The Paradoxes of Power:
An Invitation to Leadership

— by Bill Melton

Leadership, like life, is a paradox. Leadership embodies at least two major Paradoxes.

First There Is The Paradox of Power

Leadership implies the use of power. Whether on the scale of a small group, of a larger group, or of a nation, leadership leads the collective power of that group. The paradox of power is that the power that seems most powerful is self-canceling, while the power that may seem least powerful is the most enduring … and is also, in the long run, the most powerful.

There is a continuum in the form—in the essence, the “shape”—of power. On one end is the hard power of the sword, the gun, or the stone. Next are political power and financial power. Then we come into the power of thought, creativity, the new idea. Then we come to the power of pure love.

Our stage of evolution (either as an individual or a society) can be clearly evaluated and metered by the point on this continuum from which we pick our tools of power.

Bush and Sharon undoubtedly hold power with their tanks, guns, and bombs.

Mao Tse Tung said…” All true power comes out of the barrel of a gun.”

Yet every hard-edged power tool always elicits resistance to it, some form of an immune reaction that will, sooner or later, destroy it. Hard power is eventually self-canceling, self-defeating. Especially in our world of open communication and exchange of information, hard power is more and more quickly overturned.

Moving along this continuum of power tools—when the kings of England and Europe began relinquishing their power to the “noblemen” (the first stages of democracy), it was because they needed money. The response of these noblemen was: “No taxation without representation.” And so society—erratically, but definitely—moved to the next stage on the continuum of power. It was the power of the purse—of finances—in action. This advancement happened with individual variations through most societies in the world.

Even further along the continuum of power we learn, “There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”

Or in another phrase, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

Tell me who was more powerful: The rulers of their empires at the time of the following individuals or the ideas of these men who appeared, in the beginning, to be powerless individuals standing alone or with a small group of like-minded people.

• Buddha
• Christ
• Socrates or Plato
• Gandhi
• Martin Luther King

An idea that is aligned with the structure of the universe will always survive. A person who would wield long-term power needs to discover the voice of the universe, and then speak its message.

Bill Melton If you wish to be a leader—which is to be your full self—you need to understand the total continuum of the tools of power, including hard power. But if you wish your leadership to endure, you need to use the softest form of power you are capable of using.

None of us ever gets this quite right. We are never as evolved as we want to be. Our intellectual understanding of the continuum of power is usually somewhat ahead of our emotional ability to use the softer, more enduring tools. We respond harshly to our child when a soft word would do. We use sharp logic to win an argument against our partner when a simple “I understand” would do. It is the challenge of a lifetime to learn to use the most evolved tools of power … that is, the tools from the love side of the power continuum.

So where do we discover the voice of the universe … the one we are then to speak? In great schools? In great social movements? In great religions? Well, those may give you some hints, some pointers to think about …. But no … your answer, your specific answers will not be found in these familiar places.

This Is The Paradox of Uniqueness and Universality

One of the leading futurist thinkers of our time was sharing some self-doubts with a friend. Her question was how to make sure that her message, her thoughts, would be adequately universal in their appeal and applicability. Her friend replied, “You must follow your uniqueness in order to be universal.”

“You must follow your uniqueness in order to be universal.”

Be in awe of the uniqueness that is you. I am not talking about being self-centered, self-indulgent, or certainly not self-satisfied or lazy. I am talking about beginning to honor, to understand, and to live in quiet awe of the mystery of the universe that has created at this one moment in time the unique window on the universe that is you. And as you learn to stand in awe of your own mystery, so too will you begin to stand in awe of the people and the world around you.

I often ask the young people who come to me for advice: What would you do with your time if you had so much money you never had to worry about money again? (And, of course, there was no parent, spouse, or significant other telling you what to do.)

Usually there is a pause. (Such freedom is nearly an incomprehensible concept.) Then their faces light up, and they say what they would do, how they would use their time, energy, intelligence, and talent. They express their passion. This is where you find your voice.

You must follow your passion.

You must listen to the voice deep inside you—the voice trying to get through the noise of your life, the voice that rises up to tell you who you are, and what is right for you to do.

If you would lead, if you have a message for anyone outside of yourself, you must go inside to find that message, your unique message. If your message comes from outside, then you must sacrifice yourself to external thought systems. And if you sacrifice yourself to external thought systems, you will be so hurt, and so angry, you will demand others also sacrifice themselves to your message. And as you subject others to your external messages, so the battle will begin again, with war as the only final solution.

Again paradoxically, if you would have a universal message for the world, it can only be found as you follow the long path to find and fulfill your individual uniqueness.

And, if you can be quiet enough to hear the voice of the universe inside your own uniqueness, then the universe will sing with you, and through you.

In the 21st century, your century, know the tools of power, but choose, to the best of your ability, to use the tools of thought, creativity, and love.

And if you would find your message for the world, first begin by being in awe of your own uniqueness—for as you do, your words, actions, and creations will find a universal harmonic reception.