The management style of a school leader deeply influences the ethos of a school. To explicate the workings of power in such leaders, an analysis of education management styles is presented here. The paper works from the premise that effective and productive management styles are empowering. The text acknowledges how difficult it is to frame a usable discourse about power and management styles and sets out to relate particular choices of management styles with access to power and an understanding of the uses and effects of power. It links initial societal experiences of power with an understanding of the effects of that power and offers ways of talking about power and management styles that relate directly to fundamental principles of education and management. The paper focuses on the intersection of different sites of empowerment, on interrupting stereotypical management styles, on choosing a suitable management style, and on emancipatory leadership in the market place. It is concluded that previous experiences of power make it difficult for managers to talk about power because such conversations are usually framed within rigid and limiting categories of race/ethnicity, class, and gender. (Contains 16 references.) (RJM)