“Power lacks moral or principles. It only has interests.” – Horacio Castellanos Moya
I hold great contempt for those who regularly abuse their power – unforutnatley it seems that anyone powerful often does.
Case in point.
A friend recently told me that her boss (and partner in the company) told her to push aside all her client-related projects to format his son’s internship resume. Knowing how often he negatively “brands” employees who don’t follow his orders, she reluctantly carried out his demand – spending a cumulative total of two days formatting and continually revising the young teen’s resume.
I was outraged by her story. First of all, why isn’t his son formatting his own resume? And what lesson are you teaching him besides mommy and daddy will take care of everything for me. Is it any wonder that so many teenagers and young adults in the world today feel as though they’re entitled?
One would think that a high-level executive would choose to lead by example and therefore shy away from abusing his power in such a way. But as Marty Rubin once remarked, “If you can abuse your power you have too much.”
I’ve always admired this quote by John Quincy Adams: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
If you ask me, the actions of the “boss” I mentioned above would only inspire me to find another job.
