Plugged In and Powered Up: Don’t Waste Energy on Things That Don’t (Truly) Matter

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Last week was the first ever Women in Nonprofit Leadership Conference, “The PowHER of Working Together,” which was hosted by the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. We had the honor of attending the event to meet and listen to some extraordinary women discuss topics of diversity, inclusiveness, mentorship and collaboration.

Uneeka Jay, founding principal of Rewrite 365, delivered the opening keynote where she emphasized the importance of being plugged into the “right” power source. To those who attended the meeting, she asked: Are you doing the work that you were created to do on this earth? This resonated throughout the room—every person began to close their eyes and think. It was truly empowering. She continued:

“In order for me to be effective for me, in order for me to be effective for my organization, in order for me to be effective for the people that my organization serves, I have to be plugged in to a source. I have to have power. Because when and if I don't, it's not only me that suffers—the organization suffers, your family suffers, the people around you suffer. Everyone suffers.” — Jay

When people are not plugged into the “right” things, they are not connected to the things that enable them to flow and do the things they are intended to do. Not plugging into the right source, not connecting to the right source and not working together with the organization results in people becoming drained and exhausted. But what are the indications of this?

According to Jay, an individual will know that they are not plugged into the right source when they are irritable, not eating correctly and easily agitated. “Those are indications you need to plug in. Those are indications you need to connect,” she said.

Typically, people have transactional interaction, which means when people connect with you, they remember you and they remember what you did for them. But people can’t do that when their battery is dying. Jay says that the right kind of power impacts and transforms lives and allows you to connect.

“Inside of us, there's a womb. That womb creates life. Women have the ability to deliver life. What that means is that your power is a lot different (no offense) than your male counterparts. You bring that power into an organization, and you're able to shift culture. You bring that power into an organization, and you're able to life productivity. You're able to increase revenue. You have the power to find what's important within the organization. Use your power to understand that's needed in the organization and delivering plus one. Not being satisfied with average, not being satisfied with small spread.” — Jay