Power is the great aphrodisiac. -Henry A. Kissinger
Power and success are two of the biggest brain-changing drugs known to mankind, however, and no human being’s brain can survive unchanged such large infusions of these two drugs ..
Power’s effects on the brain have many similarities to those of drugs like cocaine: both significantly change brain function by increasing the chemical messenger dopamine’s activity in the brain’s reward network .. These changes also affect the cortex and alter thinking, making people more confident, bolder – and even smarter.
Dopamine, Politics and Power (watch video)
But these same changes also make people egocentric, less self-critical, less anxious and less able to detect errors and dangers .. All of these conspire to make leaders impatient with the “messiness” of opposition and contradictory opinions .. The neurological effects of unconstrained power on the brain also inhibit the very parts of the brain which are crucial for self-awareness ..
No leader can survive more than 10 years in power without encountering massive distortion of judgment .. No-one – but no-one – is immune to these neurological effects of power and it is not a coincidence that 10 years is the maximum term in office for leaders of many countries, including USA and even the Republic of China ..
It is the neurologically-created conceit of many powerful leaders that – in the words of Louis XV of France - “après moi le déluge” (after me, the flood) .. Power fosters the delusion of indispensability and many political leaders have created havoc in fighting to stay in post because they genuinely believe their abilities are crucial for the survival of their country and that no-one else can do it ..
Former British Foreign Secretary Lord David Owen has proposed the existence of a “Hubris Syndrome” – an acquired personality disorder which arises in some leaders because of the effects of power on their brains .. Among others, he diagnosed UK Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Margaret Thatcher as having succumbed to this disorder, both of whom ingested the power drug for that crucial 10 years.
The symptoms of Owen’s ‘Hubris Syndrome’ include the following:
- A narcissistic preoccupation with one’s image (eg, about not being seen to back down and lose ‘strong man’ image).
- A tendency for the leader to see the nation’s interests and his own as identical, including a tendency to talk in the third person about himself.
- An excessive confidence in the leader’s own judgment and contempt for the advice or criticism of others, along with a sense of omnipotence.
- A tendency to feel accountable to History or God rather than to more mundane political or legal courts.
- A tendency towards a loss of contact with reality and progressive isolation.
- “Hubristic incompetence”, where things go wrong because of over-confidence and impaired judgment ..
I think many of the leaders in our region suffer from that syndrome .. the current events are proof enough ..
