Leadership Thought #328 – Power Doesn’t Always Bring Out The Best In People
Sometimes I am a little late to the party and only recently discovered the powerful original STARZ TV series “Boss” starring Kelsey Grammar. It sure is a departure from his typical roles as he plays a brilliant yet dark and ruthless Mayor of Chicago who recently was diagnosed with a life threatening illness. The power he evokes on the screen is quite remarkable. You get the sense that maybe he started out with the right intentions but then became obsessed with power and position at all costs. It’s actually hard to identify a protagonist in this show. The scripts and acting are a very clever take on what has always happened to leaders throughout history. It’s pretty obvious that both Shakespeare and Machiavelli are a huge influence on the writers.
After watching the whole first season, a number of things jumped out at me as someone who studies leadership for a living: