On Vices in Power

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” — Lord Acton (John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton).

Here’s a question that comes up often: why are there so many people in power who carry their little “weaknesses”? The answer is simple — it’s built into the very nature of power, and into the evolutionary machinery that keeps it running.

Picture two equally capable candidates up for promotion. Who does the boss choose: the one who is clean and spotless, or the one whose vices are known, understood, and leave something to hold over him? The answer is obvious — the nod goes to the one who can be controlled.

In time, this promoted candidate learns about the skeletons in the boss’s own closet, and together they start spying on the competition. A giant web of mutual leverage takes shape. To keep any of it from coming out — which could cost someone his seat — everyone strikes quiet bargains and trades concessions. Those are the rules of the game.

And yet, in reality, damaging information almost never surfaces. Why? Because those same unwritten rules assume a special kind of trust between members of a power circle. Exposures happen only in the extreme cases of open conflict, when everything is on the line and the diplomatic options have run out.

This system also works as a test for the newcomers. Those who can’t hold their tongue, who spill sensitive information for no good reason — even by accident — never make it to the top, to where the big game is played. Power has no place for weak-willed chatterboxes.

So the system runs, in part, on mutual dependence. And paradoxically, climbing to the top with no vices to your name turns out to be far harder than the other way around.

Which means that, at times, the darker sides of a personality can — in certain scenarios of life — quietly turn into an advantage.

Here’s to accepting ourselves: every quality we carry is relative to its context and its goals! 😎