Timeout for Leadership-your one-minute leadership idea

Op-ed #30

Why do you seek power?

Fact:  Yes, it is true.  You seek power.  Is that bad?

You seek power.  You relentlessly pursue power. But once you get this power, what are you going to do with it?

Every leader, including school principals and superintendents, look to grab power.  Let’s face it, you need a certain degree of power to do your job. Some power is given to you purely by the title of the position.  Some power is given to you because of your personality.  You recognize that the accumulation of power is a political process and yes, you know how to play that power acquisition game.  But here is the question, now that you have that power, what are you going to do with it?

If you are a leader that looks to centralize his or her power for the sake of possessing that power for power’s sake, shame on you.  If you ae that leader that figuratively walks around the building with a big sign around his or her neck, proclaiming your power, once again, shame on you.  If you ruthlessly display whatever power that you may have, you have just struck out.  Shame on you for the third time.

Yet, for many, this thirst for power is just that, a thirst for power.  That is the pursuit that drives them.  They have probably enjoyed this pursuit and perhaps enjoyed how they wrestled power from some people.  They may have enjoyed stepping on and over the people that stood in their way.  If this is you, you are no leader.  You met your personal individual needs and maybe you have made a lot of money along the way, but what did you do with your power besides self-aggrandizement?

When one accrues his or her power, I think that it is essential that you use it for the completion of your vision for the organization.  That link is sometimes lost.  I believe, perhaps altruistically, that each leader starts out with a vision for the organization.  I like to believe and hope that every principal starts his or her job with a vision for making the school a better place.  Yes, to improve the student learning that goes on there.  To improve student achievement.  Of course, there are a great many roads to get one there.  The results will probably tell you if your choice of which road you took was correct.  However, now is the time that your accrued power must be used to get you to your end game vision.

And yes, along the way you may personally change.  As you accrue your power you may have to perform a certain way.  And now that you have that power, people may notice a real personality change or twist as you begin to implement your vision.  That shift is not necessarily bad.

Ultimately, you will be judged as to how you used your power.  As a matter of fact, you may be judged to see if you actually did use your power to accomplish anything.  There are times that once someone has all of the power that he or she may need, they do not know how to use it.  They freeze.  They become paralyzed.  When then happens his or her career is wasted.  It is time to start over with someone new.

There is nothing wrong with liking power.  For me the question will always remain as to what you did with it.  You work hard to get power.  Now dammit, do something constructive with it!