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Wealth managers are no doubt familiar with the phrase "sudden wealth syndrome." Its symptoms include isolation from former friends, guilt over one’s good fortune and an extreme fear of losing all one’s money.
Money and power are closely related concepts, and so I would like to introduce the related condition – sudden power syndrome (SPS) – which is what one experiences when thrust into a new position with significantly greater authority and responsibilities.
While many people are taught financial literacy while they're growing up, few people get much of an opportunity to develop "power literacy." Most of us start out in life being told what to do all the time. When we acquire some power for the first time and finally have a chance to do the telling for a change, it's easy and common to screw up royally — just like sudden wealth syndrome. For many people, the first time they get put in a position of having to manage (and have power over) other people, it's an entirely unfamiliar environment.
I first experienced SPS when I was a young musician. My colleagues and I used to sit around after playing a concert, complaining bitterly about the people who had hired us, and how they failed to appreciate our deep artistic sensibilities. So one day I said, "Enough of working for these cretins. Let's get some grant money and put on our own concerts!" Everyone said, "Great," and I went out and got a grant. All of a sudden, I had power to hire and fire. My former colleagues were now my employees, and while my intention was to help my friends, our relationships changed forever. People I once adored as lovable quirky artists I now saw as troublemakers. People who were once my friends now had more interest in being hired by me than they had in my well-being.
With the best of intentions, I had unwittingly encountered one of the biggest and most pressing problems of SPS, which is social estrangement. Like sudden wealth syndrome, those who get more power than all their friends don't really "belong" anymore. That can breed loneliness, sadness and anxiety. Feelings of social abandonment can also lead to anger and resentment, as the people with newfound power can resent their former friends for not understanding their problems. Also, people who were once their colleagues may now either resent their good fortune or try to exploit a past relationship to try to convince the people with newfound power to do things that, as a good manager, they really shouldn't do (like hiring an incompetent friend to play second clarinet). Also, people who have not experienced power rarely understand the pressure that managers are under. They are mostly focused on what they want that manager to do for them, and this lack of mutual understanding can breed mutual animosity.
Now I will confess, I am human, and power is delicious. I loved how having power to hire and fire made people treat me with a lot more respect. And I will also confess that when I had to hire entire orchestras, I hated making the last call to hire the last fiddle player, because it meant I had no more power to hire anyone. I had used it all up.
When you experience sudden power syndrome, like sudden wealth, your highest priority may be to simply "not lose it." The next highest priority is often getting more power. Power is truly addictive. One can become totally focused on getting more power from people above, often at the expense of the need to delegate power to people below. And when one finally has some power to make changes, he or she can become conflicted and perhaps even scared to death of rocking the boat. Power, like money, is there to be used. Not using it is wasteful, and using it often means giving a lot of it away.
Everyone congratulates you when your status in life improves in some tangible way, but we should remember that promotions and success can carry with them an element of emotional trauma. Many people get promoted, not because they have trained to be a manager, but because they were the best employees. People who get big promotions or start their own companies for the first time are in extremely vulnerable states. It looks like everything is positive for them, but just like people who get a lot of money for the first time, people who have power for the first time need a fair amount of expert advice, emotional support and sympathy for the stress and even trauma they may be experiencing.
Justin Locke is a management coach specializing in the emotional issues of managing people. To find out more about how he can help you and your organization, visit his website at www.justinlocke.com.
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