Jonar Nader says that empowerment is not concerned with what you give, but with what you take away. Bosses cannot empower people. They can only remove the obstacles to self-empowerment. Further below is a transcript of the video.
Here is the transcript:
Michelle Merker: Welcome back. The book again is “How to Lose Friends and Infuriate People”. Yes, you heard that right. It is available in bookstores as well as online. Empowerment is one of those buzz words that we hear all the time. You must be empowered to achieve. What’s wrong with empowerment?
Jonar Nader: Well, because we – the moment you think that someone can empower you, you automatically have agreed that someone can also disempower you.
Michelle Merker: Controlling.
Jonar Nader: Yeah, absolutely
Michelle Merker: Someone else is controlling you.
Jonar Nader: And that doesn’t work. I cannot stand up on stage and say “I empower you” no more than I can say “you are no longer scared of spiders.” Can I do that? Can I say, “You now have confidence. You now have creativity. You are empowered.” Ridiculous. We need to look at self-empowerment. And what the boss should do to empower you is to remove things. You remove intimidations, stupidity, bureaucracy. Now, people have the opportunity to be self-empowered. We don’t want motivation; we want self-motivation. We don’t want inspiration; we want self-inspiration, because if it doesn’t happen from the self, it’s called a layer that can come on and come off at whim and it’s not part of you. It has to be a substance within you. So, beware, others who control you through either intimidation or bribery or they call it motivation or they call it incentive – it’s the new word – as a reward. Forget it. If you can’t do it at all within yourself, then you’re a nobody.
Michelle Merker: Yeah.
Jonar Nader: So, start working on it.
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