Leaders and Power

The saying, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” is only potentially true. The moment power “starts to go to your head” is when the corruption begins. When given power, a person is immediately tested. Whatever is there — “the stuff they are made of” — will come out. It is dangerous to have power; if corruption sets in, it has the ability to actually make the person insane. Indeed, there have been many mad kings and dictators throughout history. And yet, this is not inevitable. There are some who, like Frodo in The Lord of the Rings remain “strangely resistance to it’s power.” It takes an unusually self-aware, humble, and courageous person to be given power and use it for good. Here are four types of people in relation to power.

Narcissistic. This is sadly a very common type. They are the stuff “horrible bosses” are made of; something so common it is a cultural cliche. The reason they are common is that, of all the types, incompetence and bad character most naturally go together. To see oneself as incompetent is nearly intolerable for human nature to bear. We are a deeply proud race; so much so that it’s not even that we won’t look at our failings, it’s almost that we can’t. This type lacks the ability or, perhaps more accurately, the courage for self-examination, and so whenever some problem aries they immediately look for someone to blame. In turn, they are further confirmed in their error, while at the same time further esteemed in their own eyes — a double blindness in which their view of others contracts, and their view of themselves expands — quite literally, power has “gone to their head,” even if it’s all hot air. This is ultimately a tragic type. It is a hellish mindset, and those who are given any degree of power ought to always be on guard against falling into it. The root of this type is that they lack a solid core; they don’t really know who they are, don’t have a solid identity, and so once they are given power, they feel at long last this emptiness is filled. They will not let it go. Power becomes their deepest identity. This naturally leads to them giving orders, directions, commands with no other justification than it is they who gave it. They have no clear vision, and others are seen only as rivals who at any moment might become more powerful than them. They live in fear and paranoia; they are always watching their back, “getting in” with others they deem powerful, and “getting even” with those who threaten them. Ultimately, they go mad. For one, they will have made any healthy relationship impossible. They are not capable of giving genuine love, nor even of receiving it. Other people are never appreciated in their own right, but are always seen as means to increase their own power — whether by latching onto someone with more power or subjugating those with less power. And two, this type comes to think that something is true simply because they said it. Facts do not matter; reason is a waste of time; something is true or false “because I said it.” In short, this person has put themselves in the place of God, even if they are a god in the nightmare space of their own solipsistic universe.

Ruthless. This is a relatively rare type. At least, rare to have personal dealing with; and this is because most of the time the ruthless — those who are competent, yet of generally bad character — make their way up the ladder quite quickly where they are largely separate from all but a few close confidants. They are the most dangerous type because they are smart enough to get a lot of power…but whose character is such that they don’t use it for good — at least not the good of others. If you meet them on a smaller scale — say, an agency of 30 people — you might know them as someone who is good at what they do, but not someone you want to be around. They arouse fear and, in turn, compliance from those under them. The job is likely to get done, but at the expense of everyone’s wellbeing; eventually, though, the organization collapses since people can’t function without mental and emotional health. At it’s best, to work for this type is at least to learn a lot — it is even better of you can move on fairly quickly. This type is the hardest to change; they very often are sociopaths, disordered personalities, which are notoriously resistant to change, and this because they don’t see themselves as the problem — and they have a very impressive resume to prove it.

Ill-fitted. This is someone who, while having good character, are nonetheless incompetent in the role or position they are assigned to. They are called ill-fitted because they don’t quite have the requisite skills, knowledge, or ability to perform the job well. This type is often new to a position and provided they remain teachable they will soon grow in competence. With regards to power, this type very often doesn’t use it enough. They doubt their own ability — oftentimes rightly so — and so are reluctant to exercise power: whether for good or for ill. Being of good character, they don’t compensate for their lack of ability with excess power (as the Narcissist does); instead, they sort of just hold back, reluctantly, causing pain in themselves and either embarrassment or frustration in those they should be leading. This type has one good recourse which, if used, would put them more at ease and garner the support form others: to admit they are learning and are committed to growing.

Empowering. This is a unfortunately a rare type. If you’re fortunate enough to work under an empowering leader you might first know it by observing the general culture of the place — this is because when the leader is both competent and of good character, the whole organization tends to function uncommonly well. The empowering leader sees power not as something to wield over others, but as a means to influence others in a way that benefits both the individual and the group. The very word — empowering — hints at this type as one who gives power to others; that is, they know they have power due to their position, but they give it to others so that they can do their job well. Further, they know the power is largely a product of their position and not their person; they are humble and sober-minded with respect to their self, and, because of this, are able to make room for others they interact with — the result of which is others feel emboldened when in their presence. Because they are competent, they do not worry about giving power to others — they are secure in themselves and not threatened by others. And this is the key to this type: they are sure of their identity and ability, and so don’t need to always be protecting or defending it by over-powering others. They are free to empower others.