In everyday-business you will meet them, you will hear about them and you will read about the great feats of the business-tycoons. This has become everyday news, nothing new and nothing to cause a revolution. Some of us have worked with them; some are working with them right this moment. Who am I talking about? The men of power - not necessarily men in power, but men of power. There is a difference between these men and if you look carefully, you quickly become skilled in recognizing the difference between these men.
Men of power will dominate and rule with knowledge, with certain characteristics that you will not find in men in power. Men in power are men that are in positions with a certain associated power to the position. These people will not necessarily be men in power, as they have worked through the ranks to get to the position. Men of power are also men that have worked and achieved and with this they acquired power - not through the position as such, but by the way their experiences have shaped their lives. They allowed things to change, to shape their lives and this allowed them to accumulate power and this power is available to use or and normally be abused by these people. You will see the power being used in various situations. This will be true in both personal and working environments of these people. The use / abuse of the power comes easier the more it is used / abused.
These people will seldom admit that the usage of this power allows them to influence situations or change decisions to suit their point of view. They will abuse the power and this comes very naturally. It comes naturally because the power comes over a prolonged period of time and the person gets accustomed to the power quickly and thus it is a natural action for this person to use the power.
Men of power will abuse and misuse the power. God entrusted this power to them. When a man of power starts relying on his own power, on his own insight, then he is no longer trusting and focusing on God. A good example of this man of power is Samson - God gave him more power than any man and while focused on God - he did great things. When he started to shift his focus, he lost his power and was defeated. How do men of power keep the power? - Easy, they have to stay focused and within God’s perfect will.
Men of power are normally dictators - they will rule in an office situation in such a way that the people will be totally afraid of this person. They will stay with this person - as this person has an attraction that weak people cannot resist. They will hate working for the man of power, but they will not leave, they will be loyal because of the fear that they have for this man of power. Sometimes the man of power’s money or show of riches will keep the people loyal to him. The people want to share in the power, in the wealth and they stay because they know that they will struggle to get to the same point of success. They envy the man of power for his might, for his power, for his money, for his status and for his achievements. Men of power will very seldom admit defeat or very rarely admit that a wrong decision has been taken. This is because the power that they have, will not allow them to make an admission of incompetence or of defeat.
Men of power are tested and tried and through all these they become more and more powerful. This is like I’ve said, a long process and it does not happen overnight. You have to understand that the problems they have faced, made them more powerful, and normally men of power come from a background where they as children have struggled and the house in which they have grown up was either poor or broken. This sets the stage as an achiever and a man of power is a man of strong and powerful dreams. The child wants to show the rest of the world that it is possible - and yes it is possible and so many of the men of power has proven this as true. The drive in the man of power is to out-do the rest, to rise above circumstances and to become one that is successful in all aspects of life. This becomes such a powerful driving force that it becomes an obsession, an “I will do whatever it takes!” attitude. This will drive the man of power (yet unknown to him) to start manipulating people, manipulating circumstances and doing whatever it takes to make a success. The man of power soon starts disregarding other people and their feelings. He starts up the ladder of success and this becomes such a powerful driving force that he only focuses on this steep climb. The man of power will achieve success, as he cannot accept failure, each failure makes him more determined and more desperate for success!
The perfect example of a man of power is Jesus Christ. He had to learn from His father for 30 years before he could do anything. The difference here is that He knew the power that He had. He also knew how to use it and not abuse it. He was totally focused on the source of the power and here is where men of power should learn - they should know fully that the source of their power is -God and not themselves, - who they are or what they have achieved. They should become totally focused on God and totally obedient to His word. His will should become what is strived for. Jesus trusted God in everything that He had to do and in what He did. Jesus knew what was inside of Him because of the Word of His Father (God). Jesus was humble and he treated people better than what they expected or what they where used to. Jesus was fair and He listened to people. He also made time to listen to His Father. Jesus did not allow circumstances to distract His focus from the end-objective, the end-result of paying for our sins in full. He was not self-centered, but totally focused on the needs of other people. Jesus was a true man of power.
Men of power are men who will also look after themselves. What other people think of them is important and these men of power often become vain. They dress extravagantly - not ridiculously but in taste with little things that will show that they have power and also money to afford these things. They will often have engraved jewellery just to stand out in the crowd, to show-off. Men of power often have a very poor self-image and they will try and compensate for this by the power they have and normally they rule their sub-ordinates by fear. Men of power are also in a position to misuse women and will easily have a relationship with another woman. This man will go into relationships, disregarding and without respect for the person or his family. His whole existence is focused only on what is best for him, what is in his interest and how much he will gain from any venture or relationship.
Men of power are men that are normally very brusque in the way they will handle people and situations. They will be short and to the point. They want everything to go their way. For them there are no gray areas. They will let people wait for them when they have an appointment - just to show the people the power that is vested in the man of power. Men of power are abrupt in their mannerisms and most of the time they expect people to know exactly what needs to be done - their communication is bad and they do not relate what they expect. They assume that others will know what is expected from them and what needs to be done. They will have people re-do work over and over with just a hint of how they expect the finished product to look. The problem is that if the end-product does not meet the expectations, the work will have to be redone again and again, till either the man of power will tell the person exactly what is expected or the poor person has given up! The man of power expects that everyone should know as much as they themselves do.
Men of power also have a fantastic memory. It is as if they have a built in tape-recorder on which they record important things in their lives. They will even try to pretend that they remember a conversation word by word. Some will even go as far as implying that someone else cannot remember what that person had said themselves, (Implying that the person is lying) to prove a point. They will always prove that what they do is the right thing. They also like to have people know how wealthy they are by telling people who are with them how much a thing costs, or how much they have given to charity, or how much money they have made in the last business transaction. This is on-going and in church they will always be seen as the important, the wealthy, and the generous man that helps so much! Their children at school will also have preferential treatment as this child’s father is contributing so much to the school. These poor children grow up in the shadow of power and will always fall back on this vested power of the father. These children suffer to adapt in an environment where they have to stand alone, where the power of the father means nothing. They will often start studying, but not being committed, they will fail and fall out. They will try again and again, because the man of power - their father, would not want his children to reflect badly on his abilities. He will often sponsor his children with lots of capital, trying different business ventures that will fail. Often the children of this man of power will have too much money and they will often do anything to have money. They will also often start abusing alcohol and try various drugs and even end up becoming addicts. They will sleep around, and knowing that daddy’s money is there to bail them out when they fall into trouble. They will get almost everything that they want - just another way of the man of power to show off how wealthy / well of he is!
The men of power treat people so badly that soon nobody wants to do any work for this man. As soon as people hear that the work needs to be done for this man, they rather quit or rather go without money, than to work for this man. This is because of the way this man communicated, he wants the job done, but does not communicate exactly how and when he comes to look at how the job is progressing - finding that things are different than what he expected, he will be highly upset and shouts at the people working on the job.
The man of power will also have lots of expensive toys - a way of showing off. This man will also do everything to hide his dubious ways of making money. He will make money off the poor and justify it by saying that he helps them to make a better living and also that he gives huge sums of money to charity. Justification of his deeds comes easily and he will eventually believe his own poor excuses of why he is doing certain things. This man will also try and uphold a front that he lives in a very close relationship with God; he will be a Christian - but also only when it suits him. He will be generous to people that will be able to speak up publicly, who will tell others of how great this man of power is. People will be too afraid to speak up to this man of power, as they might be reliant on him for a salary. People are easily blinded by his power and by his might. Lots and lots of people like working for this man as they themselves will never be able to achieve what the man of power achieved. The people become addicted to the power - they can say that they work for this man of power - and everyone will know this man! Everyone will show ‘respect’ by the hearing of the name of this man, but this is really fear or hate and very, very seldom is it real respect. The man of power will have lots of friends - but very, very few will be true friends. They will be friends as long as the money is there.
Men of power will throw parties for people just to show off how much they are able to spend - not only on themselves, but also on other people. The sad story is that because of the poor self-image that men of power have of themselves they need to do extravagant things to stand out.
Men of power are show-offs. Men of power will always tell stories in such a way that they will be the hero at the end and in the story there will almost certainly be a part where other people get belittled. This belittled person will be one that is, like the man of power, putting a front of power forward and unlike the man of power, is in a position of power. This belittled person might be a managing director or an executive of a company and then this man of power will elaborate on how this powerful man ended up crawling and groveling before him, the man of power. They will always have to tell others about their accomplishments and they will also freely tell other people of occasions where they have lost lots of money and how they also had to learn the hard way. This is very true - everyone has to learn through his mistakes, but not everyone walks with it on the cuff of his sleeve.
In the bible we read a lot about powerful men - Samson, Abraham, Joseph, David, Daniel, Joshua, Jeremiah, Salomon, and Jesus
The example we need to follow is what Jesus set for us. He was the only true man of power and at the same time the only true man in power. He never boasted, He never belittled others, He never relied on His own power, He never focused on the problem, but on the solution. He never showed off, He never stopped loving people, He was never vain, pretending to be what He was not, He was always humble, had empathy for the poor and the sick, He always traveled on one road only - He was led by His Father. How many of us can say we try to be like this? That we try every day to live a life more and more like Jesus.
Men of power will try and hide the soft side. This side of them is not very easy to pick up, not easy to discern. The man of power will be loving and kind, yet strict with his children. His children will grow up under this power and will rely on this power - although it is not vested in them as the children of the man of power. He will show his soft side to his wife and to his children. They will know both sides of this man of power. The man of power will get to a point where he will have difficulty in separating work and his family life. Because he doesn’t want to compromise his power, he will be very lenient, yet very strict with his family. Often he will shout at his wife / children and belittle them in front of other people - sometimes in front of his employees. This shows the brusque way and the inferiority complex that follows this man of power around.
Men of power normally listen to no one. This is true in a sense that people will be asked for their opinion and about what they think about some issues. This is just so to try and justify the decisions that will be made. The mind has been made up, and the decision will just be prolonged - so it will seem that the decisions were not theirs. Do we have to listen to these people? Do we have to go with the decisions that they make? Do we try and satisfy the men of power because we are afraid of them or why do we try to satisfy these men of power?
Men of power are in most circumstances very inconsiderate. They will make decisions that will suit their needs and are the best for them. These decisions will not take into consideration the other people that will be influenced or affected by these decisions. The decisions will affect a lot of other people and normally these people cannot afford to be excluded, but they will be and only at the last moment will the decision be related back to the people. This will have such an affect on some that they will resign as the decision is just too harsh and there are just too many things at stake.
Men of power will show their power by buying a “status home” in a posh neighbourhood. This will probably be the most expensive home in the area with the most gadgets etc. He will also subtly tell people that are easily influenced, about this ‘new’ estate that he has purchased. These people will then spread the word of this massive, very expensive ‘estate’ that the man of power had purchased. He does this because he knows that the truth will be blown out of proportion, every time the story is told, a little tail will be added! This will flatter him in his power.
Most people envy the man of power. Men in power will be jealous of what the man of power has achieved. They will be there to give the necessary credit to the man of power and before this man, they will keep a straight face, but behind his back, they will show their contempt for his achievements. The man of power has passed this stage and will only speak to confidants about how they really feel about other people. They will show their resilience by walking the straight and narrow road - using sound business principles as excuses to justify certain decisions. They will never show modesty or very seldom even show humility. This is to bolster their self-esteem, to hide the inferiority that they experienced as a child or even later in life as well. Men of power will have very few true friends. The friends they have are often also men of power - persons that will be able to compete with the money, the status, the power and most of all are in exactly the same position, maybe in a different business, but in a position of power. These friends only last as long as the power is available. When the power has gone - the friends of power will be gone as well.
The man of power gets to a point where he believes he is invulnerable and that he himself is above the law. They will evade tax and have excuses for why they do it. They believe that they can use and abuse the system for their benefit! They become manipulators of format and they know exactly how to manipulate all and everything for their pleasures and benefits. Men of power will command, or even worse, demand respect while other people will normally earn respect. Men of power are feared and very seldom respected by their employees or workers. People will do mostly everything that is asked by the man of power, but this is not because there is loyalty or respect, it is because of fear, it is because of common sense, it is because of this man’s rule of power!
The men of power will inconvenience other people without consideration. They will use someone else as an excuse for the inconvenience and this will be done without blinking and eye, this, just to impress their ‘friends’ with the power they have. Men of power think of themselves only and they do not consider other people in their plans. Other people must always just be ready and must be there for the man of power’s demands and conquests. They are always the focus point, the main attraction! How easy life is for them - the men of power - they always have everything and everyone in control. They do not like their lives to be out of control, they do not want anybody to be out of (their) control. Men of power are in actual fact pitiful people, hiding behind their power and trying to run away from their pains and who they really are. Men of power!
Men of power also see in people what people normally don’t see in themselves. If a person makes an impression on a man of power, this man of power will always remember this and will keep it in mind. A man of power will sooner or later use this person in a position where he is needed. The person will sometimes not even know that it was an impression that was made before and that created a lasting impression. The man of power is a difficult man to get along with if you are not used to his modus operandi. Sometimes the simplest thing (or so it seems), can be turned into the most complex thing. You have to have all your ducks in a row if you approach the man of power for a decision.
Do you know someone like this? Can you associate yourself with some or all of the character traits that have been mentioned? Do you know that you are a man in power or do you know that you are a man of power? Are you ready to admit, to take ownership of who you are? Are you willing to change yourself if you are a man of power? Are you willing to show a ‘soft’ side, to listen to other people, to become more like Jesus in every way? Are you willing to sacrifice your power to gain the Power, the awesome power of God, the freedom His mercy brings? Can you surrender yourself?
In South Africa today security plays a vital part in any business or private home. This book and the volumes to follow, will guide you step by step through the essential precautionary measures to be taken in protecting your family and valuables. From employing security guards, evacuation of your site and security measures to burglar bars and alarms in your private home.
a Book compiled by me from experience gained after 10 years in the security industry as Industrial relations officer with Nosa qualifications, 1st Aid, fire protection and also S.O.B. grade A.
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