Concept of empowering

I have been wondering lately about the concept of #empowering and it seems to me like it has lost its positive resonance to me.

Why do we need to #empower other people? Is it because we took the power from them? And now we think that we can pour #power into them, like into an empty container?

In the context of an organisation or a team, one may argue that if we need to empower people that are a part of it, then there is a culture around that does not let people naturally stand in their power, that creates hierarchies and levels of permissions. Therefore, only empowering by the ones with #authority can somehow compensate for the intrinsic inequality.

On a gentler note, maybe empower means to remind a person of their power, this would resonate with me much better as a less intrusive concept.

What do you think about these interpretations? Sometimes seemingly positive slogans hide a deeper anomaly, when we choose to dissect them.

 

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