Yesterday I participated in a chat about leadership over on Twitter hosted by Lisa Petrilli and Steve Woodruff. The topic was power and the intent was to discuss the ideas of Jeff Pfeffer from his new book Power: Why some people have it and others don’t. There were so many people participating in the chat that I personally can’t call it a conversation, but suffice to say the leader’s use of power to get things done was overwhelmingly viewed to be undesirable. I understand what folks were trying to say in quick-fire bursts of 140 characters or less, but I was frustrated.
Power is not a four letter word. Like it or not, power is the heart of leadership. No achievement or failure of any significance has ever been or ever will be accomplished void of power.
As I have written here before, your beliefs about power differentiate your behavior and character as a leader. What are you willing to do to get power? What are you willing to do to keep it? Do you use your power to serve yourself and your inner circle, or do you use your power to serve others regardless of what they think of you? Do you treat those that have no power and authority differently than you treat those that do?
Give me a week to watch what you say and do at work as you interact with your boss, your direct reports, and your peers, and I can tell you exactly what you believe about power. Your words and actions will manifest your beliefs and assumptions independent of your level of awareness of your power paradigm.
Beyond what you think about power, your words and actions toward others will also reveal your feelings about them and yourself. Is your leadership primarily about your personal passions and insecurities, or is it about something bigger and better than yourself?
Power is the heart of leadership. Is yours an opaque and selfish heart, or is yours an open one, where the people you’ve been given the privilege to lead are invited to examine, challenge, improve, and share a purpose worthy of everyone’s highest contribution and sacrifice?
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Good point. The disturbing trend by leadership “experts” is to stain concepts like Transformational or Servant leadership into some sort of power-less concept of a leader. Even in a democracy, where power is willingly given up by the followers, the power is still given to the leader. The best we can do is teach leaders to use that power to serve those that gave it to them. We CAN’T teach leaders to lead without power.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
October 13th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Servant leadership is tougher than command-and-control leadership; as such, it requires considerable power and proper perspective to execute properly. Most really don’t understand it and poo poo it. I find it to be an incredibly powerful approach. Thanks! Bret
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Bret,
It was such an honor to have you at #LeadershipChat last night. I love the perspective you shared about power on my own blog and I agree with much of what you wrote in this post.
Where I think we have a different view is the claim by Pfeffer that power is the one thing, above all else, required for success. I think what many of the participants in the chat were expressing was their own experiences either leading or following, and how power without vision – or the misuse of power – did not lead to success.
What I loved about the chat last night was that there was so much disagreement. It meant we were delving into something meaty with personal ramifications and that people felt comfortable expressing their views. It’s amazing for me to see that occur in a medium like Twitter.
I hope you’ll join us often in the future!
All the very best,
@LisaPetrilli
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
October 13th, 2010 at 12:14 pm
Welcome, Lisa! You guys hit a home run last night with your first #leadershipchat. Thanks to you and Steve for your hard work to make it work.
The “conversation” was much to rapid for me to keep up. What I was able to sample as it flew by gave me the impression that the majority of folks might not even have read the Pfeffer article. I don’t necessarily agree with Pfeffer either, but I understand what he is trying to say.
Thanks, Lisa! Bret
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Wonderful thoughts Bret. Leaders have so much control over how they exert power and it tends to lead in certain directions. If we use it for the greater good we get results that reflect that philosophy, if we use it in less altruistic ways it has entirely different effects. I’ve found that it’s helpful to set our ego aside and use power as a vital tool to help ourselves and others grow. Keep up the great work, Guy.
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
October 13th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Every time you wield power, you always have a choice to do so for your own good or for the good of others. As you correctly state, it matters. Thanks! Bret
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[...] Power: The Heart of Leadership by Dr. Bret L. Simmons [...]
Bret – Jane Perdue @thehrgoddess and I are conducting research on women & power. Along the way we’ve discovered that the majority of both women and men don’t want to step up and into power. As a result, I am exploring that area as well. My initial hypothesis about “why” shifted after watching a TED video on shame and vulnerability. Is it possible that the power spotlight scares us because our vulnerabilities in the form of mis-takes, mis-steps, uncertainty, would be so visible to so many.
What are your thoughts about why so few want to step up and into power?
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Bret L. Simmons Reply:
November 7th, 2010 at 11:01 am
Welcome back, Anne. I don’t know the evidence behind the answer to your question. I suspect that it does have something to do with risk aversion. Plus there are fewer women in power, so that puts them in the spotlight more. People notice when they fail and often use different explanations for how they used power. Good question. Thanks! Bret
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