Today I have a potent case study and feel-good story about the impacts and ROI of power literacy. 

These results were so striking that I had to follow up to learn more.

Little did I know how amazing this story would be.

And how timely with the Olympic games this summer.

 

1. THE BACKSTORY

This Wayfinder is a former Olympic athlete who works at a people analytics company.

Here’s what she was experiencing at work before learning power literacy in her own words:

“I was a new leader, straight from being an individual contributor to a manager, and I didn't have the tools on how to lead people. All I knew was how to sell.

A lot of athletes struggle with going from being an athlete to anything else in life where they're not in the top 1% of that thing anymore. It's a huge transition in mindset and humility in Shadow Powers, because all those accolades go away that were telling you how great you are.

If you take the Olympics analogy, as a Sales rep, you're used to being in the limelight and getting all the kudos.

I had to change that mindset becoming a people leader.

I know this happens at so many companies where people are promoted and they don't feel ready and set up for success on how the heck to lead [in my case,] a Sales team.

So I think some of my insecurities and some of my Shadow Powers were showing up.

When I started, I inherited people on the team and I think I got off on the wrong foot. I was afraid to say that I didn't know the answer to things, or didn't know the intricacies of our support model for a segment, and so I wasn't showing up honestly.

I was kind of covering things up with a bit of my ego.”

Beyond the challenges that came with being a first-time manager, she also had a difficult team situation.

“There were some personalities on my team who didn't want to support me as a new female leader.

They were talking about me behind my back and one message came up in the team meeting that they meant to send each other. In all honesty, it felt like upward bullying.

Having a team that feels like they’re working against you is really hard.

I got a lot of negative feedback from my team, and I tried to own it, but honestly, I didn't know what I was doing wrong.

My manager said feedback from a few of the challenging individuals in their exit interviews was fraught with venom and more of a personal issue they had with me.

At the end of the day, it’s hard to separate the emotions of feeling like you're not good enough as a leader, knowing what not to take on from others, but also asking, “What can I change? How can I show up differently?”

This was the point at which she had a 48% engagement rating from her team and when she reached out to me for support.

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2. DOING THE WORK

As a high-performing, heart-centered leader, she was motivated to change the situation and take responsibility for what was within her realm of control to show up as a better leader for her team.

I directed her to start with the Power Assessment for Leaders and the Power Initiation for Leaders.

Before she began, I could feel the painful imprint from her experience with the Shadow Powers from her teammates and wanted to help clear it as she started her work.

She mentioned the impact of that moment when we spoke recently:

“I’ll never forget it.

One thing you told me is that if the person giving you feedback hasn't done their own personal power work to know their Shadow Power and Power that Serves the Whole work on themselves, their feedback isn’t as trustworthy.

Because THEY don’t know which power voice they’re speaking from.

That really helped me depersonalize a lot of the feedback and not take it to heart as much, because it IS work to own our power.”

Doing PAL & PIL illuminated a great deal for her and inspired key shifts in how she showed up.

“I realized it starts with the Personal Wellbeing.
Am I taking care of myself as a person? If not, then I'm not showing up in a good way at work, because I'm not eating well, getting sunlight, or exercising. Because that completely impacts who I am and what I do all week.

Building strong relationships was also crucial.
I started asking how do I have a fear of intimacy? Or barriers to being open and honest with somebody without fear of retribution? They were preventing me from having more deep, meaningful relationships with people.

I started living our company's value of vulnerability, admitting when I didn’t know something, and being honest about my personal state. It took a long time to admit I wasn’t feeling great due to personal issues. This honesty shifted how my team viewed me—they saw me as a human being rather than an invincible leader. It took time to develop this level of openness and build meaningful relationships at work.

Then in Team Power under Organizational Transformation, I had a huge insecurity about how to lead a team.
Why should they listen to me? I had to identify through those different levers that you had in the assessment, how am I going to use those? What are my Shadow Powers, and what are my Powers Serving the Whole for the team? Then I also did that at an individual level with each person.

I was using the tools and psychology in my company toolkit about being a people leader and I married them with my power work to become my best self.

I addressed my insecurities about leading a team and identified my strengths.

It wasn’t a one-time effort; it required consistency and dedication.”

As you can see, this leader committed to her inner work across the spheres of the Power Landscape using the her Power Assessment insights and her self-reflection in PIL to systematically embrace her gifts and address her shadows.

She also invited her whole team to do the Power Assessment as an option for their learning and development.

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3. BIG WINS

Now, she reports feeling like she majorly conquered how her shadows were showing up at work.

She not only feels it internally, she’s seen amazing external evidence of her commitment to power literacy as a leader.

After six months and $155 invested in PAL & PIL with dedication to her own growth, she received a 100% team engagement score as a manager.

But wait, there's more.

Her team's 100% engagement score was almost double the company average at that time.

So she went from performing just below her company's average rating to jumping to 2x her personal rating AND the company average.

 

COME ONNNNNNN!!!!

“After this journey, I’m floored by the positive feedback.
I refreshed the page a few times because I couldn’t believe it!

My team feels supported and valued.

The focus has shifted from how I’m rated to how I can best serve the team.
It’s not about me anymore—it's about their happiness and success.

Knowing they want to be on my team and feel supported is the most rewarding outcome.”

 

Oh, and how’s her team performing?

“They smashed their numbers last quarter.
They all overachieved anywhere between like 130-180% of their sales goal.

We were able to make up a whole role that we had to cover for somebody that left early in the quarter.

So they all over-performed, rallied with each other, and supported each other to succeed.”

 

01 //  Hello, Astounding Systemic ROI 🤩
02 // ALL DAY LONG confetti cannon win!!!! Or more appropriately, a gold medal 🥇.

THIS is what applied power literacy can do
for leaders, teams, and organizations.

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4. MAKING THE CHOICE

These numbers are amazing and a huge testament to her dedication to doing the work

I went nuts celebrating her on our call to reflect what she created through the power of choice.
She chose,
She did the work — over and over again,
She committed for the long haul, and
She made this outcome possible.

I told her,

“The world loves looking at the athletic Olympics.

And what you just did is an Olympic forum in the inner world where nobody gets a medal.

But that’s what we’re redefining together.

I see the level of your mythopoetic journey at work that you embraced and chose to do the courageous inner work to massively benefit yourself and everyone around you.

And I’m so enormously proud of you.”

 

This, my friend, is how we jump octaves,
jump timelines, and unlock our full power.

 

YOU are your team’s biggest growth lever.
Your commitment to power literacy as a leader can amplify your gifts AND everyone around you.

It starts by looking in at yourself.

I hope you enjoyed this story — and let’s give one more collective standing ovation for this leader!!! 🎉

 

May her story inspire you to see new possibilities for yourself, your team, and your organization through the lens of power literacy.

If you're curious to learn about my new initiative helping teams learn power literacy together, message me here and I'm happy to share more.