I heard somewhere that people with power will always abuse it, and that it was human nature to do so.
This made me kind of depressed, as you can imagine, because that would mean that no one would really have good intentions for other people when they are in power.
This affects the world politically, in the corporate sphere, and even in our personal lives. Let's take an example. Parents who hold power over their children. Being a parent is a hard job, because for 18 years in the western world, you will have complete control. The child could rebel, but at the end of the day, you hold financial control, a foray into their future.
By means of retribution, you mold a child into your own image. At least, you try hard to. You make him join a tennis team because you had dreams of being a tennis player. You make them enjoy the kind of music you enjoy.
All in all, you reward them the more they become like you. But you don't ask if becoming like you was through their choice or your force.
I think there is something important in that conflict. Like our children, who we mold to our image, holding power over someone means making them do what we want them to, and getting addicted to the idea that we are in control.
I realized that this is not the right way to think. Or at least, this way of thinking is incomplete. There are complications I won't go over, because over-complicating things can sometimes be more dangerous than over-simplifying them, it repels you from revisiting the idea.
The motive of people in power, should most of the time, be to nurture the people who they have the power over to find what they want and be who they want to be.
In my high school, I had an English professor who told us that in writing college essays, we should be ourselves.
He had a bright girl come up to him and tell him to help her with her college essay. She was trying to play up to the establishment. She tried making her resume more interesting, to spice it up if you will.
When she came to him, my professor told her to avoid any enhancing of her story, and to talk about being herself. In doing so, my teacher exercised his power as a someone with authority to help the girl learn a valuable lesson; if you lie about yourself to get something, it will catch up to you in the long run.
The girl eventually got into the college she wanted to go to and thanked him.
This little anecdote, I think, gives a good protocol to follow when you are in power. When you are in power of something, you should make a good judgment of the person or system that you are in power in, and direct the person or system to find it's optimum strength.
Basically, lead in the direction which the people have the most potential of benefitting from.
If you force people to accept what you believe is the right way, you rob them of the growth they would have been satisfied with, therefore, increasing your likelihood of being a bad leader.
To handle this issue with poise, you have to have the strength to admit you're wrong, and realize that being leader has nothing to do with ego and control, and everything to do with being selfless and generous.
The best leaders are those who are charismatic and fearless of the opposition, but also those who have faith in their team, and the direction he/she wants them to go.
It is not impossible to not to abuse power. It's just very hard. Which makes it, in my opinion, something well worth doing.
