Power? Or the message?
What’s more important to you, the cause you work for, or the title that you are given? What’s more important, selflessness or selfishness? Whatever your answer is, I encourage you to look a little deeper than just picking one over the other. You’ll find out that there is no black or white answer, but that the answer lies in a grayscale spectrum.
Over the years, I have always showed passion towards the causes of self-exploration, self-fulfillment and the pursuit of ones’ goals. Causes that encouraged fun and creation rather than selfishness and manipulation. But as I progressed, I learned some hard truths about working completely selflessly for a cause. Then I came to a thought, “what is the use of working for a cause – if nobody is there to listen?”
This became most evident to me in my Foundations of Leadership class. Power is essential. Power is what will make people listen. Power is what will make things possible.
Let’s get a little more general. So you want power to expose your message. You want recognition for your cause and why you stand for it. You want other people to respect you for it. You want to be acknowledged. You want to be recognized. You want power.
Wait. What happened to the cause? Did you lose it in the pursuit for power? Isn’t it the cause that got you to here in the first place? Isn’t it the cause that you wanted known? So, what happened?
A warning to you, power can blind. Power can be used to create as well as destroy. People with the right balance of power can be unstoppable. People with imbalances, can be harmful to themselves and others. These truths are all evident, and could be common sense, right? But common sense is not common, and power is poisoning.
Find your balance of power by letting your personal recognitions compliment your cause.