<div>It is not the man who has too little but the man who craves more, who is poor” — Roman court philosopher Seneca <br /><br />The case reminds me of Ichak Kalderon Adizes’ work, “Responsibility, Authority, Power and Influence” (1992), which emphasises that those who have the authority to decide can be undermined by those with power.<br /><br />For me personally, power can be felt instinctively in an interaction with people who have an uncompromising sense of purpose. Hence, leaving aside the power from authority, genuine power that endures, arises from conviction to go the last mile in executing an ideal, come what may. This power becomes person-neutral, infectious and self-propelling. Embedded somewhere is a sense of doing right, and correcting what is wrong or inadequate.<br /><br />A singular quality of power seen in the work of Bunker Roy and Anaama is the absence of arrogance, pride or self-attention. Hence, we need to seek the source in those parts of our souls that seek outlets veering towards the extraordinary, the challenge, the unstoppable, which, unless expressed in concrete actions, curls into frustration and poisons the innards. Hence the compulsion to give. There is no other choice.<br /><br />In institutions, power is a function of authority, which often calls for an architecture under which authority is constructed and power executed. The source of power is the capability to punish or reward. A person meeting the needs (or denying them) of another has power over that person. Such power is tied to a sense of justice, discipline, process and orientation.<br /><br />Sources of power can be numerous, and in various avatars. The most obnoxious is the one that is self-serving, and is an obstacle to the people over whom it is exercised. This is the power that is repressive, and the most difficult to overthrow. But it also breeds the power of courage, which, in turn, ignites collective power that needs no authority to be exercised.<br /><br />At the other end is the power of love, which leads to the power of sacrifice and unselfishness. The case hints at this when discussing Anthony Giddens, the sociologist. The power of love is “transformative”. And this can be observed even more deeply in the fine arts and music. I wish the case also covered the aspect of art and its capacity to generate power — the power to move emotions, however mundane, into cataclysmic joy.<br /><br />The case talks of “various connotations to power”. And then mingles it with “motivation”. I would view the two separately, if the worth and richness of each is to be discovered. Nobody is powerless. Everyone has “power over their own selves’. Leadership uncovers, and then discovers, this self-power and converts it to expanding energy.<br /><br />These days, the concept of thought leadership is engaging the talents and minds of management gurus. The CEO has to be a ‘thought leader’, in addition to being an efficient user of resources. So is ‘thought leadership’ a power — the power to foresee, not just forecast? Bunker Roy and Anaama’s is a case of thought leadership, as their work is inspirational and offers concrete options to deliver at least cost what others have aspired but failed to do. Roy’s Barefoot College has conception and execution embedded in its DNA. It is a powerhouse that can be duplicated with the same value base.<br /><br />So is power then about value addition? An MBA talent has the power to create value in Tier-2, -3 and -4 markets by, say, using knowledge to improve hygiene. We have seen this in every initiative to penetrate rural markets and create value. There can be many ideals without idealism which an MBA can espouse.<br /><br />Power is a consequence, unless it is a mere attachment to authority. Power earned through “good thoughts, good words and good deeds” is a glow that defies power-cuts, as its source of generation is the turbine of giving. And, what is the prime mover of this turbine is a mystery with a tacit dimension.<br /><br />Roy and the likes of him never feel the power to control as they expand their mission and purpose. On the contrary, people derive their own strengths by ceding to him the power of direction and enactment.<br /><br />Reading the case reminds me of film director Satyajit Ray and his works on screen. Ray enjoyed a unique power of the visual, through which he transmitted emotions resting in the souls of all of us. The power to conceive, perceive and construct films of great natural beauty and relevance gave Ray a magnetic appeal over several continents.<br /><br />The sources of power are many and complex. Sadly, the abuse of power is more common than the joy that flows once power becomes the fuel of synergy. Finally, the well-known quote “Power corrupts” needs to be confronted and not absorbed. Because power is a neutral energy coloured only by the purpose to which it is put.<br /><em><br />The author is former managing director of Voltas</em><br /><br />(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 04-02-2013)</div>
