You suspect power might be one of your core values, but the word feels uncomfortable. It sounds like something selfish or aggressive, so you're wondering whether what you actually care about is something else entirely—influence, success, security, respect.
Who This Is For
This page is for you if you've noticed a pattern in your own choices that centers on having control, influence, or authority. You care about making decisions that matter. You want to be heard. You find yourself pulled toward roles, relationships, or situations where you have some say in what happens. You're not asking whether you should value power—you're trying to understand whether you actually do.
You're also in the right place if you feel guilt or confusion about power. You've been told it's shallow or selfish. You wonder if acknowledging it makes you a bad person. You want to know whether what you're experiencing is genuine self-knowledge or a character flaw.
This page is probably not for you if you're mainly trying to decide between two unrelated values, like whether you care more about creativity or relationships. It's also not the right place if you're looking for permission to pursue power ruthlessly. The assessment will show you what you actually value, but it won't tell you that valuing power is inherently good or bad—only that it's real, and where it sits in tension with your other priorities.
What You Will Discover
Shalom Schwartz's research on basic human values, conducted across over 80 countries since 1992, identified ten universal value types that show up in how people make decisions. Power is one of them, sitting in a specific place within what Schwartz called a circular structure. Adjacent values like achievement and ambition are compatible with power—they pull in the same direction. But values on the opposite side of the circle, like benevolence and universalism, are in genuine tension with it. Once you see this structure, you stop debating whether power is good or bad and instead see exactly where your own values create pressure or conflict.
What shifts is specificity. Instead of thinking "I might value power" as a vague sense, you'll see how much weight power actually carries in your decision-making compared to your other values. You'll notice which situations trigger your need for control or influence and which don't. You'll understand why you keep choosing certain kinds of work, relationships, or roles. And you'll see clearly where power pushes against something else you care about—recognition, harmony, helping others, creativity—so you can make that trade-off deliberately rather than feel torn.
Common Reasons People Wait
The first reason is shame about the word itself. Power sounds like domination, and you don't see yourself as someone who wants to dominate others. The reframing here is simple: in Schwartz's framework, power means having control over resources, people, or decisions. That includes the quiet authority of being the person everyone asks. It includes the decision-making power in your own home. It includes being trusted with something important. These are not the same as crushing others. The shame usually fades once you separate power as a value from the crude way power is sometimes used.
The second reason is that you're afraid the answer will create a conflict you can't ignore. If power really is one of your core values and you're in a job or relationship where you have none, that becomes true information you can't unknow. You worry the assessment will force a difficult choice. This is a real concern, and the honest answer is that it might. But right now you're already paying a cost for not knowing—you're anxious, you're second-guessing yourself, or you feel stuck. Clarity is often harder than confusion, but it's not worse. It's just more actionable.
The third reason is uncertainty about whether what you're sensing is actually power or something else. Maybe what you care about is being good at something, or being recognized, or earning respect. These are distinct values in Schwartz's model, and they do overlap with power. But they point in different directions. A core values assessment sorts this out precisely because it shows you all ten values at once, in relation to each other, rather than asking you to choose in a vacuum. You'll see not just whether power ranks high, but what it ranks higher than and lower than. That ranking tells you whether you're drawn to the authority itself or to something else you've been calling by a similar name.
The My Values assessment maps your core values using Schwartz's framework, ranks them, and shows you where you are and are not living them.
Is wanting power the same as being selfish?
No. Power as a core value means you care about having control or influence, but that doesn't determine how you use it. People with high power values can be generous or ruthless. What matters is what your other values are. If power sits alongside benevolence or universalism, your use of that authority looks different than if it sits alone. The assessment shows you the full picture.
What if my power value is low but I'm still ambitious?
Ambition and power are not the same thing in Schwartz's model. Ambition falls under achievement, which is about success and competence. You can care deeply about being excellent at something without needing control over others or resources. The assessment distinguishes between these, so you'll know whether your drive is about mastery or authority.
Can power values change over time?
Core values are relatively stable, especially in adults, but they are not fixed. Life experience, relationships, and deliberate reflection can shift what you prioritize. What matters is knowing what you value right now, not forever. The assessment shows your values at this moment, which is the only point where you can actually make a choice.
What should I do if power is high and I'm in a low-power role?
That depends on what your other values are and what trade-offs matter to you. Some people restructure their current role for more autonomy or decision-making. Some find power in a different domain—community work, parenting, creative work. Some accept the trade-off because something else ranks higher. The assessment doesn't tell you what to do, but it gives you the information you need to decide with your eyes open.