Power has been defined as ‘the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events’. Yes, we gain power by working hard and proving our worth. Not always however, are we bestowed with power through these means. Sometimes we take power that isn’t our due, and at other times we fail to achieve the power that is our right. By merely being born in a certain strata we either enjoy certain benefits or suffer the sad consequences. These forms that come through so called luck, unfair as they are, are still not the centre of all that is evil. There is yet a more harmful exertion of power when it has been sought after, obsessed over and when it is finally within reach, there is an explosion within the confines of productive, rational thought and it is replaced with an energy that engulfs the individual quite like a drug does.
When such an experience is had, an addiction is formed. And like other narcotics, power too can drown the person and leave them wanting more.
Sometimes in our search for this power we forget we are dealing with other human beings and trample on a lot of dreams, aims and aspirations in our quest for it. The sad reality is that individuals tend to misuse their position and when they do so there is obviously a lot of bad blood they leave behind.
What we need to realise is that power is a by-product of leadership. Being a leader isn’t a privilege but a responsibility. Some people base their entire lives on the dream of reaching the top, and there is nothing wrong with being ambitious. The problem crops up when ambition turns into a power hungry stomping ground and we stop at nothing to ensure our needs are met before all else.
The dangers in this type of atmosphere are many fold and we shall discuss a few here.
One such side effect is, when an individual achieves his/her ambitions, and there is nowhere higher to go, the individual goes into a sort of latency. When there is nothing more to achieve and no higher to go, the said individual starts looking laterally for other things to conquer. When this happens, the subject of conquest moves from inanimate to animate. Delegation here turns to ordering and gives rise to a type of dictatorship wherein subordinates feel trapped and claustrophobic in the current working environment. When this happens, productivity declines and the entire mechanism crumbles.
Sometimes, after the achievement of goals, individuals become complacent and forget that there are other responsibilities they still need to uphold. Again, this kind of leader will breed subordinates who are okay with substandard production as that’s what they have learnt is expected from them.
And the third outcome could be a high achieving leader, pushing people with no interest, ability or drive and then having to cope with burnout as they end up carrying the burden of all those under him.
There are also those whose main goal is the attainment of power and it being so important to them, they go above and beyond to reach there. Sometimes, they stoop extremely low and at others follow every scheme in the book to get what they want except of course, working hard to earn it. We all have come across the backbiters and the sweet talkers who try to make their place by bringing down the others. These are the sort of individuals a company can definitely do without. They are the ones who suck the positivity out and leave a dreary cloud over everyone. These are the types who don’t have any power on the surface but make a game out of spoiling it for the rest. The ones who actually hold the reigns and fool the bosses into thinking that they are actually the ones taking the decisions. The poison in any organisation lies in the hands of the master manipulators. The seemingly innocent, with the power in their back pockets.
Power is definitely something that can destroy if it’s not used proportionally. Being either too arrogant about the position you hold or too casual, can have adverse consequences. The key is in the balance and in the goal. Joining a company with only self-serving purposes as the main goal is detrimental no only to the organisation but for the individual as well, because everyone loves a team player.
To understand how dangerous power can be, let’s look at an analogy, and what better one to use than the flow of current in a circuit? So what happens when there’s sudden surge of power? The entire grid tends to short circuit. And when an individual is drunk with power a short circuit of the whole mechanism is a direct by-product.
