PowerU 54: Ken Sim's Power Violation

#PowerU is back! What an intense start to 2026. I had every intention of showing up for you every Thursday this year. Then came an unexpected move followed immediately by a COVID infection, and some pretty intense external events that needed space and some focused air time. I’m challenged by routines at the best of times... but I’m not giving up. While I was otherwise occupied, the world kept providing excellent case studies and there’s one in particular I wanted to share with you. A core principle of power literacy: the more power you hold, the more responsibility you carry. When that doesn’t happen, we experience it as a violation of social contract by the power holders. When it’s formal or socially conferred power, like an elected title, it is actually equivalent to a breach of contract. Here in Vancouver, Mayor Ken Sim has provided a clearcut example of what that looks like in practice and in this video I break that down and how all of it would have been avoidable with a small amount of power literacy. Next week: back to power mapping. A question for you to consider in the meantime: are you taking responsibility for the power you have? Also, and as promised, some great resources to check out on this topic are Mike Tan (@miketanyvr on Instagram) and Solomon Yi-Kiernan (solomon.xyk on Instagram). #PowerLiteracy #PowerU #Leadership #Democracy