Abstract
Imagine. You are sitting in a well-appointed research laboratory in front of a piece of equipment called a shock generator. You have volunteered for an experiment on memory and learning at prestigious Yale University. You and a fellow volunteer draw straws. You will play the role of the teacher, and the other participant will be the learner. You watch as the learner is strapped into a chair, which is linked to the shock generator located in another room by two cuffs affixed to his arms. The research scientist in charge of the experiment tells you both, “Although the shocks can be painful, they cause no permanent damage.”2 You are led to the room where the shock generator sits and are instructed to sit down and await further instructions. You cannot see the learner, but you can communicate with one another via an intercom device. You notice that the front panel of the generator has a number of switches labeled from left to right, “mild shock” to “intense shock” all the way to “xxx.” You are given a list of questions to ask your partner, the learner. Should he get an answer wrong you are to administer a shock by depressing one of the levers on the front of the generator. Should the learner make another mistake you are to give a more severe shock. You learn that the shocks range from a mild but painful 15 volts to a potentially fatal 450 volts.
“No one can lead who does not first acquire power, and no leader can be great who does not know how to use power.”1
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
R. A. Caro, “Lessons in Power: Lyndon Johnson Revealed,” Harvard Business Review, 2006.
S. Milgram, “Behavioral Study of Obedience,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 67, no. 4 (1963): 371–378.
J. N. Nye, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics (New York: Public Affairs, 2004), 191.
L. Gray, Power: How its Meaning in Corporate Life is Changing. Harvard Management Update, 1996.
E. S. Person, Feeling Strong: How Power Issues Affect our Ability to Direct Our Own Lives (New York: Harper Collins, 1972).
J. R French and B. Raven, “The Bases of Social Power,” in Studies in Social Power, D. Cartwright, ed. (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 1959), 225.
M. Buchanan, Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Theory of Networks (New York: Norton, 2002), 235.
J. Freeman, “Emotional Problems of the Gifted Child,” Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 24 (1983): 481–485.
D. K. Osbon, ed. Reflections on the Art of Living: A Joseph Campbell Companion (New York: HarperPerennial, 1991), 311.
Copyright information
© 2007 Anna Rowley
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rowley, A. (2007). Power and Ambition. In: Leadership Therapy. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-09578-7_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-09578-7_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-99540-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-09578-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)