WHEN POWER COMES TO PLAY
There is no denying that power is quite intoxicating. It is potent enough to blur your sense of judgement, blunt your wisdom and worst of all, it has the potential to turn you into a short-sighted person who is not only unable to create a legacy, but finds it difficult to create any sort of positive impact on those around.
But don’t get me wrong, I am not dissing power. Just like parenting, privilege and money, power too is like a sharp knife. It is all about how you wield it. Get reckless and you could lose more than just your finger – you could lose your soul.
As I read the feature ‘How to deal with demanding bosses’ (page 22), I felt decisionmakers, bosses and all those with any form of power need to be like alchemists – people who bring together the strengths of all those who are their subordinates so that they are able to create a harmonious chemistry of teamwork. They should not be smiths who beat or burn down our spirit and create battered beings, I believe.
So the question is, what defines a good boss? I don’t really know. Having said that, what I do understand is that it asks for a long checklist of skill sets.
The most important and the most difficult to achieve is being secure. After climbing the corporate ladder – I call it corporate cannibalism – some people quite often look over their shoulder more often than they look ahead. Suspicious, hesitant and almost territorial, they morph into beings with a monstrous attitude and a dwarfed vision, completely incapable of leading by example, or even building a team.
While Mike Peake has listed a gamut of ways to deal with overly demanding bosses in the feature, the one that stood
Bosses should be like alchemists who bring together the strengths of their subordinates to create harmonious chemistry of teamwork
out for me was empowering yourself. From stepping back to understand the reason behind the tirade and then addressing it in a calm, logical manner to exercising some introspection just so that you get a better perspective on the work dynamics you share with your boss, they are all ways to turn conflicts into collaborations.
And if nothing works, there is always charm. A quality I believe has the power to disarm some of the most vicious of people.