Guided by centuries of advice like Machiavelli's and Greene's, we tend to believe that attaining power requires force, deception, manipulation, and coercion. Indeed, we might even assume that positions of power demand this kind of conduct--that to run smoothly, society needs leaders who are willing and able to use power this way.
As seductive as these notions are, they are dead wrong. Instead, a new science of power has revealed that power is ...
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Curious and interesting article, yet does not give enough in the way of references to research. Would have preferred more thorough footnoting. The author may also have referenced Niebuhr's "Moral Man and Immoral Society" in the discussion.
A thorough review and presentation of research into power, summed up in this paragraph: "This leaves us with a power paradox. Power is given to those individuals, groups, or nations who advance the interests of the greater good in socially-intelligent fashion. Yet unfortunately, having power renders many individuals as impulsive and poorly attuned to others as your garden variety frontal lobe patient, making them prone to act abusively and lose the esteem of their peers. What people want from leaders -- social intelligence -- is what is damaged by the experience of power."
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