Forbes: 100 Most Powerful Women

I'm always intrigued, even eager, to see Forbes list of the world's 100 Most Powerful Women, women like Carol Bartz, the new CEO of Yahoo, #12 on the list, and Forbes choice for the cover (see below). 

In compiling this list, "Forbes looked for women who run countries (e.g. Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany -- #1), big companies (e.g. Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo -- #2) or influential nonprofits (e.g. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, Chairman of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation -- #30).  Rankings are a combination of two scores:  visibility--by press mentions--and the size of the organization or country these women lead."

I love that these women have formal power.  They may 'speak softly'; people listen regardless.  They also carry a 'big stick', or the wherewithal, typically financial heft, to put their words into action. 

Wielding formal power, especially for women -- given that we learn from a young age that women are only feminine when we are giving something to someone else -- is hard.  I want to do this better; we need to do this better.  There are policies that won't be implemented, business concepts that won't get funded, wrongs that won't be righted, until we do.  

That said, does Forbes' list provide a full portrait of power? 

What of informal power -- the kind of power described as "no one knows exactly what someone does, but when they are around things magically work"?

Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Ted Kennedy's 2nd wife, has been described as the woman who tamed the last lion of the Senate.  She didn't show up on any lists.  But was she able to influence and shape outcomes?  Likely so.

It would be a potential tough sell for Forbes to compile a list of the 100 Women with the Most Informal Power.   Plus, once you name informal power as Michael Lewis did with Shane Battier, it's no longer quite so informal. 

List or no list, learning to wield informal power is important.  Ideally we'll always have a big stick, but as Richard Conniff wrote in Workplace Lessons from Women sometimes we need to just make things work because they need to (credit or not) and/or all we have is our ability to speak softly.  This is especially true with our children. Big sticks work while they are young.  If we want a relationship as they move into adulthood, big sticks are best broken. 

Formal power.  Informal power.
Speak softly.  Big stick.
We need both.

We're already pretty good at one.
Let's now learn to do the other.
And really get something done.

What are your thoughts?

Shall we create a 'dare to dream' list of 100 Women with the Most Informal Power?  How fun would that be?

Comments

[Bonnie White]

This has given me something to think about while I travel. Rosa Parks? Florence Nightingale? Madame Currie?

[Positively Present]

Great post! I'm looking forward to checking out the full list on Forbes. I think you should definitely create a Dare to Dream list! What a great idea!

[Amy Jo]

I think of the kind of informal power we have when we appear before school boards, or PTO's and alter the course of the education in our community. Are we involved enough? Do we realize the power for good we can do on a micro level?

[Stephanie]

Hi

I really enjoyed this post. It is nice to see that someone acknowledges influential women.

I enjoy your blog.

Check out mine

steph

[Maria]

Great post. Makes me wonder, does informal power bring as much joy and long lasting fulfillment as formal power?

[Janna]

Comment #1: My thoughts.

I am very good at formal power, and miserably bad at informal power. I have to really concentrate to keep myself from talking loudly and doing aggressively - all the time in every situation. I developed this behavior because, like Whitney, I believe that womankind as a whole NEED to find some balance in our collective abilities, and in my arrogance, think I provide the counterbalance to the soft spoken, yet effectual power that comes from giving and listening.

To help myself learn another way, I've been meditating, "I am love. I am love. I am love." A new me is starting to emerge, and I am enjoying the change so much. My daily life is more joyful, and interestingly, things get done more quickly and with greater ease. The alchemy of a strong will powered by love - wow, it's amazing what happens.

[Janna]

Comment #2: Informal Power List of 100 Women

What's tricky about this idea is that women with informal power are not famous, generally - we do not know who they are.

Perhaps we can think about women who exhibit power, but who have not been "granted" it by some establishment.

[Bonnie White]

I have thought more about this blog and see that I missed the point about informal power and yet think that the women I named did not hold formal power but seized the opportunities presented to them by doing what was expected or what they they were capable of doing.

[EHD]

Here are a few cultural references to informal power:

1. Behind every great man there is a great woman.

2. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.

3. Richer than I you will never be, for I had a mother who read to me.

I don't necessarily consider Kennedy to be a great man, but he likely would have ended up in jail (date rape) or rehab (alcohol) without his second wife. I saw him in DC during the summer of 1991, before Victoria took him in hand. He was blotchy and bloated and looked like a really bad life insurance risk (not to mention a prime heart attack risk). His accomplishments since then are directly due to the fact that she literally saved his life. Everyone talks about Joe Kennedy inheriting the Kennedy seat, despite the fact that he is a screamer and doesn't play well with others. If a Kennedy is going to get the set (and I dislike American political dynasties), Victoria has a much stronger claim than Joe.

[Emily]

Some of my favorite ladies with informal power have been Eve, Miriam, Elizabeth, Mary, Abigail Adams, Sacagawea, Jane Adams (Hull house), Nellie Bly (reporter), Elizabeth Fry (prison reform), and Helen Keller.

[Mercedes]

i just googled "women informal power." guess what the 9th result was?

dare to dream!

whitney, this site, and the whole dare to dream message have some serious "informal" power.