There is no single correct way to view power — who has it, where it comes from, or how to shift it. We all have our own individual lenses for power shaped by our beliefs and our lived experiences. The better we understand our own and other people’s lenses, the better we can navigate different kinds of group dynamics and ultimately create impactful, vibrant, inclusive groups.
Power Lens is a tool to help us build that understanding and unearth invisible hierarchies. The basic exercise is deceptively simple: Take any group, and rank the individuals in each category based on whom you think has the most power. Sometimes, power is obvious and explicit — somebody’s position in an org chart, for example. Other times, it’s implicit and even unconscious — expertise, physical appearance, the neighborhoods in which you grew up or currently live, personality, age, race, gender, whom you know, etc.
Using Power Lens forces you to make the implicit explicit. In doing so, it helps us build our muscles around seeing and navigating power, which in turn helps us navigate groups of all types and sizes.
Instructions
This toolkit can be used individually or with groups. We recommend that you start by using it to analyze clips from your favorite movies or shows. (See below for an example.) This is a great way to build muscle, and it also helps build shared understanding, trust, and safety in a group before you start having higher stakes conversations. You can also use it to analyze real groups and situations.
The PDF toolkit is designed to be printed double-sided on tabloid size (11″x17″) paper and folded in half. You can fill out the toolkit directly, or you can use sticky notes.
You can also use the Google Presentation version of the toolkit online by making a copy of it and editing it directly.
- Fill in the name of the group and the context of the situation.
- Circle the amount of trust you think is in the group you are analyzing.
- In each column, write the names of the group members in order of those you think have the most power to those you think have the least based on the column category. No ties! Add notes explaining why you ranked folks where you did. Think about how the rankings in the different categories contribute to your overall ranking.
- On the back page, list the different power moves you noticed and their impacts.
Example
Consider this short clip from the 2017 movie, Get Out:
There are three characters: Chris, Rose, and the Officer. First, we list each character in each column sorted by whom we think has the most power in that category, along with a few words stating why. Note that there is no “right” answer to these questions, and that coming up with a ranking for some of these categories feels more difficult than others.
Note that both the Officer and Rose are ranked number one in two categories, but that we ranked Rose number one overall. That suggests that we think her individual relationships and possible her relationships with her well-off family outweigh the structural and culture power of the Officer.
We also captured some of the power moves made in this scene as well as their impacts.
When you do this exercise with other people, you get a clearer picture of how other people view power. They might help you notice things you wouldn’t otherwise notice. Understanding other people’s power lens helps you better understand how to engage with those people.
Acknowledgements
This toolkit was developed by Eugene Eric Kim with contributions from Darrell Lee, So Young Lee, Sallie Lin, Sue Williams Kim, Lily Wang, Jacob Smith Yang, and Yi Zhang.
History
July 15, 2025
Updated language in Power Moves section to account for possible moves (versus moves that actually happened).
June 6, 2025
Changed subtitle from “Unearthing” to “Revealing Invisible Hierarchies.” Minor copy edits; thanks to H. Jessica Kim for her feedback.
May 1, 2025
Toolkit revised based on Eugene Eric Kim’s experience using it in our Power and Love for Managers training along with suggestions from Yi Zhang.
July 12, 2023
First version of this toolkit developed for an Asian Law Caucus staff retreat.