The Power Temptations

Nearlly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. —Abraham Lincoln

Power simply means one’s ability to change the condition or state of mind of the other person. It is derived by providing or withholding resources—such as food, money, knowledge, and affection—or administering punishments, such as physical harm, job termination.

Whatever is the way of power gain, studies show that once people assume positions of power, they’re likely to act more selfishly, impulsively, and aggressively, and they face difficulties in seeing the world from other people’s points of view. An experience of power leads to overestimating one's capabilities & makes one vulnerable to two vileness of power i. e. hubris and narcissism. A powerful person, many a times will not be able to see the emotions of others and even fails to recognise the value of networking.  Such situations can be disastrous, as how can you lead someone, whom you don't understand emotionally! 

The greatest example of power peril was witnessed when Alexander's army rebelled against him and forced him to return to Persia. Alexander and his army had been on campaign for years during that time. The men were tired and had appealed him again and again to let them go home and see their families. However, Alexander wanted to go east and add more to his empire, but this was the final straw. Alexander finally agreed to their pleads but said the army would return home by way of the Gedrosian Desert. It was there he lost a huge portion of his army due to the heat and lack of water. Many historians agree that he was vindictively punishing his army in this way for rebelling against him. One more time his hubris and narcissism led his army to suffer huge loss.

The abuse of power tarnishes the reputation of the leader and ultimately affecting the possibility to influence. Simply knowing this fact would not solve the problem, it requires deliberate efforts to get rid of the perils of power.

One of the approaches is to be mindful when you get to the powerful position & keep reminding your brain about the fact that even biggest of the leaders fell to the traps of power degeneracy, so can I. Set practises in your organization, which shows the respect not authority. Classic example being set in US military mess hall where food gets served from bottom most cadre to the topmost leaders. Such a beautiful way to give right signal!!

Humility plays a key role here & can be shown in multiple ways. For example, during the team dealing keep “I don’t know” syndrome as acceptable one. It is completely fine that if you or your subordinate does not know something. During the team meetings, guide the team that, if you don’t know something just respond to clients or internal stakeholder that you don’t know and ask for a prescribed time to get back. If the teammate is not knowing something, guide him in the right way rather than withholding the information to strengthen your powerful position.

Another way of showing humility is to make public commitments/instructions during meetings not to interrupt any colleague and listen carefully before voicing any reaction. This would establish ways to obtain honest and diverse inputs from all. The CEO of VIDA - Umaimah Mendhro (a global platform that connects designers and manufacturers) conveys her team explicitly during meetings that “If I am the only one making decisions, then we are only good as I am, and that’s not good enough”

Humble culture can be developed by visually reminding people that success is fleeting and not permanent. Showing failure stories to team like when Nokia/Kodak became stubborn over their success and refrained from innovating, they went on to the ground from clouds. 

To have measurement of humility take honest feedback from your team about how humble you are! (360-degree reviews) The honest feedback must be taken without any punishment backing officially as well as unofficially.             

Another way to negate the power degeneracy is through empathy & gratitude. This can happen when (I, Mine) gets replaced with (We,Ours). One way to do is by shuffling jobs. For example, when a senior position is filled by taking a fresh grad from the recognised B school/college, before handing over the senior post, he must travel in each division for few weeks (From ground level to mid-level) to understand their real pains.  

Story telling is the greatest tool to express gratitude and empathise. Story is such a powerful tool that it can convert the intangible into tangible. Regular & informal story telling sessions should be held within team. A real-life story heard from a colleague, can help in understanding the situation as well as the personality of the other person & sometimes helps in expressing gratitude towards the other person, which ultimately builds trust & would result in empathetic work environment.

Empathy can even be built by embedding interdependence within the system. Just like Microsoft, they have removed ratings from their performance review process and refocusing evaluation on collaboration. The same thing was done by Morgan Stanley when they felt the need of cross selling in their client base of fortune 500 companies. The President John Mack focused on collaboration and converting all the sharks (Selfish and sharp minded fishes) into the Nemos (Collaborative fishes believing in living together).  

To appreciate impact over others & develop empathy towards them, sometimes one must step out in the real world. One must move to the communities whose experience is profoundly different from own. This was habituated by the mother of Mr. Anand Mahindra in him, she made him taste the salt of the earth during his upbringing. She sent him to government run school instead of sending to private schools where elite class used to come. Initially she kept him away from family business & only when his family needed him, he joined the family business.  Based on his experience he quoted “I’ve come to conclude that perhaps the best way to exercise power, the most responsible way to wield power, is to have a very constructive discomfort with it,”    

A balanced relationship with power is rarely developed overnight; after all, its’ our emotions, not just thoughts, are in play. Whenever we exercise power, we remain vulnerable to its corrosive effects. But by developing humility and empathy with mindfulness and implementing organizational structures that ensure true power-sharing and accountability, we can avoid the twin pitfalls of power. The leaders who can do this, can lead with inclusivity, accept diverse viewpoints, and ultimately build an innovative culture.  The novelist and Nobel laureate Toni Morrison summed up the challenge and the opportunity concisely. “If you have some power,” she used to tell her students, “Then your job is to empower somebody else."

References

Harvard business review - Sept Oct 2021 edition & Sept Oct 2016 edition 

Quora reviews and reverts 

The Power Paradox - how we gain and Lose Influence by Dacher Keltner

Forbes 2009 - The price of arrogance