Dacher Keltner in a 2016 article
highlights how “while people usually gain power through traits and actions that
advance the interests of others, such as empathy, collaboration, openness,
fairness, and sharing; when they start to feel powerful or enjoy a position of
privilege, those qualities begin to fade. The powerful are more likely than
other people to engage in rude, selfish, and unethical behavior. The
19th-century historian and politician Lord Acton got it right: Power does tend
to corrupt,” (p.112).
When you think about ‘power’ it’s a
strange attribute – very few people strive for ‘power’ on its own, though I
accept there are the exceptions that do exactly that. I believe the majority of
people don’t look for the power itself, they look for the ‘position’ whatever
that might be – captain of a soccer team; leader in business; leader in their
community; leader in government; or even an entrepreneur. As people strive for
these positions they are rarely aware of the personal ‘power’ this brings, and believe
they think more about the ability to shape the future (in a positive way) –
it’s only when they are in these positions that the ease and temptation to use
power to get things done, above other more positive traits, starts to raise its
ugly head – and people start to change.
Keltner highlights how “in an
experiment, Paul Piff of UC Irvine and I found that whereas drivers of the
least expensive vehicles – Dodge Colts, Plymouth Satellites – always ceded the
right-of-way to pedestrians at a crosswalk, people driving luxury cars such as
BMW’s and Mercedes yielded only 54% of the time, nearly half the time they
ignored the pedestrian and the law. Surveys of employees of 27 countries have
revealed that wealthy individuals are more likely to say it’s acceptable to
engage in unethical behavior, such as taking bribes or cheating on taxes. And
recent research led by Danny Miller at HEC Montreal demonstrated that CEO’s
with MBA’s are more likely than those without MBA’s to engage in self-serving
behavior that increases their personal compensation but causes their companies’
value to decline,” (p.113).
Its interesting research and each of us
will have our own experiences, and hence opinions. For me, I totally agree with
the research – I have found people in positions of power to behave more
arrogantly and selfishly than those that have less. In fact there was an
interesting research study done recently on homeless people begging on the
streets of America – and it found that in many cases those that could afford to
help didn’t, and passed the homeless person quite aggressively; and it was in
fact those that had a little and maybe had once been homeless themselves that
would stop and help.
Obviously this isn’t a one cap fits all
scenario and I know there are many wealthy people who support their communities
on a regular basis and don’t look for the recognition of their deeds; more
often than not these are the wives, girlfriends and daughters of wealthy people
who will support different local causes.
Keltner mentions that “the consequences
can be far reaching. The abuse of power ultimately tarnishes the reputations of
executives, undermining their opportunities for influence. It also creates
stress and anxiety among their colleagues, diminishing rigor and creativity in
the group and dragging down team members’ engagement and performance. In a
recent poll of 800 managers and employees in 17 industries, about half the
respondents who reported being treated rudely at work said they deliberately
decreased their effort or lowered the quality of their work in response,”
(p.113).
This is an incredible statistic, yet it
probably hasn’t made a dent in the poor behavior and the abuse of power. Why?
Because these power players are also good at covering their own backs – it’s
never their fault when things go wrong and they seem to be masters at blaming
others. Yet when things go well, it’s because of them and their leadership –
where they play down the involvement of others. What’s incredible is that the
senior leadership and corporate boards of organizations around the world seem
to be oblivious to this basic kind of corporate bullshit; and blindly accept
these peoples explanations of events – possibly because they are ‘content’ with
performance. This sadly raises another key issue for organizations which is too
many corporate boards are not fit for purpose; and filled with self-driven
egotistical males (in too many cases) who also love the ‘power’ that comes with
the role and don’t want to challenge the status quo.
So the misuse of power will continue in
organizations and suboptimal results will be signed off by boards; until there
is a complete shake up in how we conduct business and ‘we’ reintroduce genuine
corporate values once again – and hold people accountable.
So that’s the bad news – but it doesn’t
have to be this way. So what can we do about it? Keltner suggests that “you can
outsmart the power paradox by practicing the ethics of empathy, gratitude, and
generosity. It will bring out the best work and collaborative spirit of those
around you. And you, too, will benefit, with a burnished reputation,
long-lasting leadership, and the dopamine-rich delights of advancing the
interest of others,” (p.115).
It simply goes back to basic values and
concepts like treating people as you’d like to be treated. You know what it
feels like to be led by a ‘power’ driven leader, the impact it had on your
motivation, performance etc – so knowing the impact it had on you, you must
know the impact it will have on your employees if you adopt the same approach. There’s
no excuse to use power other than you have been over-promoted and are out of
you depth. In these situations be honest with yourself and seek advice and
counselling outside of the work environment; get feedback from your employees
and work to be the best leader you can be.
Conversely you know the kind of leader
who motivated you to perform, to exceed expectations – the kind of leader that
made going to work enjoyable – the kind of leader you wanted to follow and were
loyal too.
It’s not rocket science and it’s time
corporate boards and other key stakeholders demanded leadership excellence in
their organizations – as they know if they do, that performance will get even
better and the company will become stronger and more efficient. Leaders who
misuse power should be counselled and given support to change their style; and
if they can’t change over a reasonable period of time then they need to be
removed from the organization. This is the only way to change the negative
impact of power in organizations.
As Jack Welch said “before you are a
leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader,
success is all about growing others.”
References:
Keltner, D. (2016). Managing Yourself:
Don’t Let Power Corrupt You. Harvard Business Review, October, p.112-115.