Seek Power For The Good

Is power bad, and is it bad to seek power? I have pondered the answer to this question in my own life. My temperament, which is very driven by nature, sometimes leads me to overpowering people. But there’s also another side to power; it’s a part of being an influential leader where you are empowering people. The book Making Room for Leadership: Power, Space and Influence by MaryKate Morse and Leonard Sweet has insight into the question of whether power is good or bad.

“Leadership is a physical space and a social process. It is thousands of little body postures, gestures, nuanced voices, and intricate, intuitive engagements with others. It is how you enter a room, position yourself to speak, modulate your voice and use your eyes, while at the same time assessing others who are sharing that same space. It is an assessment of the power quotient of each person in the group.”

This, to be honest, is a bit exhausting for me. Yet I have been trying to do this tough inner work to understand this critical concept of power management. I have gravitated more towards understanding my temperament, and the strengths and weaknesses that can come from my wiring. I have come to understand that a lot of my Driver, my Pioneer, My Venturer, my Enneagram eight (in other words, my strong and assertive personality and my “go hard and fast” traits) can be power-up landmines for me–and I can unfortunately communicate to others that I lack collaboration, or move too quick on initiatives for those around me, or anxiously expect others to keep up at my fast pace. Candidly, as I have done this inner work, it has caused me to knee-jerk in a lot of ways, and not be comfortable in my own skin–always fearful that I can come across as too strong, or too powerful; so I have found myself sitting on my hands in meetings and conferences when I should be using influence to do good, helpful, and “other-centric” work. Morse said, “We often make the mistake of assuming that all power is bad because we’ve seen it used badly by imperfect human beings.” I have been there, even recently.

But power is not bad in and of itself. Morse stated, “…types of power can be used for good or bad.” We can use it for altruistic, human flourishing purposes; and we can use it for selfish, egocentrically driven ambitious reasons. Either way, “Power is simple the ‘ability to cause or prevent change.’” As leaders that are about empowering other people, we, of course, should harness our power and ability to influence people, and situations, for good–for service to other people. Viewed through this lens, power is not negative–there is no stigma that needs to be assigned to it. As Morse said, “Power is God’s gift. Powerlessness is not a virtue; rather, using power to help the powerless is.” An even bolder claim is when Morse said, “In fact, a person cannot be a servant leader without the power and the personal capacity to influence.”

This is liberating for me. As a strong personality, as a leader in the marketplace, as a former pastor that was trying to inspire and motivate congregants, I used to think I was being too “salesy” with my presentations, volunteer requests, or preaching. That my hyper-focus on knowing my audience and tailoring my messaging to specifically land well was manipulative. Yet as Morse claimed, “Knowing your audience is good leadership, not manipulation.” As “altruistic” leaders, me included, it’s hard to get our minds around this. It can feel slick when we are crafty in our messaging. The word “power” just feels attacking–it feels caustic. But this is shortsighted with the concept of power. Some of my favorite and most revered leaders weren’t against power per se: Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela–just to name a few. My favorite leader, Jesus, himself, wasn’t against power: “He disapproved of the ruling elite, the wealthy religious leaders, not because of their wealth but because their stewardship of it was contrary to God’s economics. They used their wealth to enhance their power rather than to serve others.”

Ultimately, we want to be thinking to ourselves, as leaders, “how, with my power, can I be more empathetic, sympathetic, safe, understanding, and collaborative?” This is what I need to do to harness the power and influence that I have, and to steward it well. This can sound like it is a bit of “self-micromanagement”–to be vigilant about thinking how I am stewarding, managing, and directing “power”; but it produces positive influence when appropriately stewarded by servant-leader desires. To be forcefully blunt and transparent, I want to be this kind of leader.

If we, as a body of servant-leaders in the marketplace, can get this right–frankly, it can change our companies, our communities, and even the world. As Morse said, “Power used well is transformational.”