The New Laws of Power and Leadership

I've always loved reading, ever since I could remember. Why I decided to pick up Les Misérables in 6th grade, the Brothers Karamazov for a high school book report...it's all beyond explanation. So naturally, I have found myself drawn to others who share a love of books.

When I started on my long and winding road through the business world, I had made a point of reaching to do this thing called...networking. Meeting business leaders I knew, others in companies and organizations I didn't know, and created a great cohort of mentors. As an avid bibliophile, one of my first questions was to ask about their reading list. This was before the advent of Amazon and the internet. There wasn’t a great "50 business books to get you started" list, so this query helped define my young business philosophy.

I remember asking this question of one of my mentors. I was usually in awe of him and didn't know why he continued to take my calls. So, when he reached into his personal library and gave me a book...I thought it was pretty special. He prefaced the gift with a quick lecture about the power of leadership. "Power is easily mailable for use in good or bad for raising people up or putting them down”. Well, this introduction made me even more excited to read this book.

The 48 Laws of Power, by Robert Greene.

I read the book in a sitting, then went back a few more times, taking notes, looking at source books and soaking it all in. This book to me became a walking example of some concepts while not magical, seemed to have incredible power. This book to this day serves as a reminder of the opportunities and challenges that come with yielding power.

With that power, well...you know the rest...

One of the biggest changes I've seen in the past decade in the business world is a shift of the power dynamic and the management style of successful leaders and organizations. Instead of the reclusive leader who uses fear and intimidation to get results, we're seeing more and more of a flat organizational style with leaders still yielding power, but distributing that power for the betterment of the team, and thus the organization.

It's a huge management shift that has come quickly when you look at the whole of business theory. (If you happen to be geeked out on this topic of organizational theory and how power is shifting within organizations, I recommend the book Reinventing Organizations). This loosening of the power structure is beautiful, but also very frightening for many leaders who are comfortable with holding a centralized control of power.

For executives, we need to adjust and embrace this new day in organizational politics and organizations. There are numerous studies and examples of how the new power dynamic in these configurations are actually more fruitful for the organization and deliver incredible results on so many levels.

That said, people and groups will always look for leaders and leadership. Even in a flat organization, or a team project made of peers, there's a human tendency to give someone a leadership role, even if it's un-pronounced. This new power dynamic actually puts MORE stress on a leader being a great team player. It was a lot easier to be boss when you had a corner office with intimidating furniture and a bevy of assistants to guard your door. It's a higher order level skill for you to be a compassionate, present and positive leader when now, for the most part, you are leading out in the open...both figuratively and literally.

New up and coming leaders are able to learn this skill naturally in their organizations. For more seasoned executives, this is a skill we're going to have to learn to gain comfort with. Luckily, you can teach an old dog new tricks. It just takes time, energy, effort, expertise, knowledge and some loosening of the reigns.

Most importantly, it's all about re-learning those 48 Laws of Power and understanding how they work within this new economic reality, and being even more cognizant of how we use the power that we get naturally or by virtue of the title on our business card.

So, I challenge you to let your guard down as you look at your teams and companies from a different perspective. To review how you utilize power and new ways that you can explore to better harness that incredible team you have brought together. The power that comes from increasing the collective good is bound to surprise you.