Does a Leader Need Power and if So How Can They Avoid Being Corrupted by That Power?
At that place is a common saying that power corrupts, and accented power corrupts admittedly. First said by xixthursday century politician and historian Lord Acton, these words ring true even today.
Back in 2016, the earth was rocked by a massive scandal involving 1 of the largest banks in the earth; Wells Fargo. For several hours, the then CEO Mr. John Stumpf appeared before Congress and answered a range of questions about the bank's beliefs.
In one of the largest cases of fraud, the bank, which so had avails worth over $1.8 trillion, had created over ii million faux accounts.
Once its fraudulent activities came to light, the bank fired 5,300 employees in a bid to redirect the arraign.
The Congress hearing of Mr. Stumpf is a cracking instance of how much leaders can get corrupted past ability.
It is a instance of a man who had managed to rise to the captain of one of the biggest banks in the globe, nevertheless i seemed to be incapable of feeling compassion for ordinary people.
Equally a event of deportment that were his own error, 5300 Wells Fargo employees lost their jobs, yet Mr. Stumpf did not appear to feel their pain.
While he issued an apology, he showed no remorse for the pain he caused these employees to go through.
Really, he seemed astonished that people were making all this fuss about something he considered to be a small matter.
Mr. John Stumpf'south is not the only example of leaders who have been corrupted past their power. Enron Corporation, a US Energy Commodities and Services Company and a erstwhile Wall Street darling went bankrupt considering of fraudulent accounting past its CEO Jeffrey Skilling.
Former Tyco International Ltd CEO Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark Swartz were sentenced to up to 25 years in jail for embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars from the visitor.
Sometime Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stood trial for a myriad of charges, including tax evasion, bribery, and property his famous bunga bunga parties, some of which were attended past minors.
While these cases are extreme examples of the kind of misbehavior some leaders engage in due to their power and authority, they all the same bring to the fore a legitimate business concern; all leaders are susceptible to being corrupted past ability.
Diverse studies bear witness that individuals who concur positions of corporate power at thrice as likely to engage in behaviors deemed to be negative – such every bit raising their voice at others, multitasking during meetings, interrupting others when they are speaking, and insulting others at piece of work – compared to people in lower rungs of the corporate ladder.
In add-on, other studies show that individuals who have merely moved into positions of power are highly susceptible to losing their virtues and ethics.
While most people go into positions of power by exhibiting actions, behaviors, and traits that are meant to serve the interests of others – such as sharing, collaboration, empathy, fairness, and transparency – these traits starting time to fade once they get into positions of privilege or once they start feeling powerful. The more powerful ane gets, the more likely they are to engage in selfish, rude, and unethical behaviors.
According to Dacher Keltner, psychology professor at the University of California, author of The Power Paradox: How We gain And Lose Influence, and the faculty manager of the Greater Good Science Middle, this phenomenon is referred every bit the "power paradox" and is the topic of his book in a higher place.
Dacher has studied the phenomenon in a wide range of settings: in professional sports teams, in the The states Senate, in colleges, and in a myriad of other professional settings.
In each of these settings, Dacher has noticed that people ascension to positions of ability as a result of their good qualities. Unfortunately, the more than powerful the people get, the more their behavior and qualities worsen.
Dacher also found out that this shift from good behavior to misbehavior upon the assumption of power can happen surprisingly rapidly.
In one of his experiments, which he referred to as the "cookie monster" experiment, Dacher brought volunteers into his lab in groups of iii and assigned them with a writing job.
He randomly selected 1 of the three people to exist the leader of the grouping.
About half an hour into their writing task, Dacher and so brought a plate of iv freshly broiled cookies – one for each person, and an extra cookie – and placed them on the table, in forepart of everyone.
As expected, in all the groups, each of the group members took i cookie, leaving the actress cookie in the plate.
The question was, who would take the extra cookie, knowing that doing then would deny the others of the chance of enjoying the extra treat?
Dacher institute that in well-nigh cases, the person would had been selected to exist the group leader took the extra cookie.
In addition, the person selected to exist the leader was more probable to smack their lips while eating, eat with their mouths open, and eat with crumbs falling on their wearing apparel.
Other studies evidence that wealth and status have an effect that's like to that of power.
In 1 experiment, Dacher Keltner and Paul Piff of UC Irvine institute that people driving cars that are fairly cheap – Plymouth Satellites, Dodge Colts, and so on – always stopped at crosswalks to allow pedestrians to cantankerous.
On the other manus, people driving fairly expensive cars, such every bit Mercedes Benzes and BMWs only gave manner to pedestrians 54% of the time, despite the fact that not giving way to pedestrians was really breaking the police.
Some other survey of workers across 27 countries found out that people with more wealth are more likely to find information technology adequate to engage in behaviors that are considered to be unethical, such as tax evasion or blackmail.
And however another 2022 research by Danny Miller and Xiaowei Xu establish that master executives with MBAs are more probable to engage in behaviors that increase their personal compensation at the detriment of the company compared to those without MBAs.
The behaviors of leaders like John Stumpf, Silvio Berlusconi, Jeffrey Skilling, Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz can also be explained through the findings of a 2022 study carried out by researchers from Wilfrid Laurier University's Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto Scarborough.
The research constitute that power is capable of impairing our mirror-neurological activity. The mirror-neurological activity influences our ability to acquaintance with other people and understand them.
This impairment of the mirror-neurologic action has been christened the hubris syndrome by British physician and parliamentarian David Owen. According to Owen, hubris syndrome is a disorder acquired by the possession of power.
In an interview for an upcoming book, Rasmus Hougaard, Jacquelin Carter, and Louise Chester from the Potential Projection talked to one CEO who was very candid about the problem of ability and abuse.
According to this CEO, being in a position of leadership comes with a constant pressure, the need to make difficult decisions that have a huge impact on other people, and the heady activity of constantly coming upward with strategies and guiding their implementation.
All, this tin can end up making leaders less empathetic and less concerned for the welfare of others.
According to the CEO they spoke to, later being at the head of a big global consumer goods brand for over a decade, this CEO noticed that he had started distancing himself from existence too close to other people, to the extent that he even started pulling back in his relationships with his children.
This was something that was so unlike him. Prior to condign CEO of this company, he was a person who was known for his empathy. He was a person who cared most how others felt and was e'er concerned most the feelings of others.
However, after spending some time heading such a huge company, the power of being in such a position took its cost on him, and he stopped being empathetic in his thinking and determination making.
Rasmus, Jacquelin, and Chester heard variations of this in many of their interviews.
The point hither is that while power does non necessarily make one want to be less concerned for the feelings of others, the abiding pressure and responsibilities that come up with beingness in a position of power can rewire your encephalon circuitry and make you less empathic.
While all the studies and examples quoted higher up show that in that location is a loftier likelihood of leaders getting corrupted by power, the proficient thing is that this is something that tin be avoided, or even reversed for leaders who take already been corrupted by power. The key to this is pity
WHAT IS COMPASSION?
Very oft, people confuse compassion with empathy.
Whereas empathy refers to the deed of trying to feel the emotions of others and feel them as if they were your ain, compassion refers to the intent to do something to ensure the happiness and well-beingness of other people.
To make this easier to understand, I am going to utilize an analogy.
Let's say, for example, that you lot have encountered someone who is feeling hurting afterwards a breakup.
In this case, beingness empathetic means trying to put yourself in this person's shoes and feel the hurting they are going through.
You endeavour to imagine what it feels to undergo a breakup and the emotions that come with it.
On the other manus, beingness compassionate ways trying to do something that will alleviate this person's pain, by for instance taking them out or doing something else that will help cheer them up.
From this case, you can see that compassion is a lot more proactive than empathy.
It is something that tin be cultivated into a addiction.
Leaders who have lost empathy as a event of the pressures and responsibilities that come from possession of power can counter this loss by making compassion a addiction, which will in plough make them better leaders and brand them more concerned about the touch of their decisions on others.
As a compassionate leader, you care about more than profits and performance. You as well need to have a genuine interest in the welfare of your employees.
Even so, this does non mean that you should become as well prissy a leader or that you should be a people pleaser who always gives people what they desire.
Instead, it means being capable of giving them what they need and is good for them, such as tough feedback. It is about making the decision to nurture those below you to their full potential.
As a compassionate leader, you are set to invest fourth dimension into those y'all are leading and ensure that they achieve success for themselves.
You lot are set to support their growth and exercise everything within your capabilities to get rid of any hurdles in their path to success.
Being a compassionate leader strengthens and mentors those below you.
Information technology gives them psychological safety and stability, which are very crucial if you want to create a healthy working environment. It also allows your people to grow into dandy leaders themselves and tin can besides lead to increased task satisfaction for your employees.
According to the Pity Workplace Model developed past Roffey Park, compassionate leadership involves five main aspects:
- Awareness of the needs of others.
- Beingness accepting and non-judgmental to the perspectives of others.
- Being tolerant towards personal distress and showing resilience.
- Being compassionate in all your professional interactions.
- Being responsible and accountable for all the outcomes of your team, whether skillful or bad.
Today, more than ever, people are starting to recognize the importance of compassion in leadership.
A 2022 study by researchers from the Kenan-Flagler Business concern Schoolhouse, University of North Carolina, found that leaders who bear witness compassion are more likely to be seen as stronger and are more likely to have engaged followers.
Several other studies have too plant out that in companies where the leaders are compassionate, there are higher rates of collaboration, more trusting and committed employees, and lower turnover rates.
One survey of over 1,000 leaders carried out by researchers from the Potential Project plant that 91% of leaders believe compassion is an important ingredient for skilful leadership, and 80% reported that they would like to become more compassionate, but do not know how to go about it.
HOW TO BECOME A MORE Compassionate LEADER
Having seen the importance of compassion in leadership, how then, can leaders apply it to their leadership?
Beneath are some practical ways to aid y'all get a more compassionate leader:
Utilize Compassion at All Times
Compassion is not a destination, it is the way, at to the lowest degree according to an one-time Chinese proverb.
Basically, this ways that pity is not something you achieve later doing sure things. Compassion is something you need to practice every fourth dimension.
Therefore, as a leader who wants to raise their pity, you need to apply compassion to all your interactions and enquire yourself how you can genuinely be of benefit to others. It is something you need to do all the time, and non just some of the time.
Once you make it a habit to apply pity in all your interactions, information technology becomes a compass that guides you actions, attending, and intentions.
Every time you collaborate with a customer, colleague, stakeholder, friend, or family unit member, ask yourself how you can make sure they leave with something good out of the interaction.
Await for Opportunities to Evidence Compassion
Aside from applying compassion at all times, you should as well actively expect for opportunities to bear witness compassion. Former Cisco CEO John Chambers provides a good example of how to do this.
Aware of the impact of pity on the organization, Chambers came up with a system that ensured that in the event that an employee was suffering illness or experiencing a severe loss, he would be notified about it within 48 hours, regardless of where in the earth he was.
One time he was informed of such a situation, he would and so write a personal letter to the employee and offer his support to the employee.
This simple thing instilled an appreciation for compassion and care throughout the arrangement.
While y'all don't need to adopt Chambers' arrangement, as a business organization leader, you should go far a habit to proactively seek opportunities to be compassionate to someone who needs the compassion.
This volition earn you dandy respect from your followers.
Be Prepare to Heed and Learn
Sometimes, when people are in a position of leadership, they run across themselves as the sole authority in everything. Nonetheless, just because you lot are a leader doesn't hateful that you know everything in that location is to know about your business.
If yous are a proficient leader, you take probably congenital a circle of smart and intelligent people around y'all.
However, these people will be of no employ if you do not listen to them or ask for their opinions on diverse matters.
Take reward of their wisdom and smarts by assuasive them to share their expertise and skills. The illusion that you know it all because you are a leader is ane of the fastest ways to kill compassion.
A good way to put this into practice is to utilise the Emergenetics Contour.
Request your employees to take the contour will assistance them to realize their thinking and behavioral preferences. From this, yous volition be able to observe what their strengths are, and where their greatest expertise lies.
From there, you can then showtime seeking their contribution in projects that are aligned with their strengths and preferences.
Agreement your employees' profiles will help you lot place employees who can make meaningful contribution to the company's growth and let yous to use their strengths in the best way possible.
Slow Down
Life in the corporate world is very hectic, particularly when you are the CEO of a huge company.
You tin hands get wrapped up in all the tasks, responsibilities and routines that come with existence a leader to the extent that your become overwhelmed and distracted.
In such a land, information technology becomes harder to pay attention to the welfare of those effectually you.
Past slowing downwardly, you will go more empathetic because slowing down allows yous to detect those effectually yous and notice what they are going through.
Having the fourth dimension to notice others as well makes information technology easier for you to disentangle from your beliefs and see things from the other person'due south perspective.
Slowing down as well makes it easier for you to notice whatever tensions that could exist derailing your employees and take action to ease these tensions.
Be Open to Change
To be compassionate, y'all also need to be open to change.
As a compassionate leader, sometimes it might exist necessary for you to alter your leadership policies, make changes to your lifestyle, embrace new strategies that could exist beneficial to your visitor, and and so on.
All this is impossible if yous do not work with an open mind.
If you want to raise your compassion, go in the addiction of challenging yourself regularly and trying to button your boundaries. Don't get stuck in the comfort zone.
E'er expect for ways to make your team members experience appreciated and valued, fix the right examples to inspire your team, wait for opportunities to treat them with affection and kindness, and generally mold yourself into a leader that other people would love to follow.
WRAPPING Upward
Equally you can tell from the examples of John Stumpf, Jeffrey Skilling, Silvio Berlusconi, Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, leaders often become corrupted by their power and appoint in unethical, self-serving behaviors, without the slightest concern about how the impact of their actions on others.
Sometimes, this happens due to the feeling of invincibility that comes with beingness in a position of power, while sometimes, it happens as a result of the pressure level and responsibilities that come with leadership.
The good thing is that leaders and people in positions of power tin avoid existence corrupted by their power past embracing compassion. Compassion is all about existence proactive in ensuring the happiness and wellbeing of other people.
As a leader, you tin raise your compassion by applying compassion in all your interactions, proactively looking for opportunities to testify pity to those who need information technology, being prepare to listen and larn, slowing down and taking the time to observe those effectually y'all, and being open up to modify.
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Source: https://www.cleverism.com/power-can-corrupt-leaders-compassion-can-save-them/
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