Leadership and Power

Fri Oct 15 10:30:18 PDT 2004

Just off the top of my head, John, I am thinking that people who aspire to
leadership roles because they want to shape (control?) how power is used are
not the kind of leaders I think human collectives (such as organizations)
need.  If someone is attracted to power, I don't see how they can really be
leading:  what they are really doing is following their passion for power,
although they might very well suppress this motivation even inside
themselves. The tricky part is that so many people suppress their inner
attraction to power, presenting themselves to the world as the person with
the right ideas or the person who cares.

The leader who is attracted to the power of their own ideas and beliefs and
thereby attracts other people to them because others are interested in their
ideas and beliefs are what I think of a natural leaders.  Someone who is
called from within to build their ideas and share them are the kinds of
leaders I want to see in the world.  Such a person is a leader even if they
do not attract followers.

Applying my underdeveloped idea to the American presidential race (with
apologies from folks in other nations), I think both the major party
candidates are motivated by their attraction to power.  Nader, while not a
purely quixotic figure, is, in my opinion, motivated by a compelling inner
drive rooted in the power of his ideas.

The leaders who garner my attention and respect are people lit from within,
people who build their lives around their own inner impulses.

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>From  Fri Oct 15 14:16:43 2004
Message-Id: <FRI.15.OCT.2004.141643.0400.>
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 14:16:43 -0400
Reply-To: TiesDM2003 at yahoo.com
To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
From: David Morgan <tiesdm at msn.com>
Subject: Re: Leadership and Power
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed

Hi Folks...

Fascinated discussion regarding power...

My experience is a bit different. I see power as manifested from fear,
insecurity, and a supreme lack of imagination. Fear and insecurity requires
an element of control. Control strips away passion and undermines
imagination. When we lack passion we relinguish responsibility.

Dave.

>From: Funda Oral <fundaokan at superonline.com>
>Reply-To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
>To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>Subject: Re: Leadership and Power
>Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 22:21:36 +0300
>
>I couldn't read the other messages but I wanted to share what came to my
>mind when I read this
>
>Leadership and Power is a stupid dream created collaborately by those
>
>* who are too lazy to think to create a life for themselves or who are
not
>given enough space or opportunity to do so
>and
>* who are so blind or so fascinated by power and by the need to be
>appreciated and applauded that they believe they must create a life
>a destiny for others.
>
>or in another way of saying;
>
>* those who think they know better and are more powerfull
>and
>* the others who think they don't know, they aren't good enough,
powerfull
>enough etc.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Harrison Owen" <hhowen at comcast.net>
>To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
>Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 8:35 PM
>Subject: Re: Leadership and Power
>
>
> > John asked:
> >
> > what do you see as the relationship between Leadership and Power?
> >
> > I suppose that depends on what you mean by "leadership"
and "power." One
>of
> > things that I have learned in Open Space is that Leadership
appears at the
> > crossroads of passion and responsibility. Or putting it another
way, the
> > leader is one who claims his passion with responsibility. By doing
so, he
>or
> > she opens some space for something new to appear. There is no
guarantee
>that
> > the new will make an appearance, or that if it does, it will be
useful,
>but
> > the potential is there. When the space is open and the new (plan,
action,
> > program, idea) stikes a resonant chord with those who share the
passion in
>a
> > responsible way -- things begin to move. Or -- we might say, power
begins
>to
> > flow. Power, from where I sit, is quite simply the motive force
which
> > energizes life. I guess that is a tautology, but it is as good as
I can
>do.
> > Point is nobody owns it, and for sure nobody can really control
it. Under
> > the best of circumstances, we can only open some space in which
power may
> > flow. We might even channel it a bit, but that is about all.
> >
> > A major point is that the Leader certainly doesn't own it (power).
For
>power
> > is always the collective juices entering an an attractive open
space to
>get
> > some job done, thought thought, plan made. Looking at power and
leadership
> > in the terms I have suggested makes it crystal clear that
Leadership is
>not
> > (nor has it ever been) position, titual, a matter of confered
status.
> > Leadership is an action which all of us can, do, and must take. So
to
>speak
> > of The Leadership, or The Leader as a predetermined reality is
idiocy. For
> > sure, those designated (falsely I think) as Leaders can lead, and
>hopefully
> > they do. But they have no corner on the market, and waiting for
them to
>lead
> > (or blaming them when they don't) is a simple abdication of our
right and
> > responsibility -- to lead.
> >
> > Harrison
> >
> >
> > Harrison Owen
> > 7808 River Falls Drive
> > Potomac, Maryland   20845
> > Phone 301-365-2093
> >
> > Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com
> > Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org
> > Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm
> > OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> > To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives
Visit:
> > http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of
john
>engle
> > Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2004 11:59 AM
> > To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> > Subject: Leadership and Power
> >
> > hi friends.
> >
> > my colleagues and i are working on our next newsletter for beyond
borders,
> > an organization i'm affiliated with. the theme is going to be
Leadership
>and
> > Power and i've just posted on my blog a half a dozen great quotes
that my
> > haitian colleagues put on our OS list serve in haitian creole.
> >
> > if you want to take a look, go to http://johnengle.blogspot.com
(same as
> > below).
> >
> > if you want to receive Beyond Borders' ezines, sign up on home
page at:
> > http://beyondborders.net.
> >
> > what do you see as the relationship between Leadership and Power?
> >
> > peace,
> >
> > john
> >
> > http://JohnEngle.blogspot.com - Reflections about Haiti, life, and
our
>work.
> > http://JohnEngle.info
> > http://TheExperiment.info
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > MSN Search, le moteur de recherche qui pense comme vous !
> > http://search.msn.fr/worldwide.asp
> >
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