Beware: The Shadow Side of Power

Nugget: Power is an energy that requires aware and wise use. Learning how to use it is a key
requirement for new leaders, and more experienced leaders must be continually vigilant about its use.

Power is a highly charged resource with great potential for good or ill. We hope and expect that
leaders will use their institutional power with self-awareness and emotional intelligence – that
they will be vigilant and the face of flattery and manipulation. We expect them to realize that
from others’ perspectives, when they speak, they roar. When they walk down the halls, they
shake the earth. When they look at something, their glances are like lasers, and their opinions
like magnets in a roomful of metal filings. This is because formal leaders carry both their own
personal power (Power 1) and the power of their role – call it Power2. Power2 – formal power
over people, decisions and resources, is high impact power. It also wakes up potent shadow
forces in any leader’s psyche. It’s not a question of IF but WHEN and HOW these shadow forces
will make their presence known.
The following are seven ways the shadow side of power shows up when it has free reign. Any
person in power will be tempted by all of them at some point. They range from lack of use (#1),
to misuse (#’s 2, 3, 4, 5), to abuse (#’s 6, 7).

1. Ignorance of the potential energy in a powerful role. Think of Star Wars’ force saber or
   Harry Potter’s wand. Formal leadership roles come with sabers and wands that, in the
   hands of unaware leaders, can be misused or not fully leveraged. The first step into the
   shadow side occurs when leaders remain unaware of, and therefore dangerous in the
   use of, the power that comes with their role. The antidote to ignorance is awareness.
2. Myopia. Leaders are paid to make decisions that create impact over time – sometimes
   over a long period of time. However, there are many pressures to do whatever is
   expedient, often whatever will get the best publicity and the most adulation. When this
   happens, the shadow side takes over – trading off the future for gratification today. The
   antidote to myopia is trifocal perspective – where decisions consider medium and long
   term, as well as short term, implications and stakeholders.
3. Reductionism. The decisions that formal leaders must make are usually the difficult
   ones that require complicated tradeoffs. It’s easy to default to an overly simple solution
   or single point of view, when multiple perspectives are what’s really needed. It can
   become “my way or the highway” – another default to the shadow. The antidote
   to reductionism is diversity of thought.
4. Abdication. When difficult problems arise, it’s easy to cite bureaucracy or to look for
   scapegoats. For example, people on the front lines or in other institutions are often
   blamed for problems that are really due to leadership mistakes and even hubris. There
   can be strong shadow pressure within leaders to take the easy way out, avoiding
   ownership in these situations. Trust and credibility suffer. The antidote to abdication is
   accountability.
5. Cowardice. People in power need the courage to use it. They may easily give in to
   pressures when they are convinced a strategy or program is right but they fear loss of
   face or privilege if they keep on course. Alternately, they may stubbornly adhere to
   programs and commitments that are proven ill-conceived or wrong or not feasible. The
   shadow easily steps into either breach. Important change commitments yield to imagesaving retreat or compromise. And bad decisions and programs continue because the
   leader doesn’t want to admit to failure or the need for a better way. The antidote to
   cowardice is courage.
6. Abuse of rank. It is easy for Power2 to become a personal entitlement to special
   privileges or to flattery; a license to bully, operate in a dictatorial or power-over way, or
   distort information to serve personal purposes. This side of the shadow is very, very
   seductive and dangerous. Extreme narcissism may also be at work – “I am better than
   everybody else.” The antidote is respect and humility.
7. Corruption. Formal leaders can divert resources and agendas of entire institutions
   toward their own agendas or gain. When behavior crosses the line ethically, morally, or
   legally – jeopardizing the institution, its stakeholders, and the future — it is corruption.
   People who study ethical leadership conclude that if a person is in power long enough,
   s/he will become corrupt (possibly the best argument for term limits). Every leader
   needs to be vigilant, ready to detect this shadow force that may be lurking in the depths
   of his or her personality. It is another reason why self-awareness and a mature and
   humble, as well as competent approach to leadership are vital. The antidote to
   corruption is stewardship.
   New leaders will be constantly pulled toward the shadow side, and people who have had formal
   power for a while risk thinking their position power means they are above the rules and can
   require fealty from others. I wish for everyone in a position of formal authority the humility,
   stewardship capability, and emotional intelligence to wisely use the mantle of power that they
   have taking on.
   

Read more in The Shadow Side of Power: Lessons for Leaders. It is a short story patterned after
Dante’s Inferno that explores how easy it is for institutional leaders to use, misuse, and abuse
power. It is also an invitation to use Power2 toward better outcomes for us all.

Nugget: Power is an energy that requires aware and wise use. Learning how to use it is a key
requirement for new leaders, and more experienced leaders must be continually vigilant about its use.