The Power Manual

About the Author

Cyndi Suarez works with leaders in nonprofit organizations, philanthropy, and social movements, including most recently the Movement for Black Lives. She helps social change leaders move from struggle to flow by helping them build elegant ideas and structures. She has a MS in Nonprofit Management from Southern New Hampshire University, and studied Feminist Theory at the New School for Social Research. Suarez is Senior Editor at Nonprofit Quarterly, the leading nonprofit journal. She lives in Boston, MA.

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The Power Manual

How to Master Complex Power Dynamics

by Cyndi Suarez

All social relations are laden with power. Getting out from under dominant power relations and mastering power dynamics is perhaps the most essential skill for change agents across all sectors seeking to ignite positive change in the world.

This concise action manual explores major concepts of power, with a focus on the dynamics of domination and liberation, and presents methods for shifting power relations and enacting freedom. The Power Manual:

Clearly distills the major theories of power from post-modern and feminist theory to business management and developmental psychology, and beyond
Examines key ways that power is deployed and transformed in society
Presents a new theory of power based on enactment—the bringing of something to life through one's actions
Explains how to refuse powerless identities and enact powerful ones
Helps readers choose egalitarian interactions over domination
Demonstrates mastering the process of power expansion
Features workshop games and group activities for identifying and shifting power relations.

This accessible action manual is ideal for change agents, leaders, and activists across all nonprofit and business sectors aiming to understand, master, and shift power relations.