If You are Power-centred …

… and I mean, primarily power-centred, then the dangers for you are greatly increased.

Dangers

• It seems obvious to you that people will only respond to a carrot-and-stick approach.

• You sense that other people will not fulfil their duties as you require. Getting them to do what you want requires you to exert force by being intimidating and often issuing threats.

• Sooner rather than later, ruthlessness, bullying, humiliation and crass insensitivity could become your way of working.

• Your urge to get control of the work may become a determination to get your way, even if this means bending or breaking the rules.

• More energy may start going into political infighting or creative accounting than into the real job.

• You will be inclined to appease and agree with more powerful figures rather than explain to them why they are misguided. Then you will expect those below you to conform to what you know is wrong.

• A growing climate of fear and humiliation could evolve and drive away your best subordinates. Those who remain will tell you only what they think you want to hear.

• By this time, you may have generated the type of subordinates that you always feared you had. Their short-cuts, bending of rules and massaging of figures (as learned from your example) could put you in jeopardy.

• Commercial risks will inevitably increase, and you will be at risk of personally compromising yourself, financially and sexually.

• If questionable practices succeed, or if luck happens to be with you when you take an excessive risk, then you may start thinking of yourself as invulnerable, even as a popular hero: a veritable 'Master of the Universe'.

• That pride generally presages a truly terrible fall.

So: An Alternative Arena

If you are primarily power-centred, you may be better off by seeking out work that is primarily power-centred. The world of politics offers many opportunities, especially as it is not limited to elected politicians. There is room for many political players in diverse organizations and professions.

The adrenaline rush and excitement of risky activities can be irresistible. Intense ambition, lust for power, rivalries, lies, back-stabbing, threats, intimidation, blindness to realities are the norm in politics—no colleague will be immune. Apart from hypocritical public statements, no-one will expect anything else or really blame you for doing what all around you do.

I know that too much rationality is a turn-off, and who likes to be criticized for what everyone else does on the quiet anyway? Still, you might find THEE's picture of Politics relevant.

You should also read more about power-centred principles and dangers. You will benefit by continuing to Stage-3: Committing to a meaningful path and beyond, because you need to know what others are up to so as to recognize weaknesses and strengths that you can exploit.

Originally posted: July 2009