LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional online network, with 14 million members, and over 300,000 new people are joining every week. They started an "Answers series" this week, where guests ask LinkedIn members for thoughts about a topic related to small businesses and start-ups. The first guest was presidential candidate Barack Obama. He generated a huge number of comments, as you would expect, over 1300 in the first 24 hours. I was delighted to be the second guest. The question I asked ( posted here) was:
Does power corrupt?
As people become
more powerful, there’s a tendency for bad behavior to surface. What
suggestions do you have for leaders to avoid becoming a jerk in the
face of rising pressure and demands?
The answers have been pouring in ever since — up to 245 a few minutes ago. The range of ideas and breadth of wisdom is pretty striking. Here are three good ones to give you a taste:
Software architect with strong theory
background
On that topic, I always think of this quote:
"Nearly all men can
stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power."
– Abraham Lincoln
Director of North American Sales –
Acceleration Solutions – F5 Networks
Treat everyone around you as if they had their children standing next to
them. To children – parents are heros. If you keep this in mind, why would you
treat someone’s hero with disrespect?
Project Coordinator at Nike
Power doesn’t corrupt, rather it’s society’s treatment of power and how that
power is used by the person wielding it. Getting used to ‘giving in’ to that
feeling of entitlement (because you’ve attained a certain amount of power) is
what transforms powerful people into massive jerks. It’s an easy to get yourself
into, but also problematic because others reinforce it. Everyone caters to
people of authority with that ‘entitlement’ perspective, which some people view
as courtesy or showing respect. But 9 times out of 10, they’re really not
respecting the person, they’re respecting the power that person has. (beause
they have this, drive a that, eat here, etc…)
How to avoid becoming a
jerk…make it a point to do something you used to do before you got ‘powerful’
like drive your own car to a fast food drive thru, or get into a pickup
basketball game at the park. Hang out on the carpet with your kids and wrestle
around, seeing things from their perspective. Volunteer regularly at a senior
center by just visiting with someone for 30 minutes. Do something real – people
will respect and love you for who you are and not for the power you have in your
leadership role.
Another suggestion – take time off from your leadership
life, and even your personal family life. People have forgotten what it’s like
to be alone with their own thoughts. Alternatively we fill our minds with things
so that way you never have to deal with the scum on the bottom of the barrel.
If you can’t manage/master the contents of your own mind, your perspective, your
focus, who you are at the core – it will affect your leadership ability
negatively. I guess Jesus knew what he was doing calling for the observance of
the Sabbath – just take a scheduled amount of time to get your head clear and
center yourself. Doesn’t have to do anything with religion or society or what
other people think. You’ll be all the better for it and others will too.
Again, this is just a taste, there are hundreds more.
I have written here a lot about research on how power can turn people into jerks, including posts on It Isn’t Just a Myth, Power Turns People into Assholes and More Evidence That Power Turns You Into a Self-Serving Jerk. But one of the problems with academics (I plead guilty here) is that although we are great at showing what will happen under certain conditions and explaining why things happen, we often don’t get around to coming up with useful ways to help people avoid problems — or ways how to help magnify the good things in life. As such, I appreciate how practical so many of these suggestions are about how to avoid becoming a self serving jerk once you get some power. If you are a Linked-In member, or want to join, you can add your ideas as well.
Finally, I just love the Lincoln quote. The No Asshole Rule proposes that "the difference between how a person treats the powerless versus the powerful is as good a measure of human characters as I know." It seems that Lincoln said pretty much the same thing, and of course said it much better, almost 150 years ago. So this isn’t a new idea, but to paraphrase my colleague and co-author Jeff Pfeffer, "it is more important to focus on doing what is true than what is new!
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