical, government, consulting, and finance. He has published several research articles including a chapter in the award-winning Realising Critical HRD — Stories of Reflecting, Voicing and Enacting Critical Practice.He wrote the popular book Bosses Behaving Badly, exploring how power can be applied skilfully by those in leadership positions.DiamondPowerIndex #CapableSelfAwareSelfPurposefulSelf #HowToBuildResilienceAsALeader #PersonalPowerForIntroverts #MeaningAndResilience39 min - #4 The Real Sources of Power Hiding Inside Every OrganizationWhere power comes from at the organizational level, and what happens when people underuse or misuse it?
Underusing your authority can be just as damaging as abusing it. Here's why leaving a power vacuum is its own kind of failure.
WHAT WE DISCUSS
This episode maps five organizational sources of power — role, resource, information, network, and reputation — and the very different ways each one can be misused, from heavy-handedness to simple avoidance. We use real cases, including a 25,000-person walkout, to show what happens when authority goes unacknowledged, and why “nice” leadership can quietly create as much damage as controlling leadership.In this episode:
• Five organizational sources of power: role, resource, information, network, reputation• Why underusing your role power creates a dangerous vacuum• Resource power: budgets, access, and the choices we forget we have• Information power and the psychology of gossip• Network power and the story of a 25,000-person walkout• Reputation power and the rise of cancel culture• Why role power without acknowledgment breeds resentmentRESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
• Robin Skynner & John Cleese — Families and How to Survive Them — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20582.Families_and_How_To_Survive_Them• Robert W. Fuller — Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank — https://www.amazon.com/Somebodies-Nobodies-Overcoming-Abuse-Rank/dp/086571486XCOMING UP NEXT
Next time: the three inner domains of personal power — capable, aware, and purposeful — and what they reveal about who's actually ready to lead.ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Dr Steve Vinay GuntherTherapist · author · organisational consultant · founder of Gestalt Therapy International.A practicing therapist since 1986, his life experience includes street theatre, clowning, community activism, and a range of businesses — including a vegetarian cafe, printing press, sign-writing business, and food coop.He founded the Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute in Australia and has been running professional therapy training in China since 2012. He has taught in many countries over the last 25 years, is director of Gestalt Therapy International, and founder of Learn Gestalt.He has practiced meditation since 1973 and was Professor of Spiritual Psychology at Ryokan College in Los Angeles. He is author of the bestseller The Woman In Your Life — A Man's Guide to a Happy Relationship, published in four languages.An accredited career counsellor since 1993, he developed a unique system called Career Decision Coaching. His PhD explored the interpersonal dynamics of power with managers across three countries.Dr Paul Donovan
Organisational consultant and trainer · executive coach · authorOwner and director of The Change Company, founded in 1999. He specialises in working with senior executive teams — facilitating team building and strategy, coaching, and leadership development.That work often involves Paul assisting executives to pause their transactional and familiar conversations and examine the individual and collective tensions that are not being discussed. His research suggests these "undiscussable" topics are often among the most strategic for the organisation.Paul has worked across sectors including property development, higher education, pharmaceutical, defence, food manufacture, high-technology medical, government, consulting, and finance. He has published several research articles including a chapter in the award-winning Realising Critical HRD — Stories of Reflecting, Voicing and Enacting Critical Practice.He wrote the popular book Bosses Behaving Badly, exploring how power can be applied skilfully by those in leadership positions.SourcesOfPowerInOrganizations #RolePowerVsResourcePower #WhyManagersUnderuseAuthority #TypesOfPowerAtWork #PowerVacuumLeadership55 min - #3 The 150% Principle: Why Leaders Must Carry More Than Half the ResponsibilityWhy should the one with more rank carry more responsibility? The principle that repairs power imbalances.
If you have more rank than someone else, here's an uncomfortable truth: you don't share 50% of the responsibility for that relationship. You carry more.
WHAT WE DISCUSS
We unpack the 150% Principle — the idea that anyone with more rank than another person carries a disproportionate share of responsibility for the relationship's health. We explore why those with power are structurally the worst judges of their own impact, the difference between intent and impact, and a five-step framework for repairing things when the gap between the two causes real damage.In this episode:
• What the 150% principle really means for anyone with more rank• Why leaders are the worst judges of their own impact• The difference between intent and impact — and why it matters• Real coaching examples: the pausing leader and the “ideas person” CEO• AGALA: a five-step framework for repairing ruptures• Why “two consenting adults” ignores real power gaps• How this principle applies beyond the workplace, including parentingRESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
• Cedar Barstow — Living in the Power Zone — https://www.amazon.com/Living-Power-Zone-Cedar-Barstow/dp/0974374636• Right Use of Power Institute — https://rightuseofpower.org• Dr Julie Diamond — Power: A User's Guide — https://www.amazon.com/Power-Users-Guide-Julie-Diamond/dp/0996660305COMING UP NEXT
Next time: the five organizational sources of power hiding inside every workplace — and why refusing to use the authority you have can be just as damaging as abusing it.ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Dr Steve Vinay GuntherTherapist · author · organisational consultant · founder of Gestalt Therapy International.A practicing therapist since 1986, his life experience includes street theatre, clowning, community activism, and a range of businesses — including a vegetarian cafe, printing press, sign-writing business, and food coop.He founded the Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute in Australia and has been running professional therapy training in China since 2012. He has taught in many countries over the last 25 years, is director of Gestalt Therapy International, and founder of Learn Gestalt.He has practiced meditation since 1973 and was Professor of Spiritual Psychology at Ryokan College in Los Angeles. He is author of the bestseller The Woman In Your Life — A Man's Guide to a Happy Relationship, published in four languages.An accredited career counsellor since 1993, he developed a unique system called Career Decision Coaching. His PhD explored the interpersonal dynamics of power with managers across three countries.Dr Paul Donovan
Organisational consultant and trainer · executive coach · authorOwner and director of The Change Company, founded in 1999. He specialises in working with senior executive teams — facilitating team building and strategy, coaching, and leadership development.That work often involves Paul assisting executives to pause their transactional and familiar conversations and examine the individual and collective tensions that are not being discussed. His research suggests these "undiscussable" topics are often among the most strategic for the organisation.Paul has worked across sectors including property development, higher education, pharmaceutical, defence, food manufacture, high-technology medical, government, consulting, and finance. He has published several research articles including a chapter in the award-winning Realising Critical HRD — Stories of Reflecting, Voicing and Enacting Critical Practice.He wrote the popular book Bosses Behaving Badly, exploring how power can be applied skilfully by those in leadership positions.150PercentPrincipleLeadership #IntentVsImpactAtWork #PowerDifferentialRelationships #HowToRepairTrustWithAnEmployee #FeedbackAndPower36 min - #2 The Power Battery: Where Does Personal Power Come From?What really gives you power? In this episode we explain the five inner sources — knowledge, voice, history, rapport, and character — which you can build yourself.
Power does not only come from titles or positions. This episode explores the internal resources that allow people to influence others and build effective relationships."What if the biggest source of your power was never your job title — but something you could start building this afternoon?
WHAT WE DISCUSS
In this episode, we introduce the “power battery” — five internal sources of personal power that anyone can develop, independent of rank: knowledge, expressiveness, history, attraction, and character. Through stories from coaching, therapy, and our own lives, we explore why so many of us outsource our sense of power to circumstance, and what it actually takes to charge each of these five sources up.In this episode:
• The five internal sources of personal power: knowledge, expressiveness, history, attraction, character• Why knowledge is more democratized than ever — podcasts, free courses, and AI• How expressiveness helps you find your voice, and other people's• The double-edged power of relationship history• Building rapport and attraction even without natural charisma• Why character and consistency earn long-term trust• A real story of blended-family cooperation in actionRESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
• Joseph Heller — Catch-22 (novel, referenced as an illustrative example) — https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/168668.Catch_22COMING UP NEXT
Next time: the 150% Principle — why the person with more rank always carries more than half the responsibility for a relationship, and what to do when you get it wrong.ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Dr Steve Vinay GuntherTherapist · author · organisational consultant · founder of Gestalt Therapy International.A practicing therapist since 1986, his life experience includes street theatre, clowning, community activism, and a range of businesses — including a vegetarian cafe, printing press, sign-writing business, and food coop.He founded the Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute in Australia and has been running professional therapy training in China since 2012. He has taught in many countries over the last 25 years, is director of Gestalt Therapy International, and founder of Learn Gestalt.He has practiced meditation since 1973 and was Professor of Spiritual Psychology at Ryokan College in Los Angeles. He is author of the bestseller The Woman In Your Life — A Man's Guide to a Happy Relationship, published in four languages.An accredited career counsellor since 1993, he developed a unique system called Career Decision Coaching. His PhD explored the interpersonal dynamics of power with managers across three countries.Dr Paul Donovan
Organisational consultant and trainer · executive coach · authorOwner and director of The Change Company, founded in 1999. He specialises in working with senior executive teams — facilitating team building and strategy, coaching, and leadership development.That work often involves Paul assisting executives to pause their transactional and familiar conversations and examine the individual and collective tensions that are not being discussed. His research suggests these "undiscussable" topics are often among the most strategic for the organisation.Paul has worked across sectors including property development, higher education, pharmaceutical, defence, food manufacture, high-technology medical, government, consulting, and finance. He has published several research articles including a chapter in the award-winning Realising Critical HRD — Stories of Reflecting, Voicing and Enacting Critical Practice.He wrote the popular book Bosses Behaving Badly, exploring how power can be applied skilfully by those in leadership positions.HowToBuildPersonalPower #SourcesOfPowerAtWork #PowerWithoutAuthority #PersonalPowerVsPositionalPower #SelfConfidenceAtWork38 min - #1 Introduction to all Things Power: Why We Avoid Talking About Power | The Psychology of Leadership and InfluenceWhy is power harder to talk about than sex? In this episode we introduce the hidden dynamics behind every relationship, role, and boardroom.
Power is everywhere, but many leaders lack a language for understanding it. Drs. Vinay and Paul explore why power is avoided, how our experiences shape our attitudes toward authority, and why skilful leadership requires "“In modern-day America,” says psychologist Dr Julie Diamond, “sex is easier to talk about than power.” In the very first episode of The Power Compass, we set out to change that.
WHAT WE DISCUSS
We open the series by mapping the territory the whole show will explore — power over, power with, and power to, and the crucial difference between personal power, role power, and social status. Along the way we preview two ideas you'll hear again and again across the series: a psychological “trap” that quietly changes people once they're elevated, and a principle for anyone who holds more rank than the person in front of them. Drawn from real stories in couples therapy and the corporate world, this is the founding episode for everything that follows.In this episode:
• Why power is often called “the last taboo”• Power over, power with, and power to — three core dynamics explained• Personal power vs. role power vs. social status power• A first look at the power paradox and why leaders get stranger as they rise• Introducing the 150% principle for high-rank relationships• Real-world examples from couples therapy and a corporate power struggle• The mission behind The Power Compass podcastRESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED
• Dr Julie Diamond — Power: A User's Guide — https://www.amazon.com/Power-Users-Guide-Julie-Diamond/dp/0996660305• Prof. Dacher Keltner — The Power Paradox — https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/312367/the-power-paradox-by-dacher-keltner/COMING UP NEXT
Next time: what actually gives you personal power — and the five sources you can start building today, whether or not you hold a title.ABOUT YOUR HOSTS
Dr Steve Vinay GuntherTherapist · author · organisational consultant · founder of Gestalt Therapy International.A practicing therapist since 1986, his life experience includes street theatre, clowning, community activism, and a range of businesses — including a vegetarian cafe, printing press, sign-writing business, and food coop.He founded the Northern Rivers Gestalt Institute in Australia and has been running professional therapy training in China since 2012. He has taught in many countries over the last 25 years, is director of Gestalt Therapy International, and founder of Learn Gestalt.He has practiced meditation since 1973 and was Professor of Spiritual Psychology at Ryokan College in Los Angeles. He is author of the bestseller The Woman In Your Life — A Man's Guide to a Happy Relationship, published in four languages.An accredited career counsellor since 1993, he developed a unique system called Career Decision Coaching. His PhD explored the interpersonal dynamics of power with managers across three countries.Dr Paul Donovan
Organisational consultant and trainer · executive coach · authorOwner and director of The Change Company, founded in 1999. He specialises in working with senior executive teams — facilitating team building and strategy, coaching, and leadership development.That work often involves Paul assisting executives to pause their transactional and familiar conversations and examine the individual and collective tensions that are not being discussed. His research suggests these "undiscussable" topics are often among the most strategic for the organisation.Paul has worked across sectors including property development, higher education, pharmaceutical, defence, food manufacture, high-technology medical, government, consulting, and finance. He has published several research articles including a chapter in the award-winning Realising Critical HRD — Stories of Reflecting, Voicing and Enacting Critical Practice.He wrote the popular book Bosses Behaving Badly, exploring how power can be applied skilfully by those in leadership positions.PowerOverPowerWithPowerTo #PersonalPowerVsRolePower #WhatIsThePowerParadox #150PercentPrinciple #LeadershipPodcast #PsychologyOfPower"making power visible.30 min
About The Power Compass
From the publisher's feed
Weilding authority can be exhilarating; it can also become a Danger Zone where honest feedback vanishes and sensibility gives way to excess—a risk for every manager, parent, or leader. Hosted by Drs.…
Paul Donovan and Steve Vinay Gunther, The Power Compass is your ‘Driver’s Ed’ for the responsibile use of influence. Master the Art of Power by balancing strength with heart. Outsmart the traps of the Power Paradox, build your 11-source Power Battery, and map your unique Powerprint. Shift from ‘power-over' to generative ‘power-with’, and learn to lead with wisdom in the Power Zone.