#writingtap day 076 — Utilizing power with mindfulness, a learning from Harvard Business Review: Mindfulness

This was extracted from Prof Dacher Keltner’s “Don’t Let Power Corrupt You” in HBR Mindfulness.

“Power does tend to corrupt” (Lord Acton, 19th century politician)

Research by Prof Keltner uncovered that one who gain higher powerful position through good qualities (such as empathy, openness, collaboration, fairness, sharing, etc), start to have their so called qualities fading, as they feel powerful or enjoy their position and privilege. This phenomenon was called the power paradox. which observes that as one goes up the ladder, one’s behavior would get worse. This was not limited around having higher positions; studies also show that being richer or famous can have similar effect. There was also a supporting survey conducted that concluded some groups had the tendency to engage in unethical behavior, or as we called it abuse of power.

Things to pay attention to:

• When one takes on senior role, one needs to be attentive to the feelings that accompany his newfound power and to any changes in the behavior.
• Research has shown that power puts humans into something like a manic state: making them feel expansive, energized, omnipotent, hungry for rewards, and immune to risks which open people up to rash, rude, and unethical actions. But new studies in neuroscience found that simply by reflecting and acknowledging the thought "I am feeling as if I should rule the world right now" would engage regions of brain's frontal lobes that helps people keep out the worst impulses in check. When we recognize and label feelings of joy and confidence we're less likely to make irrational decisions inspired by them. Hence why we still need to keep positive emotions and impulses in check regardless.
• Reflect on one’s demeanor and actions. Are we interrupting/being rude to people? (Not paying attention to others’ talking is rude, cut through sentences is rude, joking about humiliating or embarrassing someone else is rude, etc)

Abusing power at hand could cause stress and anxiety at workplaces and decreased creativity, where the team members tended to deliberately decreased the effort or lower their work quality in response to such treatment. Not only affecting team’s work quality, being handed certain power, i.e money, could lead someone in lead making rash decisions due to the “powerful feeling”. Decision making might not be as good and reckless.

Awareness and mindful action could help avoiding power corruption:

1. Practicing empathy.
   Attentive listening could be felt by others. When we do, we could show it through paraphrasing the statements we heard or asking few, relevant questions. Body languages also don’t lie! True act of listening could be seen by how we sit or stand, how we stare, up to micro gesture like nodding and eye movement.
2. Practicing gratitude
   Make sincere thank-yous as a part of daily communication. Appreciate others, acknowledge their works, and give them the credits they deserve.
3. Practicing generosity
   Give praises and share the spotlight with your team. Have some real talk with your team, ask for their perspective. It’s a team work, not a one-man-show.

With great power, comes great responsibility.

I was reminded to humble myself with every new power I acquired. There’s a need to use it for greater good. Power doesn’t mean someone got the upper hand and superiority. Power comes in many forms and shape; be it a significant position, title, wealth, knowledge, influence; it depends on what feeds our ego the most. May this be a note to manage ourselves with the best, mindful way.