View from the Learning Executive: The Shadow Side of Power

Author: Ruth Palombo Weiss

The quality of leadership seems to be on everyone’s mind today.  In her new book, The Shadow Side of Power: Lessons for Leaders, leadership and change expert Patricia McLagan explores how and why leaders can easily slide into participating in catastrophes like those during the 2007 financial crisis. The ultimate message of the book is positive: the power that comes with an institutional leadership role is a major resource that can be used to get things done, for personal learning, and ultimately to leave a legacy for the future.

McLagan talks about the genesis of the book: “I saw the 2007 financial disaster as a crisis of leadership more than anything else, and I thought it was time to write about management in crisis, for management philosophy and practice is not fully keeping up with changing ways of doing business. It’s still frequently authoritarian and the concept of leaders being ‘served’ still dominates when we need more of a spirit of ‘in service to.’ I wanted to know why.

“I was also concerned about the lack of attention to the emotional and subconscious forces that come to work with people every day. I soon discovered the book I was outlining wasn’t about the crisis of leadership and it wasn’t about skills; it was about people’s awareness and use of power.”

One hundred years ago an authoritarian and hierarchical way of doing things seemed to make sense, McLagan reminds us, because communication was slow, and organizations were compartmentalized. However, today with social media and a more networked way of doing business, everybody participates and co-creates at many levels. “Things have sped up enormously and power is being spread out to everyone. The whole power scene is changing,” says McLagan, who thinks there is a misconception about power that is dogging both leaders and followers.

Misuse of power

The book addresses issues of institutional power. “Some people,” she notes, “are paid to lead. It is their responsibility to make decisions that go beyond their own personal sphere of influence. In this institutional role, it is easy to not fully use, to misuse, and even abuse this broad influence. Wall Street abuses are an egregious example, but power distortions also occur more frequently in government today than in the past – for it takes massive resources to run an election machine – and there are many seductions associated with elected roles!” 

“There is a tremendous lack of awareness and accountability related to how power is being used. The value systems, the ways we control power, and the constraints we can use aren’t up to date. Our global society is struggling to keep up with the powers we’ve unleashed technologically and financially,” she says.

“The deeper I got into outlining the book the more I realized that if people would face up to power dynamics, they would discover a lot of opportunity for growth.  But this requires becoming hyper-aware of the ‘shadow side’ – including attitudes toward power that relate to past experiences with authorities or to unresolved inter-personal relationships.

“The ‘shadow’ is a Jungian concept: at the edge of consciousness and beyond are personal qualities and fears we don’t acknowledge or may even repress.  These qualities lie in wait to express themselves – sometimes in the form of excess or abuse. The shadow also includes leadership qualities that a leader has and could develop but doesn’t recognize or can’t accept in himself and thus fails to use or develop.

“The fact is power is a force with tremendous energy that can be used for good or for ill, but that force often runs things without conscious control. This is the message of myths and grand epics, and is, I think, why Star Wars (“May the Force be with you.”), Harry Potter (the Elder Wand), and other mythological stories are topical today. I want to bring this force of power that we are so reluctant to discuss directly, to the surface, so we can face it and turn it from a destructive to constructive force,” says McLagan.”

Institutional power and responsibility

Many of us repress things we’ve experienced in our power relationships, and those things can come back and haunt us, McLagan reminds us. When this occurs for and around people who have institutional authority, there are many ripple effects. Consider the reactions of people who have less authority. A leader might remind them of an autocratic or unsympathetic parent – or someone else. They may react in a negative or subservient or counter-dependent way without thinking about why.

“Additionally, leaders may have had some poor role models in the past. Without thinking, a leader may imitate those people without being conscious of their influence. Such leaders may gradually begin to treat people with less power in a disrespectful way, or increasingly hold themselves above the rules and processes that others are supposed to follow. These are all examples of our shadow side showing,” she says.

“A lot of leadership development assumes a rational person. Certainly, people in these programs learn about becoming good leaders and, for 99 percent of them, their intention is to implement those lessons. When we’re in a day-to-day situation where power is in play, though, there is always a danger that our irrational sides will take control. It’s important to be more conscious about the non-rational elements of power.”

Leadership takes courage

“What then is the leader’s role today? Some people say it’s the end of leadership and we don’t need any leaders. But in an organization you need people performing leadership functions such as being sure there are strategies and being sure there are processes that hold the organization together. There is an executive and managerial function that has to be performed. However, this function doesn’t have to be an authoritarian, dominating role.  We haven’t been able to separate the domination (‘I’m the boss’) from the functional role of leadership, which is (among other things) that there is common purpose, a well-designed and functioning system, and that people are willing and able to work together to achieve bigger goals.

“When you’re in a power role you’re always in the limelight. You have to deal with many conflicting priorities, adjudicate conflicts, and make decisions where the answers are not clear and where there are many stakeholders vying for influence. All this, while you deal with people who want to get on your good side, gain favor for promotion and influence, or may even be colluding to take your job. Then there is the ease with which you may come to believe that because you have a more important title, a nicer office, a more luxurious car, and a bigger paycheck than those around you, you are in a different league as a human being and can therefore treat others as subordinate people.

“Institutional leadership is difficult and there are many temptations to use institutional power and visibility in ways that do not serve. But this extra power and visibility also brings many opportunities for personal growth, to make a bigger difference than you can on your own, and to leave a legacy for an institution, people affected, and society itself. Positions of authority require awareness and courage, and you’re called on to be your best self.  Good leaders realize they have to step up and answer the calling of their lives, because others and their institutions require it.

“As we all know, some people are not suited for institutional leadership or management positions. They are not attracted to leadership work, and that’s okay. They’d rather be creating designs, making products, figuring out engineering details, selling. They don’t want to be guiding strategies, representing the organization, caring about whether processes are working and people are developing. You have to have a passion for leadership work. That’s the start toward the best use of power,” says McLagan.

Talking about power

“One problem I see is that people don’t want to talk about power. We talk about power as ethics, but that’s sanitizing it. Power is juicy and electric and we need to ask how can we use that energy of power to help others or ourselves. It is vital to have people talk about power and the ways it can be used and abused. It’s important to help executives deal with and realize when they’re on a slippery slope to the misuse and abuse of their power. For many, there is a gradual seduction, and it becomes impossible to admit to problems or mistakes.

“In today’s fast-changing world, mistakes and even periodic abuses are inevitable: leaders are people, after all.  Perhaps a start toward really great and principled leadership is realizing that you don’t need to look or be perfect. Debunking the myth that leaders are perfect is a start. Recognizing and admitting slipups when they occur and quickly getting back on a stewardship path is a key antidote to the abuse of power,” says McLagan.

“A useful practice for an executive in a management role is to move away from talking about getting things done through others. Rather, see institutional leadership as something which has unique deliverables. People in formal leadership roles deliver such things as business strategies; a culture that has certain qualities; processes that make the organization more facile; and performance support to those around them.

“Executives like to know they are responsible for something that is tangible. Each leader needs to ask ‘What do I produce, provide, or deliver as an executive that adds value to this organization?’ Framing things in achievement-oriented language emphasizes where power needs to be focused.”

“Power is a unique resource that can be used for good or for ill. Leaders need to look carefully at their relationship to this amazing resource, and become more conscious of how they use it for leverage, for their own personal learning and growth, and to leave a legacy they will be proud of.

“Remember, if you feel yourself over-reacting to something, you know you’re dealing with an edge between yourself and your shadow side. You need to ask, ‘What is happening? Why did I act that way?’ When you walk down the hall as a leader, you shake the earth; when you look at something, it’s like laser beam; and when you speak, you roar,” McLagan says. “This is the power of position. Take this amazing force and use it wisely.”

Pat McLagan has worked with leading organizations on the breakthrough edge of organization leadership and change since the early 70s. Her early work with major businesses and agencies such as GE and NASA helped launch new approaches to technology and leadership development that focused more on application than lecture. She has guided major and complex change initiatives in telecommunications, technology, international health, and with South African businesses before, during, and after Apartheid. Now her focus is on power – how people in authority use and abuse it. Find the book The Shadow Side of Power: Lessons for Leaders at www.patmclagan.com/shadow.php

AUTHORED BY:           

Ruth Palombo Weiss