On today’s episode of No Bullshit with Alex Willis, you’ll be guided through the different ways power, position, and privilege show up on-site. Rather than challenging or ignoring them, Alex breaks down the ways you can leverage those existing dynamics, create a fair work environment, and create a culture of respect at your company. 01/04
What is Power? Who has it, and what does it look like?
When it comes to power, most people think of the rich and famous. However, not all power dynamics are self-evident. There are dozens of factors in play that influence the power we have over others. Even those with a leadership title must earn the respect of their peers before they are truly leading in their workplace.
On today’s episode of No Bullshit with Alex Willis, you’ll be guided through the different ways power, position, and privilege show up on-site. Rather than challenging or ignoring them, Alex breaks down the ways you can leverage those existing dynamics, create a fair work environment, and create a culture of respect at your company.
What to look out for in today’s episode:
In our first segment, The Takeoff, Alex will analyze the way power shows up in society through “The 5 Ladders”. You’ll learn the ways that you currently have power in the world: from physical strength, to social influence, to visible and invisible identities.
Tune into our next segment, The Level, where you’ll dive into how power works in an organization, and what you can do to influence your position as a leader in the eyes of others. It turns out: the more power you give away, the more power you have in the long run.
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[00:00:00] Alex: hey guys, what's up? Alex Willis here, c e o of Leadership Surge. And I wanna personally welcome you to No Bullshit with Alex Willis. The number one go-to source for leadership development in the construction industry. And man, man, man, man, man. Do we have a show for you today? We are picking back up with our diversity, equity, and inclusion series in the construction industry, and we are talking about some very challenging words that affect each and every one of us in the construction industry.
[00:00:39] Alex: Today we're talking about power, position, and privilege. Let's jump into the show. All right, my friends. Hey, welcome to the takeoff. I'm super, super excited to dive into it. We talked about. Power, position and privilege as we talked in the intro. And so, hey, I wanna ask a quick question. Let's start off with a question.
[00:00:57] Alex: What is power? Have you ever thought about that? What is power? And, no, no, no. I'm not talking about electrical power. I'm talking about power that we use over others. And so when you think about it, what is it and how is power established now? As we travel around the country working with construction companies and unions all over the US and in Canada, we hear all sorts of things when we talk about this work called power.
[00:01:20] Alex: We hear money, we hear things like influence. We hear things like prestige. Oftentimes people say it's the control of others, right? Power the control of others. And so how we do that, uh, we do it in multiple ways, right? Sometimes it's because of our resources. It's because of our position. It's because we've been anointed to be the next one to take over.
[00:01:41] Alex: And so when we think about power and how it's established, It's established in many ways. One is, uh, sometimes it's inherited, right? So think about that. If you are a king or a queen, uh, you are just next in line to take the throne, right? Sometimes it's given. It's taken. Sometimes we take it by force, right?
[00:02:00] Alex: Sometimes it's assumed that you have power, right? So we have all types of ways that we think about power, that we define power. Now, it's important for us to think about this thing called power because as we talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the construction industry, it's important for us to think about where is power in the construction industry?
[00:02:19] Alex: Who has the power in the construction industry? Now, if we're really, really being honest, my friends, There are multiple levels of power in the construction image. Now, oftentimes we talk about this and people lean on the hierarchy saying, Hey, well Alex, the power is in the senior office. So senior leadership has to take responsibility in order to make things happen, as it pertains to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
[00:02:43] Alex: And I agree with that. If senior leadership doesn't buy in, It's gonna be a very, very hard road to really begin to create belonging environments for everyone. Now, I wanna remind you of that. We're talking about everyone, not just women and minorities. We're talking about black, white, older, younger, gay, straight, transgender, you name it.
[00:03:04] Alex: We want to create belonging environments for everyone. And so senior leadership, first and foremost, has to buy into that. But secondly, where are other areas of power? Oftentimes we forget about other areas of power. Middle management has a huge role in making sure the culture of any company is consistent.
[00:03:23] Alex: So think about it this way, my friends, senior leadership has the power at the top. They begin to show us, uh, what the role is that they want. They talk about the strategy, the initiatives that we're going to talk about, how we want to create belonging environments. But now when we talk about who makes sure that it's mandated and kept in place, That's mid-level management, right?
[00:03:43] Alex: That's people like my project managers, my general foreman superintendents, that's the group that I like to call the glue. That's the glue that keeps things together, and oftentimes because we begin to delegate and think powers in other places, that group doesn't necessarily do a great job of owning their power, right.
[00:04:05] Alex: Sometimes they allow things to slide because it's the construction industry, because this person is good, because we become callous to certain behaviors. We just allow it to go by. And I wanna challenge you today on our show to understand you have the power to really begin to create belonging environments and phenomenal teams.
[00:04:22] Alex: Right now, the power doesn't just stop there though, my friends, if we continually go down the line, our frontline leaders. There's another huge level of power there because this is the group that's really carrying out the initiatives, that's really doing the work and acting out things toward each other.
[00:04:39] Alex: Right? What do I mean by that? Well, I'm talking about the power of being inclusive. Inclusive leadership, how we interact with each other, how we treat each other, how we respect each other. We may not agree, but we can still show a level of respect, right? So I need each of you listening to our show today.
[00:04:56] Alex: To understand. It does not matter my friends, what position you have in the construction industry. Be it an apprentice, be it a helper, be it a foreman, general foreman, superintendent, project manager. You have power. You have to be open to seeing that and realizing that and be willing to use your power in order to create belonging environments.
[00:05:17] Alex: Sometimes we get caught up in this thing that I like to call the bystander effect. We hear things. We see things that we don't agree with. And we assume that someone else is going to step in and step up. And oftentimes that doesn't happen because everyone's assuming that someone's else is going to step up.
[00:05:35] Alex: We're challenging you, my friends, to understand your power and understand that it's important that you think about stepping up and doing that. Right? So, How can you learn more about your power? Well, we won't go deeper into it in this show today, but there's a book called The 48 Laws of Power Man, it is a phenomenal read, my friends.
[00:05:54] Alex: It talks about all the areas of power that we have out there that we have at our disposal to use. To help us out. Now I'm gonna highlight just a few of them in this segment. Uh, number one is physical power. Now think about that. Uh, all of us, we see size at times, and so sometimes the bigger you are the more power you have and you can use your voice just because you're big, right?
[00:06:16] Alex: But the next area of power is resource power. If you have resources as a manager, if you have resources and you can promote people, you can do those type things, it gives you a level of power. The third is positional power. Just because the company has given you a position, it gives you a form of power that you can use.
[00:06:35] Alex: But oftentimes we forget these next three. The next three, it's expert power. Think about that. My friends, if you are an expert at what you do, an expert electrician, an expert plumber, an expert carpenter, you have power because of your expertise. Right. The next one is information power. Because I have information, because of what I know, it gives me a level of power, so sometimes I have to use that in my advantage to influence others, to bring them along this journey of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
[00:07:05] Alex: Right. We also have reward power. If you can really reward people and give them something that gives you another level of power, network power, who you are connected to. Oftentimes if you have a great relationship with your local union, with your general foreman, with your superintendent, you can really begin to use that network to sway people to understand the power of belonging, right?
[00:07:28] Alex: And then there's negative power for that person who can add consequences to someone's life. It gives you a level of power. I want you to think about it from a parental standpoint. Each of us, if you have children, you have negative power because you can tell your kids damage your own punishment for three months, right?
[00:07:45] Alex: And guess what? They begin to do what you say at times and you can influence them to use that. But the strongest one of all my friends, is personal power. It's me knowing my voice, me being willing to stick up with my value, sticking up for what's right. It's personal power. And every one of us, we may not have those other ones at times, but every one of us have personal power.
[00:08:08] Alex: And so I wanna challenge you to be open and willing to use your personal power. And if you can use your personal power, you can begin to do a phenomenal job of bringing people in. Making them feel included, making sure you create belonging environments right for them all. In order to do that, we have to really begin to have some challenging conversations and talk about some tough stuff.
[00:08:30] Alex: Now, here's the disclaimer of my friends. I'm not saying you agree with what I'm about to say, so please understand. I'm not saying you have to agree with what I'm about to say, but as a leader leading in the construction industry, you need to be aware of what the conditions are. You're leading through. So let's just start at the top.
[00:08:50] Alex: If we think about how we classify people, right? How do we classify people well, Typically in the US we tend to have what I like to call three classes. We have upper class, middle class, and lower class, right? And if we're being honest, that middle class is kind of getting squeezed. Now, we're just gonna do that just for high level today because truth be told, each of those levels can be broken down into other segments.
[00:09:12] Alex: For example, the upper class can be broken down into two segments. You can say what we call the blue bloods, which are at the very, very top. All right? This is the one percenters who never have to work a damn day in their life. Simply because they were born into the Rockefeller, the Hilton family, JP Chase, the Morgans, the Vanderbilts.
[00:09:31] Alex: They never work a day in their life. Now the rest of that upper class is made up of everyone else. The Elon Musks of the world, the Puff Daddies of the world, the LeBron James Taylor Swifts make up that next segment, right? So think about it this way. We have three classes, upper, middle, lower. That's how we segment populations and groups of people.
[00:09:50] Alex: But how do we view individuals? My friends? You have to think about this because it does affect you on the construction job site. So let's talk about this. I like to call this the five ladders of how we view people and how we rank them in our society. Now, as another disclaimer, I'm not saying you have to agree with it, but you have to be honest with my friends.
[00:10:11] Alex: So at the very, very top, what's the number one thing if you have this in our society? It doesn't matter your ethnicity, it doesn't matter. Your religious beliefs, your sexuality, none of that matters. If you have this. What's that? At the very, very top. Any takers? Anything? Uh, what do you think? My friends, well, let's be honest.
[00:10:31] Alex: It's money, money, power, and fame. So I love to tell people at the very, very tip top of the ladder, if you have money, power, and fame, you can damn near do anything in our society. You sit at the top. It doesn't matter if your skin color, your gender, none of that stuff matters right now. What about the second tier?
[00:10:50] Alex: If I don't have money, power, and fame, what's the next most important thing that our society cares about? It's your network. It's who you know if you know the right people. I don't have to have money and power and fame, but if I have the right connections, if I have the right contact, I'm golden in our society.
[00:11:09] Alex: Think about it my friend. So I love all types of music. My two favorite genres are country and hiphop, cuz both tell great stories, right? But now one of the artists that I like in hiphop is a guy by the name of Little Wayne, little Weezy, right? So check this out. Little Wayne got into some big trouble a couple years ago now as the story goes.
[00:11:28] Alex: He was flying in on his private plane. I think Little Wayne is that convicted felon, convicted felons, can't have firearms. When he was flat on his plane, the federal rallies busted his plane and he had firearms on the plane. He was facing a lot of time. Now he got out of that trouble. Why? Because he had the second thing on that ladder.
[00:11:48] Alex: He had a hell of a network. My friends, anybody know how he got out? He knew the dawn. So the Dawn's last day in office. Right. He pardon Little Weezy. I'll say, little Wayne, you're my boy. Hey, guess what? Don't worry about those gun charges. You're good with me. Right? So network matters in our society. So money, power, and fame at the top.
[00:12:11] Alex: Next up is my network. What's the third thing on this ladder? The third rung that matters in our society. The third rung on that ladder is gender. Gender. Now you may not like that I say that, but think about it. We're in construction, my friends. Gender matters. We have a male dominated society and we damn sure have a male dominated industry, right?
[00:12:35] Alex: So gender matters and if we really begin to focus in on our industry, if you're a male in our industry, you damn sure have an advantage. You don't think about what you wear to work. You don't think about what you say. You don't think about how you look. Women in our industry, they have to think about all of that shit before they even show up to the job site, right?
[00:12:54] Alex: Think about it, my friends. If a man comes into a meeting and if he is aggressive and he is take charge and say, dammit, we're doing it this way and this is how we're gonna do it. When he leaves that meeting, people say, my God, what a great leader. Look at this guy. He's a standup leader man. He's a strong leader.
[00:13:12] Alex: If a woman comes and does the exact same thing the man does in the meeting, what does society say? What a bitch. Look at this bitch. Think about that. It's crazy. Crazy. So yeah, male dominated, male dominated society, even from the standpoint of pay. When we talk about equality, equity, and pay for every dollar that a white male makes my friend, right?
[00:13:35] Alex: And these were the studies that just came out and they compared it to white males in America. For every dollar that a white male makes a woman doing the exact same damn job makes 80 cent crazy. Why? Because of gender right now. Let's call it number four. So let's go back. Recap. We have money, power, and fame.
[00:13:54] Alex: We have network, we have gender under gender. Number four is ethnicity. What you look like in our society, skin color matters. We may not like to hear that, but oh man, we tend to discredit a lot of people. Oftentimes, especially in construction. I had a Hispanic electrician come up to me and say, Alex, I'm tired of people thinking I'm a damn drywaller.
[00:14:18] Alex: I'm a damn electrician. Why? Because they would associate his ethnicity with being a drywaller because they had a lot of Hispanic drywallers on site, and so they were quite frequently saying, Hey dude, the drywalls over there, the drywalls over there, right? So ranking of our ethnicity matters in our society, in how we look at people and how we view people.
[00:14:39] Alex: Right? Going back to gender for a second, I want you to think about this. My friends, even gender. Is broken up by ethnicity. All right, so think about this. The levels there, when we talk about equity and pay, at the very, very top of that, making that 80 cent that we just talked about are Asian women, but at the very, very bottom Hispanic women.
[00:15:02] Alex: Think about this, my friends, for every dollar that a white male makes a Hispanic woman doing the exact same damn job, makes 63 cents. So even stereotypes sometimes rank in people's favor right now. So we have money, power, and fame. We have network, we have gender, we have ethnicity, and at the very, very, very bottom, my prince of that ladder, we have disability and more so visible disabilities.
[00:15:31] Alex: If someone's disabled, we discredit everything about their skillset simply because of their visible disability. Or sometimes mental disability, right? So I want you to think about that for a second. If we have a Hispanic woman who has a disability, who has no money, no power, no fame and no network, where does she fall in our society?
[00:15:58] Alex: Uh, that's a tough one, my friends. We're gonna del more into this in the next segment, but I want you to chew on that for a second. You may not like what we're saying. But if you're truly being honest, this is the lens in which we have to be honest with ourselves and view the world. Because this is the lens in which we work through.
[00:16:17] Alex: And so in the next segment, my friends, we're really gonna jump into it and talk about how do we do this personally, right? That's how society looks at things, but how do we do it personally? What's our personal responsibility of how we can lead and influence people? So I'm looking forward to seeing you in the next, the level where we can really begin to jump in and talk about your responsibility so that you're not just standing looking at things.
[00:16:40] Alex: I'll see you in the next segment. So I want to thank you for tuning in to No Bullshit with Alex Willis, the go-to source for leadership development in the construction industry. Now be sure to subscribe to YouTube and your favorite podcasting platform so that you can be notified when we released a new episodes.
[00:16:58] Alex: Right now. For those, I wanna challenge you to leave a comment. We want to hear what you think about the show. I also wanna challenge you to leave some comments of some leadership challenges you may be seeing and facing at work. Because remember, we are here for you. We want to help you be the best boat at work and at home, my friends.
[00:17:16] Alex: So until next time, I'll see you later my friends.