Power and Its Costs When Granted to the Wrong People

You cannot trust — and give — certain people power and you can’t give certain people more power. They will almost always get drunk on it and abuse it.

Look around and not just in matters or national or international importance and you will see it. Think more granular. Look locally. Look in your personal orbit too.

If you look objectively, you’ll see it: Where power is, there will be people who use it responsibly and those who choose to, as the norm, use it selfishly. You will also notice how they are inexplicably supported and enabled.

Risk management with these types of personalities is not being exercised.

Did you know that brains change when people gained power and feel more powerful? It should not come as a surprise that when that happens, “it has been found that people become more impulsive and less empathetic,” writes Vaageesha Das, a columnist at The Dominion Post.

“After gaining power, a person is less likely to think of what’s best for the group and more likely to think of what’s best for themselves.”

                                Image by Oleksandr Pidvalnyi from Pixabay

They feel selfish impulses, escalated wants and big needs that they want satisfied and successfully punish people if they are moved to do so. It’s within their capability. Being held accountable for it is rare, usually for a long while, if ever.

There are additional disturbing realities that Das writes about.

“Those in power have been found to violate social codes…”

Knowing you don’t have to live your life by normal cultural rules can become an addictive, habitual behavior. You feel different, believe in your powerful, special position, see yourself as being above others and so you act like it as a rule.

Empathy and respect, if they don’t die off, slowly decays.

“There are certain parts of the brain called ‘mirror neurons,’” Das writes. “These neurons are active both when people engage in a certain motor activity and when they see people engaging in that motor activity. It helps with imitation learning.  

“In a study, people were asked to recall a specific time they felt powerless and a time when they felt powerful. After considering an experience that made them feel powerless, it was found their mirror neurons were firing just fine.

“However, after considering a time that made them feel powerful, their mirror neurons were essentially shut off.”

Notice, the experience of being powerful or feeling that way can change how we self controlled we are when it comes to acting morally right, doing the “right” thing. We are less likely to act sensitively and less likely to refrain from committing morally wrong acts.

Powerlessness affects people’s health.

“People who feel powerless are more inclined to be anxious and sad… It can worsen their immune system and cause harmful biomarkers in their cells,” Das writes.

“Feeling powerless typically leads to high-stress responses that can cause things such as cardiovascular diseases and lowered life expectancy.”

Let’s consider situations where power being recklessly granted to people who won’t be responsible with it, those same people being recklessly monitored and uncorrected. Think about how them being regularly supported and enabled negatively and deeply impacts law-abiding, morally decent people.

This is a common societal problem that, the vast majority of the time, gets ignored in many different situations.

Misplaced trust and power is a risk management failing.

Likely helpful is testing people for their impulse control and their ability and inclination to responsibly apply their power and withhold it when negatively triggered.

What thinking and actions can be administered today, tomorrow and consistently to start practicing effective risk management and correction of these types of personalities and behaviors to stop it cold, mitigate damages and respond with the necessary, responsible, through remedies for those harmed, maybe badly?

Brief: End

Michael Toebe is a specialist for trust, risk, relationships, communication and communication at Reputation Intelligence — Reputation Quality, assisting individuals and organizations in 1) further building those important points and 2) improving, protecting, restoring and reconstructing them when needed.

If you find yourself in need and “want” of assistance for serious, critical situations involving reputation, you are welcome to contact me personally 7 days a week, day or night at reputation.intelligence.rq@gmail.com, or through the form below or by calling 316-226-4071 (8 am to 9 pm CST).