WHY DO PEOPLE CHANGE WHEN THEY ARE IN A POSITION OF POWER?

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Power is what rules every corner of the world. It is the possession of authority and influence over other people and it could be political, financial, intellectual and so on. Power has been said to influence the behavior, attitudes and decisions of people who take up such positions.

There have been cases of where the deadly side of a gentle and calm man was unveiled when he attained a position of power.

Let's take a quick break to check some quotes from some selected great people about power culled from Physcology Today

The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace. —Mahatma Gandhi

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. —Abraham Lincoln

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts. Perhaps the fear of a loss of power. —John Steinbeck

Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. —Paulo Freire

The measure of a man is what he does with power. —Plato

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. —David Brin

Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself. —Elie Weisel

For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit. —Noam Chomsky

The object of power is power. —George Orwell, 1984

These quotes above have summarized how powerful power is.

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Power makes people treat their followers or subordinates as inferior and worship, please and respect the people who are also superior to them. The scale is balanced at all and its not supposed to be like that.

There is the case of a popular internet fraudster in Nigeria that used his financial power to coerce a senior ranking police officer to arrest and jail a friend of his for disrespecting him. The Police yielded to his request because he knows he will be highly rewarded. But, the two of them may also be spending some time behind bars, anyways.

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Another example that comes handy is that of my close friend when I gained admission into the university. She was calm, polite and my confidant for few weeks but all of a sudden everything changed when she was appointed as the Class Representative. She became arrogant and even decided not to be friends with us (our clique at that time) anymore. She started hanging out with male colleagues and so-called high class babes in senior classes.

Power changes people no doubt about that but should it always be so?