Does Power Wear Us Out or Not?

A study from a few years ago explains that the common perception according to which those in charge are more stressed (which would justify, among other things, the higher compensation) has actually been refuted several times by the scientific literature, which has shown that having the control the lives of others reduces the level of anxiety.

So, that famous, powerful politician was right when he said power wears out those who don’t have it? I don’t know if this statement corresponds to reality, but I think power often worsens those who hold it!

It is not difficult to find those who believe that those in positions of power often become more impulsive, less aware of the risks, and, above all, less capable of considering the facts by taking other people’s points of view. They become less empathetic and less perceptive. Less ready to understand others. And, probably, less interested or willing to succeed.

And I suspect that all this may belong not only to those who govern businesses but also to those who govern institutions and nations.

Perhaps it is because the role itself requires that people in power be quick to decide (even if they do not have sufficient elements to do so, nor time to think about it), assertive (even when they do not know exactly what to assert. Or when it would be better to lend pay attention to the nuances) and self-confident bordering on insolence.

Power is also, and perhaps above all, responsibility. Deciding and taking positions for the good of someone else and not for your own gain. But responsibility implies a capacity for discernment, humble depth, and a difficult relationship with a sense of authority. Deciding something for someone means that where you make a mistake, you are responsible. It means that when you do something for the good of someone, you risk being detrimental to someone else.

Paradoxically means threatening war to speed up diplomacy. It means seeing beyond what the average citizen can only imagine. For better or for worse, fortunately, it also means the opposite of all this. It means taking responsibility for your actions, whatever the consequences.

We must therefore be very balanced to be able to “feed” on power without exaggerating, without letting ourselves be overwhelmed by it.

All of us, more or less, are victims of our ego, but no one is more so than the powerful who, having no brakes capable of keeping him at bay, enters a dimension of delirium that exalts his frustrations and releases his ghosts, inducing him to conceive human relationships as mere relationships of force based on hierarchy.

The power should be treated as a loan to be repaid as soon as possible, but if you practice it in the same role for too many years you end up considering it your property, almost a virtue.

All this is why I think that power probably wears out both those who suffer it and those who impose it.

The problem is that, more and more, in our contemporary world, in order not to be “touched” by that power that wears us out, we risk giving it to those who don’t feel its weight.