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“Power concedes nothing without a demand, it never has and it never will.”
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Frederick Douglass
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“Next to the assumption of power is the responsibility of relinquishing it.”
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Benjamin Disraeli
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Well. We don’t talk about power and people often beyond the tripe about how power corrupts people <as I have written … only people can corrupt themselves>. So let me talk about the dynamics of power in business in a non-corrupting way. What I mean by that is responsibility & authority. Whether anyone really admits it or not once you attain a senior position in a business you have gained power. Now. This power is most often not embodied in any nefarious way, but rather it is simply a reflection of responsibility & authority.
You have power over decisions.
You have power over people.
You have power over funds and their allocation.
You even have power over ideas … which ones die and which ones live.
Most of us do not see this as some all empowering power or even eye it with an authoritarian belief. We do not view it as some “center of power”, but rather we see it is actually more like a linear tool <or hammer> selectively used.
Now. Wielded well … power can look like a central source of authority, but ‘wielded well’ is actually a flurry of linear tools, like playing whack-a-mole, applied to establish selective moments of desired behavior and progress <and this flurry actually creates the sense that there is a larger centralized power>. I would note that sometimes it is (centralized power) and sometimes it isn’t. Power, wielded well, ranges from nudges, encouragement, actual decisions, suggested decisions, support and intangible guard rails.
But here is the thing.
Once you have gained authority you are extremely hesitant to concede the ‘power.’ This hesitancy actually shifts into full-on “hold on with ragged claws” if you have mastered <or you feel like you have mastered it> the ‘useful flurry of power’ in appropriate ways.
Partially I think this is the allure of owning <or some sense of ownership> the initiative – or having some power over initiatives. This shouldn’t be undersold. It is exhilarating and, well, powerful. In business while we measure results and report ad nausea the most satisfaction most leaders get is not in measuring parts & pieces, but rather the totality of what they do <input & output>. And once you taste that satisfaction you have no desire to concede anything that could keep you from possibly attaining that satisfaction again.
Is that holding onto power? Sure. I guess. But I tend to believe it is more “I know how to do my shit and I want to keep ding that shit” attitude than any real bad ‘power trip’ type attitude.
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“Never relinquish the initiative.”
Charles de Gaulle
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Unfortunately … people on the outside just don’t see it that way. And it is understandable they may not see it the right way because I believe it was Geoffrey O’Brien who said ‘history unfolds as always in the midst of distraction, misunderstanding, and partially obscured sight-lines.’
That is how the authority version of power works. It unfolds in the midst of distraction and partially obscured sight lines. That is how authority works. It unfolds in the midst of a flurry of choices, decisions, delegations and doing <all blurry and, yet, creating a sense of central power>. Regardless of what it is, or what it looks like, once attained we tend to not want to relinquish it – we do not want to concede it.
It must be demanded to be relinquished.
Here is where it gets tricky. Because even if there is a demand to relinquish, and you do have to relinquish <you get fired and have to take a ‘lesser authority job’ or you get demoted or you simply shift jobs with a different authority level>, we hate to concede it. I mention that because that is one reason why older senior people who decide to take a lower titled job <even with the best intentions and capability to actually ‘do the job’> can struggle or just be a pain in the ass.
It’s not that they truly are a pain in the ass it is simply they have felt the satisfaction of authority and dislike the loss of that authority.
All that said. Power concedes nothing <unless the power owner is stupid, foolish or arrogant> … but as someone smarter than I said once … it always reveals.
Authority reveals.
Maybe what I am suggesting today is that authority (power) can actually reveal character and ability. And once you have seen what you can do, what you are capable of doing and what you like to do it is not an easy thing to conceded or relinquish. And, let me be clear, you can actually be good with authority and effective with use of power and can still be demanded to relinquish it.
It is a falsity to suggest that being good at something means you will always be able to do it <or someone will always seek to have you do it>. you can be forced to relinquish authority, even if you are good at it, for a variety of reasons in business <ranging from well-intended to absurd>.
It is natural to want it again if you were demanded to relinquish it.
Anyway. I say this so that maybe you take a second before you rush to claim someone is ‘power hungry’ or ‘protective of their power’ and mean it in a bad way. Having authority and enjoying authority and wielding authority well is addictive <or maybe just like having ‘the perfect buzz’>.
Is it wrong to be hungry for that? Whew. Sure doesn’t seem wrong.
I say this so that maybe you take a second before you rush to judge a person who has had a senior role and has decided to assume a position with lesser responsibility & authority because … well … once you have had authority it is really really hard to relinquish it. While power concedes nothing I would suggest that the feeling of authority used well tends to not want to concede anything.
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“Life has many ways of testing a person’s will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once.”
Paulo Coelho
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