Real Power

The fact is we live in an age where many people are able to achieve wondrous things almost overnight, to achieve successes that would hav been unimaginable in earlier times. Look at Steve Jobs. He was a kid in blue jeans with no money who took an idea for a home computer and built a Fortune 500 company faster than anyone in history. Look at Ted Turner. He took a medium that barely existed-cable television-and created an empire. Look at people in the entertainment industry like Steven Spielberg or Bruce Springsteen, or businessmen like Lee Iacocca or Ross Perot. What do they have in common other than astounding, prodigious success? The answer, of course, is... power.

Power is a very emotional word. People's responses to it are varied. For some people, power has a negative connotation. Some people lust after power. Others feel tainted by it, as if it were something venal or suspect. How much power do you want? How much power do you think is right for you to obtain or develop? What does power really mean to you?

I don't think of power in terms of conquering people. I don't think of it as something to be imposed. I'm not advocating that you should, either, That kind of power seldom lasts. But you should realize that power is a constant in the world. You shape your perceptions, or someone else shapes them for you. You do what you want to do, or you respond to someone else's plan for you. To me, ultimate power is the ability to produce the results you desire most and create value for others in the process. Power is the ability to change your life, to shape your perceptions, to make things work for you and not against you. Real power is shared, not imposed. It's the ability to define human needs and to fulfill them-both your needs and the needs of the people you care about. It's the ability to direct your own personal kingdom-your own thought processes, your own behaviour-so you produce the precise results you desire.