Krissy introduced me to this magazine, utne reader, which from what I understand, is a magazine that pulls together "the best of the alternative press". I LOVE this magazine. I love all the articles in it, and I agree with all of it. Last night, however, I realized this makes me the biggest liberal in the world...I think. I determined this because when we were watching an old episode of Family Guy last night, Bryan (the dog...liberal minded dog), was reading Utne Reader. It doesn't get any more liberal than that now...does it?
Anyway, I wanted to discuss one of the articles in this edition, and I don't think it's too "liberal", but it reflects my beliefs in what power does to people. The article is titled "The Power of Kindness. Real clout comes from being empathetic, cooperative, and communicative".
Main points of the article:
* Niccolo Machiavelli (The Prince) and Robert Greene (The 48 Laws of Power) describe power as being feared, and "use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim"
* The article says "a new science of power has revealed that power is wielded most effectively when it's used by people who are attuned to and engaged with the needs and interests of others"
* "They also mistakenly believe that power is acquired strategically in deceptive gamesmanship and by pitting others against one another. Here Machiavelli failed to appreciate an important fact in the evolution of human hierarchies: that with increasing social intelligence, a person's power is only as strong as the status given to that person by others".
* The article states: "people with power tend to behave like patients who have damaged their brain's orbitofrontal cortex, a condition that seems to cause overly impulsive and insensitive behavior. Thus the experienceo f power might be thought of as having open up your skull and take out that part of you brain so critical to empathy and socially appropriate behavior"
Concluding Remarks of article: "Power is given to those individuals, groups, or nations who advance the interests of the greater good in socially intelligent fashion. Yet, having power renders many individuals as poorly attuned to others as your garden-variety frontal lobe patient. What people want from leaders - social intelligence - is what is damaged by the experience of power"
What do you think about the conclusions of the article...do you agree?
2 comments:
I agree with alot of those comments you posted from the article. I don't agre that power needs to be feared. If we have competent leaders who look into the future and truly care for their people (as noted later in your post) then you should not fear them. These good leaders also take the time to stay in touch with their followers. A good leader is hard to find and power can corrupt people and make them lose focus. I totally agree with that one. However, no matter what type of leader you are or how in tune with your followers you try to be there will always be that one person who doesn't like it. This one person can make even the best of leaders look like scum. I don't really agree that power is only what the commuinity gives to a person, power needs to be sought if a person wants it. Otherwise there would be a bunch of people sitting around talking about who's the leader and no one taking the risk. I also don't think that all people in power are the "garden variety frontal lobe patients" alot are but there are some really great leaders out there that have pushed for change that their followers may not have wanted and so they gained a bad rep.as being uncaring for their followers, which is not always true. As I said before I do believe power corrupts some leaders but then were they ever a good leader in the first place then?
I agree with you that power isn't ONLY what the community gives it, but after reading this article, I do think that community gives leaders the sense of power that sometimes they really don't deserve. I mean, honestly, if I complete a task, and my "leader" says it's wrong, and I don't agree with him, and I don't say anything...I'm giving him more power than he deserves. Right?
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