{"id":1931,"date":"2022-03-30T10:59:26","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T08:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xpand.eu\/sa\/?p=1931"},"modified":"2022-03-30T10:59:26","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T08:59:26","slug":"healthy_leadership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xpand.one\/sa\/healthy_leadership\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy Leadership. Power, the freedom to serve!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u2018Power, the freedom to serve\u2019.<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/em>My father was a surgeon in a Dutch hospital in the last century. He had a passion for people, a passion for medicine and a passion for healing people. I still remember the stories we heard at the kitchen table, how he enjoyed his work and at the same time was highly irritated that in the hospital there was so much abuse of power. It seemed like a contradiction: people who dedicate themselves to serve people, can also be people who have no clue how to handle power in a positive way! And by not handling power in a healthy way, each person, young or old, man or woman, rich or poor, will tend to grow in abusing power.<\/p>\n

How is that possible? And why is power such a challenging element in all our lives?<\/p>\n

To answer this question, it is necessary to first of all define power.<\/p>\n

Romano Guardini, a philosopher of the 20th<\/sup> century, wrote a basic philosophical book on power during the \u2018Nurnberg Processes\u2019 in 1948, where Nazi war criminals were asked why they abused so much power. Most of these men and women did not feel responsible\u00a0for all their deeds or their abuse of power! They basically said: \u2018we were not responsible for our deeds. We were only doing our job. And in that we were only fulfilling the course of history we were destined to fulfill.\u2019<\/p>\n

So, the way we see power and responsibility determines how we will handle power: constructively or destructively.<\/p>\n

Guardini put it this way:<\/p>\n

\u2018Power is the opportunity, the competence and the will to take a decision.\u2019<\/p>\n

When we take this definition, there are some consequences:<\/p>\n

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  1. Power is a basic and universal activity each human being can and will bring to the table.<\/li>\n
  2. Power is not positive or negative, it is a neutral activity. The positive or negative aspects depends on the attitude of the person who uses the power.<\/li>\n
  3. Since there always is a will involved in using power, the person who handles the power is fully responsible for the effects of the power he or she uses.<\/li>\n
  4. The person who uses power, experiences the energy that comes with the autonomy of making your own decision. And this energy is first of all positive: a sign that I am alive and able to give direction in my life.<\/li>\n
  5. And it needs a solid character, not to get addicted to this \u2018kick\u2019 that comes with the use of power. If you get addicted, the chance grows to also get corrupted by the very use of power.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>
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    So, the challenge to all of us could be: \u2018how can I grow in the competence of handling power as much as I can grow in my character to handle the kick that comes with that power.\u2019<\/p>\n

    Professor Julie Battilana from Harvard University points out that there are 2 virtues we all need to cultivate to prevent letting power corrupt you:<\/p>\n