Power U 78: Holding referent power accountable

#PowerU 78 - We were going to talk about holding expert power accountable but the recent blow up over Sydney Sweeney’s “sports” ad is just too perfect an opportunity to talk about holding referent power accountable to pass up. Sydney Sweeney has 26 million Instagram followers. Part of that audience followed her because they believed she represented something: a woman who owns her choices, pushes back against criticism, stands up for women. Sweeney’s recent Novig ad changed that calculation, at least for some of them. The female athletes who responded weren’t just criticizing an ad. They were speaking directly to the audience that had granted her referent power. That’s not cancel culture: it’s referent power accountability in action. Episode 78 is about how referent power works, where it comes from, and what happens when the people who granted it decide they were wrong about who they were supporting. #PowerU #PowerLiteracy #Leadership #SystemsChange