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Many women aren’t even aware of all the ways they give their power away or aren’t even sure how to use their power in a society that tells them otherwise. Gloria Feldt has made it her life’s mission to help ambitious and confident women recognize their own power, and exercise it in a way that helps them and others to achieve big things in life. Gloria is a Best-Selling Author, Co-Founder and President of Take the Lead and acclaimed expert on women, power, and leadership with decades of frontline leadership experience. This week, she talks about her own personal realization that she was giving her power away, and what she did to remedy it. She also discusses how we can become aware of our power, how to keep it and light the path for other women to do the same.    What You Will Hear in This Episode:    In addition to Take the Lead and being a best-selling author, Gloria is the former president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. She was also named one of “America’s Top 200 Women Leaders, Legends, and Trailblazers” in Vanity Fair, and Glamour’s “Woman of the Year”.  While working in the civil rights movement, Gloria noticed two things that showed her how important it was for her to focus on women claiming their power: ordinary people can make a real change when they join together, and men were taking the credit for the hard work done by women.  It is never too late to step up and claim your power. It doesn’t matter if you are in your 40’s, 50’s, or beyond.  Gloria experienced a wake-up call that she had to speak up and use her own voice in her professional life when she experienced being shut out of receiving the recognition and opportunities she deserved from putting in the hard work.  Even though the number of women in leadership roles has risen, many women either don’t know they have power, don’t know what to do with it, and are treated badly by society when they do try and use their power. This finding led Gloria to write No Excuses which was a social commentary book that happened to have great leadership skills in it.  Knowing your agenda is the most important way to claim your power and be “intentioning” all the time.  Pay attention to your language, and try to speak in simpler and declarative sentences, even though email.  We have the power to create history for the next generation of women.  Owning your value gives you more confidence to put yourself out there.  We may not have had control over how our story started, but we can have control over how our story ends.    Quotes:  “Even if you think you don’t have power, if you join together with other people who share your values, you can make change.”  “It is now obvious that leadership can come in a higher pitched voice, and a turquoise pants suit.”  “The more women we see in top leadership positions, the more normal it will become.”  “We grow our courage muscle by using it, much like we grow our physical muscle.”  Mentioned:  Take The Lead  Gloria Feldt  @gloriafeldt @HillaryClinton The Politics of Promotion