Your Path to Power

The central theme of this chapter is to establish the routes to power in organizations. From that, you can formulate your own path to power based on the circumstances of your business or organization, especially the people who you work with. The chapter has a practical orientation but it will be based on the survey research that was conducted, the executive interviews, case studies, and my own observations. It starts with a review of how power is acquired by the individual and then proceeds to the discovery of the power of self and then leads to routes to power. This exploration is devoted only to power acquisition through generally accepted behaviors and not power acquisition through ruthlessness or other unsavory means. In other words, we will not consider treachery, sabotage, lying, cheating as legitimate means to becoming powerful. Though it happens, and our own history as humans make it seem almost inevitable, it needs to happen more properly to be part of our review. For as bad as business leaders can be, they are not good examples to follow. Karmic justice seems to catch up to these characters and they are removed so their path to power is not worth duplication. Order is restored and fair-minded leadership returns to run the organization, at least in the theory of karmic resolution.