By Katia Del Rivero

First time I heard this frase from Michael Blumenstein it made me feel awkward. Many images came to my mind, of how some people of our daily lives, that have jerarquic roles act as “empowerment liders”.
People are afraid of them, they take decisions as if the company was theirs. They believe they’re the only ones capable of doing things and doing them right.
They dispose of everyone that comes in front of them if they don’t agree with them and they do the same thing with everyone who disagrees with them. Everything that comes as a challenge has to be destroyed or expelled. People have no liberty of choice.
People do choose
It was really interesting for me to discover this new perspective, people do choose, and they choose all the time. With knowledge or without it.
And we all stand for our survival. And survival doesn’t mean the “better choice” it means the one I’m capable of handling and I feel comfortable with it.
So, if I don’t feel capable of surviving “outside” from the organisation that I work with. I’ll stay inside, even if I have to deal with the “powerfully”, “unfair”, “inhumane”. The reason? That’s how I feel capable of dealing with the situation and I have the security of: income, security, pasión, profession, etc.
Tirans do not co-create
The powerfully doesn’t make himself up, he’s built with the acceptance of others that tolerate this kind of bond, evitating the priority of confronting him.
Power doesn’t exist all alone. It exists because some of us are willing to co-build it. The one that comes as “the powerfully”, the “lider of the team”, etc. The one that supports him above of the common wealth for the good of the powerfull one. The one that gets affected by the decisions of the powerfull one but stays quiet to keep a job or a position. The one that sees and doesn’t speak, the one that has the power to do something, since it’s the equal of the powerfull one, but keeps his eyes shut to obtain a benefit.
Hitler wouldn’t have made it all alone. He had people by his side that were willing to accomplish his orders.
Jesus wouldn’t have made it all alone. He had people by his side that were willing to accomplish his teaching.
The social construct structure is exactly the same we use to create something of value. Understanding as value, something that results and common wealth, not the one we use to destroy each other and ourselves.
The elephant and the guide
I was thinking of what to write this week and Elmar Dornberger, a friend of mine, shared the following video (I highly recommend you to watch it, to get a full experience as you read this article). It seemed fenomenal. It is the first time I’ve seen something that illustrates so well that power is or isn’t co-created, depending on the parts involved (at least in a direct way). And, after watching it, I came with the next ideas on how to deal with power or change it.
Do not step in front of the elephant
Power isn’t good or bad, is a social construction that appears when more than one agree on it. It can be a very useful form of bonding, probably.
And please, in the better way of the metaphoric expression “do not step in front of an elephant” if you don’t know how to handle the situation, you’ll probably get stumped.
To change something we need:
1. To want the change: many of us are safe where we are and we don’t need or have to change it. No judgment implied, I’m just saying that probably you are co-creator of the things you don’t like.
2. Knowing how to change it: the tourist guide isn’t crazy, he probably has seen lots of elephants and he has learnt how to deal with them, how to confront them. Wanting isn’t enough, we need tools to accomplish what we want.
3. Feeling capable of doing it: even the two previous points aren’t nearly enough. I have to feel capable and that’s only built in experience. The biggest walks are made step by step.
What are you co-creating today? Are you co-creating a dictator? Are you the lame collaborator? The lider is being created in a cooperative way? The collaborator had a dignity place for himself?
Again, no judgment, just watching and validating the ways you care for your life today… Maybe like that, only if you want to, tomorrow you’ll contribute differently.
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