Power

"Power is not a thing—it is a flow. Change is not a moment—it is a constant."

Why Power and Change?

If Unknowing exposes the limits of certainty, Meaning reveals how we construct reality, and Belonging defines who is included in that reality, then Power & Change determine who gets to shape it, maintain it, or disrupt it.

Power is often misunderstood. We tend to think of it as something people ‘have’, a position, a title, a resource. But power is not just held; it is exercised, reinforced, and reshaped through relationships, narratives, and institutions.

Change, similarly, is often seen as something that happens in discrete events, revolutions, restructures, leadership shifts. But real change is rarely a single act. It is a dynamic, ongoing process of struggle, adaptation, and resistance.

To see through The Fractured Lens is to understand that:

• Power is not neutral, it is embedded in meaning, belonging, and history.
• Change is not linear, it is messy, unpredictable, and shaped by unseen forces.

Every system we engage with, organisations, cultures, societies, is shaped by who holds power, how they maintain it, and who is trying to change it.

Power is Not Just Authority, It is Control Over Meaning

Power is not just about leadership, governance, or resources. It is about who gets to define what is true, valuable, and legitimate.

This is why power is often invisible. It is not just what is enforced, it is also what is normalised.

Foucault: Power is Everywhere

Michel Foucault’s work revealed that power is not just top-down, it is diffused through language, institutions, and norms.

• A CEO does not need to ‘order’ employees to act a certain way if the organisational culture already shapes their behaviour.
• A law does not need to be enforced through violence if social stigma does the job more efficiently.
• A political leader does not need to silence critics if the media ecosystem ensures their voices remain unheard.

Power works through discipline, expectation, and the ability to set the terms of reality itself.

Gramsci: Hegemony and the Power of ‘Common Sense’

Antonio Gramsci’s concept of cultural hegemony highlights how power is maintained not through force but through the shaping of ‘common sense’.

• If capitalism is seen as the only viable system, alternative economic models are dismissed as utopian.
• If a certain leadership style (authoritative, confident, ‘charismatic’) is seen as natural, other ways of leading (collective, reflective, hesitant) are devalued.
• If progress is defined by technology and GDP, then well-being, sustainability, or social cohesion become secondary concerns.

Power shapes what is thinkable and unthinkable. It does not need to suppress ideas if those ideas are never considered legitimate in the first place.

The Power of Belonging: Who Decides the Boundaries?

As explored in the last article, belonging is not just about inclusion—it is about who gets to set the rules of inclusion. This is a function of power.

• If an organisation claims to value diversity but still centres dominant cultural norms, real inclusion does not exist.
• If an industry claims to be ‘meritocratic’ but only rewards certain backgrounds and behaviours, power remains concentrated.
• If a political system allows participation but only on terms set by those already in power, change is constrained.

This is why change always involves a struggle over belonging, those who challenge power often face exclusion, stigma, or delegitimisation.

The Illusion of Change: Why Systems Resist Transformation

Most institutions claim to embrace change. Companies innovate. Governments reform. Social movements push for transformation. But power does not give itself away easily.

Change is resisted in subtle, structural ways:

Absorption:

• Radical ideas are co-opted and repackaged in ways that neutralise them.
• ‘Sustainability’ becomes a corporate branding strategy rather than a real shift in economic priorities.
• ‘Diversity’ becomes a hiring metric rather than a redistribution of power.

Bureaucratic Resistance:

• Systems create endless procedures to slow down real change.
• A company announces a ‘bold new direction’, but endless meetings, committees, and approvals ensure nothing substantial shifts.

Narrative Control:

• Change is framed as ‘dangerous’, ‘too radical’, or ‘not the right time’.
• Those advocating for real transformation are depicted as naïve, unrealistic, or disruptive.

These tactics maintain the illusion of change while keeping power intact.

How Change Actually Happens: The Nonlinear Reality

Change is Not a Straight Line

We often tell history as a story of steady progress, civil rights, democracy, scientific advancement. But change does not move in a neat, forward path.

• Progress is made and then rolled back.
• Revolutions occur, only to be co-opted.
• New ideas emerge, but take decades (or centuries) to be fully accepted.

Real Change Requires Disrupting Meaning

Because power is linked to meaning, real change requires changing the way we understand reality itself.

• Women entering the workforce was not just about jobs, it was about changing the meaning of gender, family, and labour.
• Climate activism is not just about emissions, it is about redefining what ‘progress’ and ‘success’ mean.
• Decentralised organisations challenge not just hierarchy but our very idea of leadership and authority.

Shifting power means shifting the stories we tell about what is possible.

Change is Often Invisible Until It’s Inevitable

Movements that once seemed fringe or impossible can suddenly become mainstream.

• LGBTQ+ rights were once a ‘radical’ idea, now, they are widely accepted.
• Remote work was dismissed as unfeasible, until a pandemic forced a shift.
• Indigenous knowledge was ignored by science, now, it is seen as critical to ecological resilience.

The conditions for change are always building beneath the surface, even when they seem impossible. The tipping point often arrives suddenly, but it is never truly sudden.

The Role of Power & Change in Leadership and Organisations

Most leadership models focus on influence, decision-making, and execution, but few truly address power.

Leaders Who Do Not Understand Power Cannot Lead Change

A leader who does not understand power:

• Thinks authority is enough to create change. (It isn’t.)
• Assumes good ideas will naturally be adopted. (They won’t.)
• Underestimates how systems resist, absorb, or neutralise new ways of thinking.

A leader who sees through The Fractured Lens understands that:

• Change happens when power shifts—not just when strategies change.
• Narratives must be disrupted for transformation to occur.
• Resistance is not a sign of failure, it is a sign that change is real.

Organisational Change: Why Culture Shifts Fail

Many organisations attempt change without disrupting power. They introduce new values, structures, or strategies while leaving existing hierarchies and incentives untouched. This is why:

• Diversity initiatives fail if power remains concentrated in the same hands.
• Agile transformations stall if leadership still operates from command-and-control.
• Innovation efforts die if failure is still punished rather than embraced.

To create true change, organisations must:

1. Acknowledge where power is currently held.
2. Shift who has a say in shaping the future.
3. Redefine what success means, beyond maintaining existing power structures.

Power & Change Are Not Separate Forces, They Are One

To see through The Fractured Lens means recognising that power and change are always in motion.

• If we do not see power, we cannot see why things stay the same.
• If we do not understand change, we cannot see how transformation truly happens.

With this final force explored, we return to the core question: What does it mean to see the world through The Fractured Lens? Because now, we can no longer claim we do not see. The only question is: What do we do with what we now understand?