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leadership and power
Why they’re opposites
People assume leadership and power are the same thing.
I’d argue they’re opposites.
Leaders want to create the right circumstances so decision-making is made by the ones with the right expertise. People seeking power want to be able to call all the shots.
Leaders want to make themselves redundant by making space for others. Those seeking power want to stay and make themselves irreplaceable.
Leaders want to make others shine. Those seeking power want the spotlight on them.
Leaders understand that relinquishing control to the people who are closer to the problem is the best way to reach the best outcome; those seeking power want to grab control even over things they have no expertise in so they stay relevant.
Traditional hierarchy encourages power and discourages leadership
In a hierarchical system, those at the top have all the power. Managers are the ones who will make the decisions (big and/or small), supervise and control their team’s work and give away brownie points to those who are performing based on criteria that management itself has come up with.
In this scenario, true leadership can be stifled because the moment the manager has…
