All leaders are not equal

Taking the time to look inside the minds of those who seek absolute power, I found out one thing for sure and that is the fact that power corrupts but it corrupts only those who think they deserve it. Having the inability to look inside their heads since it was never one of my own ambitions, I looked it up to see how the psyche of such a person works and found it to be very interesting to say the least. Anecdotally, at least, the connection between power and hypocrisy looks obvious

Experiencing a culture of entitlement in today’s business place, there has always been the discussion between power by position or authority and those who gain power by influence. Needless to say those not in a position of power can’t compete with those who have the position thus it is often an unbalanced equation that results in the shifting of power to those who have the authority to do the things they desire. Studies have revealed that those who are powerful and who have been primed to believe they are entitled to their power readily engage in acts of moral hypocrisy.

People with power think that they are justified to break rules not only because they can get away with it but also because they feel at some intuitive level that they are entitled to take what they want. This sense of entitlement is crucial to understanding why people misbehave in high office. In addition, there arrives a sense which some powerful people seem to have that different rules apply to them and genuinely believe it. Regardless of what tests you apply to those in power, the results will show that the powerful do indeed behave hypocritically and relative to a higher their position, the less harsh they are on themselves thus suggesting that they condemn the transgressions of others more than they do their own.

This entitlement to power also applies to the entitled to abuse as it appears to be the way powerful people conduct themselves. It is speculation that corruption and hypocrisy are the price that societies pay for being led by alpha type persons although the opposite solution, although not acceptable in most cases, is to be led by wimps. We clearly do not want to be led by wimps as an alternative to the alpha's. There would seem to be another possibility though. If we selected leaders literally at random from a large pool of qualified people and gave them a fixed, non repeatable, term of power, that they were expected to serve as a public duty, then perhaps we would get the best of both worlds. Another option would be to invite being led by either corrupt "alpha males/females" or wimps, the alternative are not being led by anyone at all. Lead yourself, and leave everyone else to do the same. Follow your own moral compass and do the best job you can.