There is nothing more alluring than
power. We have an innate desire to be stronger, faster, and smarter, to
distinguish ourselves by ability and stand out from the crowd. This inbuilt
ambition has been the driving force behind the human dominance as a species
and, as a result, we worship the powerful. Award shows, elections and sporting
events are just a few of the contests we fight to separate winners from losers,
strong from weak. And when the dust has settled, we parade our champions
through the streets, plaster their faces on billboards and magazine covers, and
treat them like heroes.
But, if that power is abused, if the
politician’s credibility is destroyed, the athlete caught cheating, or the
businessman corrupt, we are outraged. The misuse of power offends us like no
other crime, because the same force that creates a leader can also create a
tyrant. And though few people will ever govern a nation or command an army,
every man will one day have power: to start a business is to have power over
employees; to captain a team is to have power over teammates; even to be a
father is pretty much to have power over a child.
No.11 Have Role Models
Seek out people who inspire you and follow in their example.
Sir Isaac Newton, widely considered the most important and influential
scientist to ever live, and the person responsible for the theory of gravity as
well as the “laws of motion,” famously downplayed his own accomplishments,
stating, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing on the
shoulders of giants.” The importance of role models is all too obvious to
scientists, who carry on the work of their predecessors, but it is equally applicable
to businessmen, athletes and politicians.
No.10 Stand for Something Greater Than
Yourself
To be truly powerful, you have to represent something
greater than yourself: an idea or vision whose legacy will live on long after
you are gone. Martin Luther King once said, “A man who won’t die for something
is not fit to live.” Tragically, on April 4th, 1968, a bullet from an
assassin’s rifle cut his life short, but not before his principled stand
against racial inequity galvanised a nation into confronting its long-ignored
issues of racism and discrimination. Just days after his death, the U.S.
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1968, and King’s legacy and character,
especially his commitment to peaceful demonstration and reasoned debate,
continue to inspire human rights activists the world over.
No.9 Do Not Seek Approval
Powerful people practice self-reliance, trusting in their
own abilities and intuitions rather than looking to others for confirmation and
assurance. No one better embodies this ideal than Winston Churchill, who once
said, “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something,
sometime in your life.” In the years leading up to World War II, Churchill was
vilified as a warmonger for his outspoken criticisms of Hitler and the
appeasement policies of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Churchill recognised
the danger posed by a mechanised Germany
No.8 Don't Make Excuses
The powerful do not make excuses: they take responsibility.
Benjamin Franklin embodied his maxim: “He that is good for making excuses is
seldom good for anything else.” An inventor, author, scientist and politician,
Franklin, often referred to as “the first American” for his early and tireless devotion
to the union of the early American colonies, is one of history’s most
accomplished men. His emphasis on personal accountability is legendary, and is
a large focus of his famous autobiography, in which he specifies a list of
thirteen “virtues,” or principles, upon which to build a successful life.
No.7 Do Not Fear Failure
Nobody achieves power without first understanding the
importance of failure. Behind every successful person hides a succession of
spectacular, often very public, failures. Henry Ford once said, “Failure is
simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.” He would
know: his success in founding the Ford Motor Company was not an accident but
the result of knowledge gained from failing again and again. Ford’s first
attempt at creating an industry was the Detroit Automobile Company, founded in
late 1899 and dissolved barely two years later due to quality issues and high
costs. In founding the Ford Motor Company, he improved on his problems by
switching from ethanol to gasoline and implementing assembly lines to cut
expenses while maintaining quality. The result? Ford’s techniques were copied
the world over and his company became, and remains, one of the largest
family-owned companies in the world.
No.6 Be Humble
There are few things more annoying or off-putting than a
braggart. The Chinese philosopher Confucius, living around 500 B.C., taught,
“The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.”
Humility is an important virtue to cultivate: having an ego distracts you from
what is important, taking your focus off of your goals and onto your image. As
Confucius points out, talk is cheap; it is our actions and accomplishments that
speak for us and determine our value.
No.5 Power Is Innovative
The powerful are those that choose to lead rather than
follow, preferring always to explore new ground rather than retrace another’s
footsteps. Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Inc., once wrote, “Innovation
distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” After being removed from the
board of the company he created, Jobs returned when the company was nearing
bankruptcy, and promptly declared that Apple had lost the battle of personal
computing and had to focus on new things. What followed - in rapid succession -
were the iPod, iPhone and iPad, which took Apple from the brink of irrelevance
to being among the most powerful and valuable companies in the world.
No.4 Power Is Not Confrontational
In the second century B.C., a Chinese military commander
known as Sun Tzu wrote what would become the definitive treatise on military
combat, studied to this day by generals and strategists the world over. In The Art of War,
he writes, “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
The powerful do not need to fight or argue to get what they want; they
understand the costs of conflict and find ways to achieve their goals without
confrontation. Negotiation, diplomacy and persuasion are always preferable to
petty squabbles or outright violence.
No.3 It Is Better To Be Loved Than Feared
It is the nature of power that anyone with strength or
access to a firearm can exert it, but power based on fear is fleeting and
dangerous. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by
fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a
thousand times more effective and permanent than the one derived from fear of
punishment.” Through hunger strikes and acts of non-violent civil disobedience,
Gandhi won international support and admiration, liberating India from British colonial rule and advancing
his campaigns for the amelioration of poverty and peace between Hindu and
Muslim groups within India
No.2 Be Memorable
The truly powerful exert a lasting influence, even long
after their deaths. Bruce Lee once said, “The key to immortality is first
living a life worth remembering.” A martial artist and global film star, Lee
became a pop culture icon, inspiring millions with his dedication and
discipline, as well as his personal philosophy, a mix of Buddhism and Taoism.
Though he died at the tragically young age of 33, from cerebral edema, his
legacy survives: Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid fighting style of his own invention, is
still taught to this day, and Time Magazine named him one of the most
influential figures of the 20th century.
No.1 Power Is A Means, Not An End
The Greek philosopher Plato long ago wrote, “The measure of
a man is what he does with power.” If your end goal is only to have power, your
life will be spent in a desperate effort to maintain that power. If, on the
other hand, you have a higher purpose, a goal that you wish to accomplish or a
change you want to effect, then power becomes a tool, a way to influence and
shape the world to your vision. What you do with that power will define you.
