Stop Hiding Your Power TO: My Speech at the Power Up Conference 8/26/26
Issue 2896 -August 31, 2026
[Note: Many of you asked for a copy of the speech I gave at Take The Lead’s Power Up Conference on Women’s Equality Day, August 26. So I am sharing it with you here. Let me know what it means to you.]
I became obsessed with women’s relationship with power when I realized how often I gave mine away.
I know…you look at me and think, “She’s powerful.” You just heard a litany of my accomplishments. And don’t get me wrong. I’m exceedingly grateful to have been able to make my life’s passion into my life’s work.
But trust me, when I was a 20-year-old mother of three in Odessa TX, the hardscrabble land of Friday Night Lights, with only a high school diploma I had earned by correspondence, women holding power wasn’t even a concept. I had been socialized to be a support system for everyone else.
Even after I started to the community college when my youngest was four months old, I told myself that it was just so I could be a better wife and mother. I planned to be a social studies teacher, a job acceptable for women.
Actually, I loved teaching then and I love that now I teach women like our power tool champions how to redefine power and watch them fully know theirs and embrace it with confidence, authenticity, and joy.
What word does the word power mean to you? Shout it out!
For some people, it’s exciting. For others, it’s a negative. And for many women, it sounds like something we should have—but perhaps not so much that anyone becomes uncomfortable.
Because we’ve been taught a conflicting lesson about power.
To step up, but not take over.
Speak up, but watch your tone.
Be ambitious, but likable.
In other words, have power. Just don’t let anybody catch you using it.
Singing “Take The Lead” on stage at the Power Up Concert with BETTY, Board and conference chair Dr. Lily McNair, Board members Susan Arnot Heaney and Heather Florio, and other enthusiastic supporters
I was talking recently with a woman who has spent her life in rooms where consequential decisions are made. I asked her for the first word that came to mind when she thought about power.
She said, “Hide.”
Not fear. Not strength. Not control.
Hide.
She said, “When my power isn’t welcome in a room, I find a way to hide it.”
Really, I thought. In 2026?
How many of you have walked into a room knowing exactly what needed to be done, but waited for someone else to say it?
How many of you have had the idea, done the work and then carefully planted the seed so someone else could believe it was theirs?
Is that diplomacy or camouflage with good manners?
Do you ask, “Do you think perhaps we might want to consider...?”
When what you mean is, “I have considered it. Extensively. Here is what I think we need to do.”
I admit to that!
We hide power inside endless preparation. One more credential. One more year of experience before we declare ourselves ready.
We do the work without claiming the authority that should accompany it.
And then we wonder why the world behaves as though we aren’t powerful.
I finally figured it out: the problem is we have the wrong definition.
The narrative of history has been oppressive “power over.” War. Fighting.
The belief that Power is a finite resource that has to be taken from someone before it can belong to us.
But really, power is just energy and you are the source. Like this hammer I wear, you can destroy things or you can create something beautiful.
Something magic happens when I see women shift thinking from oppressive power over to generative “power to.”
The power to speak. To act. Build. The power to change a policy, start a company, raise money, raise children, tell the truth, protect someone, leave something, begin something —or simply say, “No.”
Power to is about possibility, agency, the ability to innovate, create, make your life better.
That power is already yours.
So you will never hear me say I empower women.
Women are not empty vessels waiting to be filled with power. We already have it. We earn 57% of college degrees. We have 80% purchasing power. Companies with more women in their leadership are more profitable. Female legislators get more legislation passed and work better across aisles. Men get the lion’s share of VC when the lionesses are over a 2X better investment.
You've got the power.
But if you do not remember one other thing I say today, remember this:
Power unused is power useless.
Power unused is power useless.
So, notice the moments when you are tempted to hide.
And ask yourself.
What could I do if I stopped hiding my power and fully embraced it?
The world needs women and men who understand and use their power to.
That’s why we’re here today.
And it’s critically important now.
Ø Because women are experiencing economic headwinds and pushback against hard won progress we have made toward equality in power, pay, and leadership positions.
Ø Because until women have their fair share of leadership, we will keep fighting damn defensive battles and never win them.
Ø Because today - Women’s Equality Day - is the best day to highlight the INequalities and think together about audacious solutions.
[Note: After this speech, I had the immense pleasure of introducing and interviewing on stage the iconic author Margaret Atwood. I’ll share more about that next week.]
I could not be more thrilled to have the opportunity to share my thoughts about women, power, and audacious leadership at the Power Up Conference.
GLORIA FELDT is the Co-founder and President of Take The Lead, a motivational speaker, and a global expert in women’s leadership development and DEI for individuals and companies that want to build gender balance. She is a bestselling author of five books, most recently Intentioning: Sex, Power, Pandemics, and How Women Will Take The Lead for (Everyone’s) Good. Honored as Forbes 50 Over 50, and Former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, she is a frequent media commentator. Learn more at www.gloriafeldt.com and www.taketheleadwomen.com. Find her @GloriaFeldt on all social media.