SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 – Yesterday, my wife and I picked up our granddaughter from kindergarten. I learned that early birds arrive at the head of the line. I doubt that this saves time, since early birds wait longer before the bell rings and later birds wait longer after the bell. Other factors apply, such as a quick escape (early birds) vs. vehicular entanglement (later birds).
The wait, however, gave me time to think, and what I thought about was this: “What motivates people to seek power?” Perhaps what prompted this question was kindergarten, as I contemplated the kids that would soon rush from the school and what might drive some more than others to pursue power as their lives unfold.
While sitting in the car with windows rolled down to the beautiful day (amidst sporadic conversation with my wife), I Googled, “What makes people seek power?”
What popped up were a number of articles—one in The Atlantic—that grappled with this very question. They cited research into the dichotomy between “influence” and “autonomy”—some power mongers (my term for “influencers”) wanting to lord over others; other power aspirants (again, my term—for “money focused”) striving for more marbles to permit the hoarders to “be what they want to be,” as opposed to having to do what others would have them do or being constrained, in some way, from doing what they wanted to do.
I found the referenced studies shallow and limited. One study had examined historical figures such as Caesar, Napoleon, Obama(!), and Putin and even fictious characters like Sauron and Darth Vader, but this struck me as lame. First, any analysis of a fictitious character is, by definition, malarky—or at least . . . fictional. Second, say or think whatever you like about our half-East-African-not-a-descendant-of-African-American-slaves-president with limited constitutional powers—however stretched you might think they were—but putting him in the same league as “Big” Caesar, “Little” Caesar, and “Modern” Czar (a Russian term derived from “Caesar”) undermines the facial validity of the study.
Based on my experiences in large organizations and my vicarious encounters with powerful figures in history, I think power and power-mongering are far more complicated than a drive to lord over others or acquire vast (or even less-than-vast) wealth. All sorts of over-lapping motivations along a spectrum can drive a person to influence others: insecurity; an excessive need to be adored, feared, respected, or in control; obsession with dogma, be it religious, political, or intellectual; a messianic vision; a gross personality disorder; clinical insanity. Another set of factors push people to become acquisitive, which requires money, which requires the power to get money, which then gives people the power over “stuff”: an over-stimulated animal instinct to live in a big, well-feathered nest; susceptibility to an acquisitive culture’s 24/7 advertising campaigns; an addiction to bright shiny objects; a need to be noticed and envied—compensation for deep-seated, self-assessed inadequacies.
The truth that transcends all studies and observations, however, turned out to be this: early birds catch their granddaughter.
(Remember to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.)
© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
