Friends,

Bill Bennett, Rush, and Arnold, trouble me.  As wildly high profile as they are, I think they still have lessons for us regular folk about integrity and leadership.  I assume you've followed their stories -- how could you not in the mass media culture that loves heroes almost as much as it loves to see heroes crash.  You have no doubt seen their alleged tumbles:  Bennett's loss of $8 million on slot machine gambling; Rush's addiction, and illegal purchase of painkillers; and Arnolds groping of women.  (I could as easily choose Democrats or corporate folks; these are simply the most recent.)  You begin to wonder things like:

• Is the gene that leads people to seek power totally uncontrollable?  Why is it those afflicted with this gene seem totally unsatisfied with rather huge amounts of power and attention, but drive on for further excitement, thrill and power, whether through sex, gambling, or drug-induced highs?
  
  
• Why in particular do these "righteous" people -- Rush and Bennett being two of our culture's most recent notorious champions of the right, morality, and virtue -- end up completely betraying their own talk?  Are they preaching at us from the get-go as a way to try to tame their own demons?  Or, do they gradually become inflated and think they are the authors of the laws they are enunciating?  In any case, their hubris recalls the myths of ancient Greece:  as if some god of righteousness has become jealous at their powerful talk and offensive behavior, and she humiliates them.

(It is also fascinating to wonder: why is it overwhelmingly men and not women leaders who are so afflicted?)

Do you find Bill, Rush and Arnold distant from and irrelevant to your leadership experience?  These stories, though grandiose and dramatic, teach us about our basic human nature.

This is the universal lesson: the conferral of power brings privilege and separation.  So, realize it and don't be seduced by it.  Bennett, Rush and Arnold had, of course, extraordinary privilege, a zone of protection about them (so also with President Clinton, Catholic priests, and in a colossal policy area it seems, President Bush).  They were accorded incredible leeway -- privilege and separation -- to do as they wished in their worlds.  But it's similar for anyone elevated to a position of power.  Even a first-line supervisor gains new privileges and esteem, access to information and people and money, and the most significant privilege is to be exempt from question, to be allowed separation and to be given deference.  In even the very best cultures I've seen, the taboo against going into your parents' dresser drawers has become the very same taboo against questioning your boss' judgment.  You just don't talk to them, especially about anything arguably in their private sphere, including the "judgment calls" that belong to the boss, as well as their potentially disastrous judgments in the more private realm.  Yet our human frailties follow us up the ladder, don't they?  And, handling the tough personal questions alone -- which happens when we allow ourselves to be seduced by our apparent mantle of knowledge, authority, and power -- is an almost certain prescription for disaster.

Thus, it seems vital to keep wise counsel about you --  people who can speak up!  Is there someone who can check you, even in the area of decision making that is your personal prerogative -- the stuff about which you would never have questioned your parents or the president of your company?  We grow up, yet our appetites keep us connected to the earth, and have a way of bringing us crashing back down if we think we're above them.  If you happen to know you're vulnerable to such appetites, by all means, find a trusted counsel (rabbi, psychologist, brother, coach, or friend) and manage your appetite before it devours you.

Peace,

Dan

Daniel Granholm Mulhern
First Gentleman
Office of the Governor
State of Michigan
(517) 241-0534

"Seeing the magnificence in all people -- dedicated to their fullest success."

Copyright 2003 Daniel Mulhern.  I distribute RFL without charge to friends, clients, and others with an interest in leadership, and grant permission to these recipients to distribute copies of these works to personal contacts for non-commercial purposes only.  All other rights are reserved, and requests for copying and distribution of these works may be made to FirstGentleman@Michigan.gov.  The views of this and other RFLs reflect my personal beliefs and may or may not reflect the views of my wife, Jennifer Granholm, or any other officials of the State government.