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Congratulations to Echoing Green President, Cheryl Dorsey, who was selected to reflect on what it means to be a powerful woman on Forbes.com  as they launched their 2009 list of the 100 Most Powerful Women.

Cheryl wrote:

One's personal relationship to power is really a spiritual question. It's about how one chooses to live her life and walk through the world and how/whether/when to confront the demons (real or imagined) that prevent us as human beings from living up to our full potential. I am not powerful because I have conquered those demons but because I am willingly engaged in that struggle each and every day, and because I recognize that whether I take one step forward or two steps back, I'm still progressing on that journey.

There are two things that get me especially excited about this opportunity:

1) Of the nine women profiled to reflect on power, two hail from the nonprofit sector. That's not bad considering it is entirely possible that we would have seen zero representation from the social sector in the past. The other nonprofit maven is Tensie Whelan, the excutive director of the Rainforest Alliance.

2) There is a running theme in most of the responses that define power as having a positive impact and influence on others. Whether someone is an executive chef, an executive of a major nonprofit,  or runs a online community for mothers, positive social change was the ultimate goal. Power is making a substantial difference. According to the responses, mentors and lots of confidence will get you there. This, too, was refreshing and uplifting.

Check out what the CEO of Spanx says about power or read the whole series.