Leadership is all about character, integrity and guiding your team in the right direction.
Even if this job requires a sense of humility, some leaders can get ahead of themselves, let their ego run their world, crave and abuse their power.
Unfortunately, without even knowing it, the best leaders can also get consumed by ego and power.
Wondering if you are ego-tripping or if you are a power-hungry leader?
We have all worked in environments where leaders have completely lost their minds, letting their ego drive their decisions, searching for power or being completely drunk on power.
These leaders are said to be ego-tripping, power-tripping or power-hungry.
Below are the 11 signs revealing whether or not you are power-hungry or ego-tripping.
1. Power-hungry leaders are bullies
They bully their team members to ensure dominance and to kill any potential that would threaten their sense of power.
They overtly criticize others, take cheap shots and undermine the success of the entire team by creating chaos.
They are known to sabotage their team members because they think that they will move forward without them.
2. Power-hungry leaders are empty individuals
They are not whole individuals.
Truth is, they have a heightened sense of self, very low self-esteem and need to constantly feed their ego.
Furthermore, they are not self-aware, mindful of their actions, have low self-esteem and an unhealthy work-life balance.
3. Power-hungry leaders hide deep insecurities
Ego tripping and power-hungry individuals are weak-minded and will give anything to fill that inner void. For most, ego-tripping and power-hungry people are people who have felt powerless while growing up.
Deep inside, they are weak, are cowards, fear their own shadow, don’t have real power and they know it. They are unstable and easy to break.
To the world, they act tough and search for the weaknesses of everyone.
4. Power-hungry leaders jealousy has no bound
They get jealous when other people do better than they do or hold the position they want. They want to be the only one to shine and won’t hesitate to dim the light of others.
5. Power-hungry leaders think rank is enough
They think that their rank and role in the organization is enough to command respect.
Indeed, they pull rank whenever they feel threatened. Unfortunately, they tend to lose all the respect that they so crave.
6. Power-hungry leaders shut down dissenting voices
They remove dissenting voices or anyone who would oppose them.
Instead, they favor yes men, force people to bow down, to submit to their will, to agree with them, to follow them even if they are wrong.
Basically, it’s their way or the high way.
7. Power-hungry leaders believe status is everything
They often remind everyone around them of their titles and past accomplishments. They overshare and over-exaggerate their achievements.
They demonstrate a sense of superiority and use their status to build up their sense of self-worth.
8. Power-hungry leaders always compete with others
To feed their ego, they compete with people or powerful leaders who may not know that they are competing.
They think life is a competition. Even worse, some believe that life is a game and people are pieces on their chessboard.
9. Power-hungry leaders only social climb
They only network with powerful people and use them to social climb.
They look to climb the social ladder, thirsty for notoriety and take part in the most influential situations. They name drop powerful leaders they know in order to get respect and to feel superior.
10. Power-hungry leaders want to control everything and everyone
They tend to micromanage and don’t trust the people around them.
For this reason, they constantly seek control and leverage over others.
11. Power-hungry leaders encourage toxicity
They thrive in chaos, encourage toxic behavior and competition.
They may even gossip and create false narratives to foster a negative environment.
Last Words Of Advice!
Wanting and having power is not always a negative thing. You simply have to want it for the right reasons in order to go the distance. Otherwise, you will rapidly crash and burn.
If you come across one of those power-hungry leaders, don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
Don’t forget to like, share and leave a comment below.
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