You have Power (now deal with it)

As a leader, to some people in some circumstances, you are Power. As Uncle Ben would say, with power comes responsibility.

YOU ARE POWER. Being Power means that the person in front of you cannot trust you, no matter how good a guy/gal you are. It also means they SHOULDN’T trust you. You have power. It disrupts your brain. You are in Evaluation Mode whether you like it or not, you are judging this person whether you like it or not, because Power makes you. The question is: are you able, in the moment, to see the judgement?

Power corrupts the brain. Knowledge of power, even unused power, is like being exposed to a toxic, mind-altering chemical. Well, it actually IS being exposed to a mind-altering chemical, if it comes to that. Our bodies and brains have a particular adverse reaction to having power. While responses vary, no one is immune. Accept it. You have power, like you have the flu. The having of power changes your mind in ways you cannot perceive, changes your perceptions and your judgments below your conscious mind. 

Power also changes the people around you. They can’t help it, either. It’s a chemical reaction to your chemical reaction, or maybe it’s just fight-or-flight, but when someone has power over a human, the over-powered human also comes under the mind-altering effect of chemicals in the brain that tell them to be careful not to trigger you to use your power. Or to challenge your power. Again, reactions vary. But anyone who thinks they have immunity is probably delusional, or at least dangerous.

Understanding, not minimizing, the effects of Power lets us mitigate their worst outcomes. So, let's start by acknowledging our institutional, positional "power over" for what it is - a force that makes us less likely to seek common understanding before imposing our view; a force that makes those over whom we hold power less likely to communicate with us honestly and completely. That's where we start, in our work relationships. Now, where do we go?