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Empowering Employees for Broad-Based Action

“If I hear the word empowerment one more time,” someone recently told me, “I think I’ll gag.” He was expressing exasperation at the fact that the more this increasingly popular term is used, the less it seems to mean. “It’s become a politically correct mantra,” he said. “Empower, empower, empower. I ask people what they mean by that and they either become inarticulate or they look at me like I’m an idiot.”

A few years ago, I might have agreed with his reservations. Today, I don’t. I’m still not enthusiastic about using faddish words, but in this ever faster-moving world, I think the idea of helping more people to become more powerful is important.

Environmental change demands organizational change. ...

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