THOUGHTS OF FEMOLAD: PEOPLE, PERSONALITIES AND POSITIONAL POWER

PEOPLE, PERSONALITIES AND POSITIONAL POWER

The power that comes from our positions and roles matters most in terms of our own influence and ability to achieve desired results.

Positional power is the influence one commands by virtue of his or her position, title or role within an organization, society, community, tribe, nation or the comity of nations.

Managers typically compete for higher positions and often covet titles, from directors to chief executives.

The perquisites of positional power has bred unbridled ambition and lust for power.

The quest to reach the peak is a general trait.

The means of achieving the position, however, depend on individual personalities.

Some choose a steady methodical growth and development in the climb to the top.

They climb the ladder one rung at a time.

Others prefer the Machiavellian approach of getting to the top at all costs. The end they say, justifies whatever means they had employed.

For this class no sacrifice is too huge for their ambition.

The antecedent personalities of both determine what they have positional power.

The people around them also determine whether they use the positional power positively or negatively.

It is also worthy of note that whatever the effect of the actions of the one in position of power, the lives of the people will be affected.

The aspirant to positional power cannot achieve it all alone. So he needs the people to actualize his ambition.

In politics in Nigeria, the people tend to disregard the personality of the person contesting for positions. Instead they base their judgment on political camaraderie, religion and ethnicity.

At campaigns and elections so much emphasis is placed on the three considerations.

Fake promises that were never meant to be kept also play an important role.

Many concessions and coalitions are entered into apparently in good faith but in the end the beneficiary jettisons the arrangement.

Workers in an organization line up behind one person aiming to become the union head. After achieving the coveted position he joined forces with the establishment they elected him to fight.

Students throw their weight behind notorious gangsters and intellectually deficient people to become student “leaders” who seize the opportunity to scrounge around offices and political circuits begging for money. The brilliant and well-meaning never get a chance.

The sycophants and bootlickers also play a role. It doesn't matter what the personality of their subject is. They are just after what they stand to gain. They daily sing his praise to the detriment of the people and society.

The personalities of the persons aspiring to power, along with their antecedents, should be the greatest consideration in backing people for positions.

Power, they say, corrupts. This is more so with persons with personality deficits.

In the recent past in Nigeria, leaders achieved positions without considerations for their personalities and tendencies.

A man that has a penchant for disorderly conduct and fraud may rise to power based on considerations for his Party, Tribe and Religion.

A character known for brigandage and misdemeanor is favored over the decent and decorous. On assumption of position his negative attributes are further enhanced by the positional power.

The emergence of leaders to positions of power without consideration for their personalities and antecedents is the reason for the failure of leadership in Nigeria.

 

I am Femi Ladapo (Femolad)