Power and the self

Why people use power is a much more important question than you would expect on first consideration.

On the surface we have quick and easy answers.

People use power to get what they want.

And I suppose that may be sufficient for some - but not for me.

Why do we want? Why is it that we want what we want? What creates those particular desires and needs?

Why do we choose to use power rather than be independent? Why would we make exploiting others’ abilities our principle means of getting what we want? Aren’t there other ways?

Why is it that some just want power? Why do they make the pursuit of power a quest unto itself?

Using power is much more than a means to an end. It has become a singular goal for a vast part of humanity.

Why would someone want to have a political office? Why would someone want a position of authority? Why would someone want to have power over another?

Power itself – the ability to control, influence or seduce others is viewed as a destination rather than a path. We see it as a character trait rather than a behavior. We see it as something you can be, rather than something you can use.

People don’t just want what they want. They don’t just need what they need. People want power.

They don’t just want it to get what they want. Some days we just want to feel like nobody can tell us what to do. Some days we just want to show the world. Some days we just want to make others ask - or wait - or give in. Some days we just want to feel like we have power.

You might say that having power guarantees, or at least increases the chances, that one would always get what they want.

Thomas Hobbes said power takes us beyond our brutish and nasty existence. The reason we seek power is to rise above and we seek more power to secure the power that we have.
Think about that.

There may be some truth in his words. But it does not answer the question why. It only answers why the quest for power doesn’t seem to have limits. It implies that the pursuit of power requires a constant or continuous effort. In the great competition for power, people see it as a limited resource and must repeatedly reacquire it.

Power is about the idea of self. Some days we just want to feel like nobody can tell us what to do. Some days we just want to show the world. Some days we just want to make others ask or wait or give in. Some days we just want to feel like we have power.

We all are individuals who see themselves as discreet and unique. We want to think that as an individual we are at least as important as anyone else.

We build on our uniqueness. We pursue it. We build up a sense and feeling of a self. We actively make a distinction between ourselves and others.

Then we judge that self.

Who is better? Who is more important? Who is bigger, stronger, faster, smarter, prettier, sexier, or wiser – who is better?

Our desires feed this. If we have more of this, or better of that, then we are more of a person. We are a better self.

If I have a better car I must be better than others. If I have more expensive shoes than others then it must be because I am more deserving. If I am rich I am better. If I am the boss, it means I am better.

It makes us feel like we are more. We feel expanded. Enlarged. MORE.

We look to celebrities and authorities and aspire to their level. Always wanting to be more than just a person. More than just me. More than just another.

We take on hobbies, collections, obsessions. We invest and buy. Nothing really matches the feeling of buying something. The acquisition of that which we have yearned for makes us feel like we are somehow more deserving than we were just moments ago. We are more.

Having power makes us feel like we are more than others. And in being more we think we will be happier.

That is the quest. We all live it - every day - all day long. All we really want is that feeling of happiness.

Although it is fleeting – like the thrill of your first drive in your new BMW – for a few moments you feel like more. Then after it fades, we rush to find that feeling again. Because the feeling of power is gone we are afraid that we must have lost some of who we are. Somehow, someway, we must get it back.

We must feed the self.

We call it happiness but is that what it is?

Is our problem not that we aren’t powerful enough – or that we don’t have enough of everything – but that we have not yet understood what happiness is?

I believe that the pursuit of power is about the creation of the self.

We don’t understand the context in which we live as distinct human beings – we don’t recognize our interconnectedness. There is a complex integration of everything with everything. Everything and everyone is part of everything and everyone.

No more than one blade of grass can make up a lawn – we are only a part of humanity - we cannot be humanity. We can never be more than part of the whole. And that is completely OK. It is how it is supposed to be.

And just like that blade of grass we forget that a single blade of grass could never survive alone. Each blade needs the others. The grass needs the elements. Earth, water, wind, and the heat of the sun – take away any of these and the grass ceases to exist. The grass needs other plants and animals. The grass needs the cow to eat it. To digest it. The grass needs the cow to expel past grass to feed the present grass. Otherwise the grass will end. The grass is part of a wider more intertwined existence.

The grass does not delude itself in pretending it is a tree. It plays its absolutely necessary role in the scheme of things.

We want power because we want to be unique. We want to create a self that matters.

Power feeds our sense of self.

We want power because we forget that we already are as powerful as we would ever need to be.

Hey Gunther

A long time ago Gunther asked about compassion.

I didn't answer him. I have been away. But on a Sunday morning and afternoon many thoughts came together and I offer this not as an answer so much as just a thought.

Gunther asked,

Is compassion really the opposite of power? Can't it be used for power? Compassion is a powerful thing that we can use as a mechanism to influence people. Then is compassion really the opposite of power?

There are those who are powerful because they use what others need to effect their choices.

There are those who appear powerful because they are what others want to be. They give of themselves in a way that creates admiration and a desire to emulate and therefore motivate behavior in a positive way. The difference is intention.

Can using compassion be a mechanism?–A means toward having power. Yes. But it is a question of intention and application not one of automatic power and choice manipulation. If someone needs compassion we can use it as a means of producing power.

Or we can just give it without a demand for a choice that serves us. If we offer compassion without any desire attached to it – it is simply compassion. If we offer affection, understanding and comfort only because we know we can use it to get what we desire – then the intention is not compassion. It is power. Compassion and power are intentions as much as they are phenomena. They are not just the result - they are the purpose. They are not just manifestations they are intentions.

Does that mean power has to be intentional to be power? No. But intending a result isn't always intending power. And if the result is not a compassionate thing, then it must be insome form Power. If the intended result may not be power but if it isn't based in a love of all for the good of ALL then it is power and needs were used to attain a result.

Power.

We use power to build up the self. It is the belief that we are unique and separate individuals who are in competition with all the other individuals in the quest to fulfill our desires. It is the belief that our life purpose is to fulfill desires and all others in the world are here to assist in that pursuit. Others are nothing more than tools for our use.

In truth we are all manifestations or expressions of the great consciousness that flows within and is the essence of all. We are all one. We are all expressions of life that are interconnected and interdependent and are ALL on the path back to that great source.

We are all walking the path. Everyone’s success in that journey is everyone else’s. We, as one great wave of life, are here - free to play within this world of expression.

But we are mislead by the distinctions between things. Those distinctions are creations of the mind and illusions. The distinctions between us are not real. We are al the same and all connected.

Each of us is so reliant on all the others. Each must – and does - support and provide for all the others. It is so obvious we miss it. Where does the matter that makes up our being come from? It comes from the rest of the earth and the living things within it. Soil, rain, worms, sun, animals, other humans. Fire, earth, water, air, chi. The cycle of water. The cycle of matter. The cycle of life. Flowing from one entity into the next. Changing from one form into another.

It is as obvious as our birth. One human being comes out of another. We are all connected and cannot exist without each other. Yet we are convinced that we are in competition and racing for the chance to control each other so we might have what we want.

There is nothing on the earth we can’t have. Each of us can have everything. This is a world of plenty and we are beasts of great ability and talent. Yet we are fixated not on what we want, but on what others want. Our success is not measured in having everything we want but in having more than others have.

We do not want to be great. We want to be better.

We don't want to be happy. We want to be happier.

We are fixated on the others. We want to control them and defeat them and to ultimately have so much more than they do.

This human desire to control others and be better than others is what has fascinated me for decades now. That is why I am so obsessed with power.

I don’t want to control others. My God, what kind of responsibility would that entail? I am afraid of even influencing others with my writing. What if I am wrong? What if all I do is show people how to go around and control each other? That's not why I am writing this stuff.

That’s why I am afraid of publishing these ideas. I am afraid of the responsibility attached to influencing people.

I simply want to help us all release from this painful pursuit of this false sense of self.

I am so completely shocked at people's need to to control other people.

That has been my focus. That is why I want to understand power and explain it. That is why I want all of us to be able to see through it and over come it. That is why I want to explain it so all could have it. Once we are all as power as each other, then there is nothing left but an acceptance that we must all survive or we must all die.

I don't want people to use compassion because it is powerful. I just want them to stop wanting to control others.

All that is left is compassion.

Yes little brother, compassion - like anything that some wants or needs - can be used as a mechanism of power. Anything can be a mechanism of power. It is all a question of intention.

Writing

I have begun the process of working with an editor.

Although I have, what I believe is, a working relationship with the English language, my status as a writer is still somewhat of a neophyte. I have written thousands of pages of material. Most of those pages were legal in nature.

Legal writing is almost mathematical in its structure. Although I believe there is an art in writing an effective, comprehensive and self-contained agreement, there is little artistic value in the words themselves. A client pays for the certainty of a lawyer’s writing but not the clarity. The average layperson does not understand the run-on, complex, multi-conditional sentences that make for good legal drafting. But the confusability factor alone gives appearance of good writing.

Certainly the law has had a significant formative impact on my lexicon and syntax. But before I was a lawyer I was a thinker. I was a guy who wanted to know the “why” – the “why” about everything. Of course that included the “why” about power.

Studying sociology and religion at university gave me more than ample opportunity to read and write. As much as I was able to read all the right things, I was prone to write in an overly stylistic and somewhat verbose manner.

As I struggled against the powers of authority – giving them my consent to use their ability to grade me to obtain from them my certification as an educated mind – I found that it was in my best interests to submit to the critique of a particular T.A. named Michel.

Michel was a divinity doctorial student in the heart of writing a thesis which was focused on the meaning and the historical socio-cultural implications of a small set of sentences in one of the Epistles of Paul.

Who would have thought that so much could be said about so little.

Nonetheless, given his task, I could find no better authority on the subject of communicating in writing.

After my third exasperating “B” from Michel I was left with two choices. Fight with him or submit to him.

So I asked him, “Why?”

He described my writing as full of ideas and logic but absent any discernible pattern of communication. Simply, he said that I wrote in circles using complex, hard-to-read sentences and repetitive language.

He encouraged me to simplify my language. He suggested that I avoid adjectives and adverbs and just say what I meant in one sentence – not six.
After two more papers, Michel told me I got it. I was rewarded with “A”s from that day on.

That lesson helped me with the ability to write legalistically. My law practice helped me hone that direct simple style. Those two experiences - those lessons in writing - made me a pretty good lawyer.

However, I am not sure either has helped me write for you.

Today my new-found ally in the world of words says that my sentences lack style. They are terse and uninteresting. So I turn to her for input to make my writing better.

Once again I submit to an authority – in this case an authority on writing and communication. I do so happily. I do so because I want to be a writer so bad that the desire over powers me.

Her ability to make me better is the mechanism that will make me pay her to listen to her criticisms.

Incredible power isn’t it?

Whether it is my T.A. Michel, my clients or my new found editor I submit to their power because more than anything else before, I want to write for you.

Power - is it good or bad?

I still can’t seem to answer that one.

Power as a means to an end...

I have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what I want to do next with my life and career.

In that constant question I keep coming back to the same answer. It does not matter what I do. The real question/quest/battle/struggle is about how I do it.

I have always been a results oriented guy. Willing to do what it takes to get the job done. Believing in the result, I have always done what it takes.

I have always thought of my self as a pretty good strategist. I am good at evaluating the people and the conditions that surround a matter. Structuring the process so that we get the result we want. Using the circumstances and the needs of people to attain the goal. I have been good with power. I am usually successful. I am aware of the process of power and have shown some ability to use it.

I haven’t always found that to lead to happiness. Often getting what you want makes you unhappy. Desires are smoky things. They are never satisfied. They just shift and change.

Maybe it’s all this grey hair. I think, maybe, it is the scars on my heart.

My hair and my scars tell me today that the ends never justify the means. There are no situations that justify hurting people. There are no reasons to say it is ok to do the wrong thing.

If you can't accomplish something without hurting people then you have not spent enough time strategizing nor have you understood the role of patience.

And so it is much more important to act well each day than to accomplish something at all costs.

And that - as we all know - is one tough assignment.

When I think about all the things I could accomplish I keep coming back to the same goal. I just want to be a better person. I want to live the right life. I want to mediate EVERY day. I want to offer my knowledge to those who ask for it. I want to eat right and sleep well. I want to love tenderly and act justly.

And I believe that that is toughest struggle of all. The world's great and most important battles take place inside us. The ones with great impact are the ones going on inside of people who are living public lives. We don't see the important parts.

I was thinking about means and ends and process and results and was surfing the web looking for others’ thoughts. Each day, I like to post a “thought for the day” for my students on our program website at the college. We all struggle with motivation and direction. We struggle with what life brings us each day. We are all here walking the path. And that is what life is about. When I have things I am struggling with, I like to use the TFTD as a place to suggest to all of us different approaches and ways of thinking.

Looking for ideas on means and ends, I kept coming to were quotes and stories about war and peace.

Interesting.

It is probably the most enormous example of the conflict between means and ends.

I believe that every day George W. Bush asks himself if he was wrong - if he didn't just make a mess of things. However, as a leader, he is not allowed to ask those questions in public.

The real battle and struggle for truth and right is going on inside him every day.

So today, rather than use my power to bash him. Rather than use my ability to have you read my thoughts, against your need for information as you evaluate your world, to have that influence the way you may chose not to support him, I will use my ability for compassion.

Pray for the poor old bugger. Let’s pray that ideas and opportunities come forward that he and his people might find a way to turn this big mess into peace and prosperity. Let’s wish for peace for all those sad people in the world’s most ancient of societies.

That is peace and prosperity as they see it. Not as we see. In the way they want it. Not as we want it.

The end does not justify the means.

Remember that when you continue to ask yourself , “Is power a good thing or a bad thing?”




I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent."
-- Mohandas K. Gandhi

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind...War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today."
-- John F. Kennedy

"War is as outmoded as cannibalism, chattel slavery, blood-feuds, and dueling, an insult to God and humanity...a daily crucifixion of Christ."

Muriel Lester



"Our chiefs are killed...The little children are freezing to death. My people... have no blankets, no food...My heart is sick and sad...I will fight no more forever."

Chief Joseph

"There was never a good war or a bad peace."

Benjamin Franklin

"War would end if the dead could return."

Stanley Baldwin

"If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another."
-- Winston Churchill

"I prefer the most unfair peace to the most righteous war."
-- Cicero.

"War is cruelty and you cannot refine it."

Gen. William T. Sherman 1820-1891

"Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime"

Ernest Hemingway

"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it"

George Orwell

"Nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won."

Duke Of Wellington 1759-1852


"More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginning of all wars -- yes, an end to this brutal, inhuman and thoroughly impractical method of settling the differences between governments."
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt.

"Peace is not only better than war, but infinitely more arduous"
-- George Bernard Shaw


"We should take care, in inculcating patriotism into our boys and girls, that is a patriotism above the narrow sentiment which usually stops at one's country, and thus inspires jealousy and enmity in dealing with others... Our patriotism should be of the wider, nobler kind which recognises justice and reasonableness in the claims of others and which lead our country into comradeship with...the other nations of the world. The first step to this end is to develop peace and goodwill within our borders, by training our youth of both sexes to its practice as their habit of life, so that the jealousies of town against town, class against class and sect against sect no longer exist; and then to extend this good feeling beyond our frontiers towards our neighbours."

Lord Baden-Powell

"I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it."

Dwight D. Eisenhower

"The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend."
-- Abraham Lincoln

"There is no way to peace. Peace is the way."
-- A.J. Muste.


"I would say that I'm a nonviolent soldier. In place of weapons of violence, you have to use your mind, your heart, your sense of humor, every faculty available to you...because no one has the right to take the life of another human being."

Joan Baez

"How good bad music and bad reasons sound when we march against an enemy."

Nietzsche




"At the approach of danger there are always two voices that speak with equal force in the heart of man: one very reasonably tells the man to consider the nature of the danger and the means of avoiding it; the other even more reasonable says that it is too painful and harassing to think of the danger, since it is not a man's power to provide for everything and escape from the general march of events'; and that it is therefore better to turn aside from the painful subject till it has come, and to think of what is pleasant. In solitude a man generally yields to the first voice; in society to the second."

Leo Tolstoy War & Peace

"This is the way of peace: Overcome evil with good, falsehood with truth, and hatred with love."
-- Peace Pilgrim.


"The principle of nonviolent resistance seeks to reconcile the truths of two opposites - acquiescence and violence - while avoiding the extremes and immoralities of both. The nonviolent resister agrees with the person who acquiesces that one should not be physically aggressive toward his opponent; but he balances the equation by agreeing with the person of violence that evil must be resisted. He avoids the nonresistance of the former and the violent resistance of the latter. With nonviolent resistance, no individual or group need to submit to any wrong, nor need anyone resort to violence in order to right a wrong."

Martin Luther King, Jr.


"The nonviolent approach does not immediately change the heart of the oppressor. It first does something to the hearts and souls of those committed to it. It gives them new self-respect; it calls up resources of strength and courage that they did not know they had. Finally it reaches the opponent and so stirs his conscience that reconciliation becomes a reality."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

"One of the most persistent ambiguities that we face is that everybody talks about peace as a goal. However, it does not take sharpest-eyed sophistication to discern that while everybody talks about peace, peace has become practically nobody’s' business among the power-wielders. Many men cry Peace! Peace! but they refuse to do the things that make for peace."

Martin Luther King, Jr.




Can one have love? If we could, love would need to be a thing, a substance that one can have, own, possess. The truth is, there is no such thing as "love." "Love" is an abstraction, perhaps a goddess or an alien being, although nobody has ever seen this goddess. In reality, there exists only the act of loving. To love is a productive activity. It implies caring for, knowing, responding, affirming, enjoying: the person, the tree, the painting, the idea. It means bringing tolife, increasing his/her/its aliveness. It is a process, self-renewing and self increasing. from To Have or to Be?

Erich Fromm

Non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty.

Mahatma Gandhi

In the secret of my heart I am in perpetual quarrel with God that He should allow such things [as the war] to go on. My non-violence seems almost impotent. But the answer comes at the end of the daily quarrel that neither God nor non-violence is impotent. Impotence is in men. I must try on without losing faith even though I may break in the attempt.

Mahatma Gandhi

"The Holy Prophet Mohammed came into this world and taught us: 'That man is a Muslim who never hurts anyone by word or deed, but who works for the benefit and happiness of God's creatures. Belief in God is to love one's fellow men.'"

Abdul Ghaffar Khan

"We frail humans are at one time capable of the greatest good and, at the same time, capable of the greatest evil. Change will only come about when each of us takes up the daily struggle ourselves to be more forgiving, compassionate, loving, and above all joyful in the knowledge that, by some miracle of grace, we can change as those around us can change too.

Maíread Maguire

Inspired

What a great event last night. So much more than just information flying around. You could feel the energy flowing all about the room. People finding people who could bring them something.

I wish I could write more now but I am off to a new class in my quest for an LLM.

No matter - I am re-inspired.

I promise to get some blogging and writing done over the next few weeks. I think it is time for that book on depowerment.

Thanks to all who were there. You inspired me much more than I could inspire you.

Later - I promise.

Thanks Jess:)

Struggling for compassion...

Hey

Here's what I have been working on...

Thinking about power brought me to some observations.

The opposite of power is compassion. The purpose of power is the creation of the self. The little self thinks that it is increased by having power over others. The expansion of the true self is to see the connection with all others, and to be connected to all others is the road to enlightenment.

The pursuit of compassion then is so much more than the pursuit of power. And since I think I have had and used a little power in my day, I can tell you that having power is a whole lot easier than having compassion.

I say that to train in power is to train in the understanding of human need and to learn how to use those needs of others to your benefit.

They (the masters of virtue and compassion) say that to train in compassion starts with the four preliminaries.

They sit on a card on my desk at home. I read them everyday. I don't think I have ever wanted to understand them more than I do today. So I offer them to you.

Feel free to post your thoughts.

Les


In your daily life try to ...
1 . Maintain an awareness of the preciousness of human life.
2. Be aware of the reality that life ends: death comes to everyone.
3. Recall that whatever you do whether virtuous or not has a result; what goes around comes around.
4. Contemplate that as long as you are too focused on self-importance and too caught up in thinking about how good or bad you are, you will suffer. Obsessing about what you want and avoiding what you don't want does not result in happiness.

Pema Chodron
Tibetan Buddhist Monk and Writer.

More....

Sorry everyone....

I have been delinquent lately.

Caught up in power dynamics of all things...:) Very distracting from doing the things you want.

Have been focused on trying to implement strategies of compassion rather than power. However the strategies are hard to create. Everyone I talk to says - "Use power" - "Be tough." "Let 'em have it." But I know power and I know in the end it will only hurt me.

I am trying hard to find a way that I can actually use my awareness of their needs to help them. That uis the thing I should figure out and write a book about.

"How to exit power dynmaics with techniques of compassion."

I am coming to the conclusion that sometimes there is no willingness to accept compassion from someone you see as an enemy.

Like the Tao says - there is nothing worse than having an enemy. To have an enemy is to be an enemy.

They see me as an enemy. Don't think I can change that.

Now the question is - can I use power to create a stalemate or do I actually have to use power to the end of this dynamic. I already know it will never end.

Not sure what the lesson is.

Ahhhh - sorry just venting....

Anyway I haven't forgotten about you or this work so I will try to get back at it soon.

Thanks for your patience.

Not done yet....

Well some might say it is finished. The students and professors are about to head back to the classrooms. No more picketing and confrontation at the gates. It is time to prep for class and proceed to graduation.

I am not finished though. I think there are a couple of post mortem-like dissections that still need to be done. I think there is a lot to be learned, and more importantly, a lot yet to do to manage the out come of this little power play.

When you look back at the process of the past three weeks what you see are two interwoven power dynamics being played as one. There is the first one in which the students have been refused the ability to have classes in an attempt to influence the Management of the colleges to agree to hire more full time faculty. Then there is the second one in which the faculty were kept out of their jobs by refusing to offer anything that would be accepted so that the Ontario Government - Mr Bentley and Mr. McGuinty – would agree to greater government funding to the college system as a whole.

The faculty association did not see that coming. They did not anticipate that the Management would see within the faculty strike the opportunity to use public backlash to create power on the two parties that cause them grief – the faculty and the government. They have played it well. They have played the “poor me.” They have positioned themselves in this as the passive victim. Caught between unreasonable faculty asking for the moon and a provincial funding system that has collapsed over ten years and left them unable to provide quality educations.

Management – like the union – could have played the press more aggressively. They could have played public opinion in a more effective way. Management could have spoken out publicly about the chronic under-funding of the system and that the money they had been allocated by the province was not enough after so many years of neglect. Rather than say that the “teachers” were asking for more than they deserved, they could have said that the faculty are right. The system needs this. However, our government won’t fund it.

They could have used power over the Province by putting the Minister and the Premier on the spot. They could have used their ability to impact the public’s opinion of the politicians as a power dynamic against them and tried to influence the Province’s choice to allocate more funding. This may have been especially effective given a pending budget announcement.

However to do that would have been to forget one important aspect of power…

Power destroys trust.

To understand why the Management did not play it out against the Province in a public forum we need to see the very close working relations that exist between the Colleges and the Ministry. Colleges are a form of government. They are distinguished one from another by the existence of a corporate structure and a corporate form of governance that keeps them distinct. But you cannot think that an institution that gets 70- 80% of its funding from one source does not have a closely knit relationship with that source. They work together on everything.

There is very little a college can do on its own. Most decisions of any importance must go through the Ministry both before and after they are made. One of a college president’s most pressing jobs is as a lobbyist. Both as a group and as individuals, the College Presidents attend to the Ministry lobbying and negotiating and building relationships with Deputy Ministers and Assistant Deputy Ministers.

Although the Minister may change every couple of years the senior bureaucrats remain the same. The last thing a College President wants to do is be at odds with the Minister or their deputies and personnel.

Just as the faculty are the ones who see students every day and are the ones who truly answer to the relationship, the College Management works with the Province everyday and they answer to that relationship.

So the faculty worked on their relations with the students as the strike progressed and Management did the same with the Province.

Faculty did it in the classroom before the strike, on the line as the strike continued and will be up to their chins in it next week.

One of the things my strike teammates noticed was how many of the students crossing the lines were mine. How many of them stayed to just to chat with me. How many of them took the time to read this blog. And I suppose most significantly was how we are still talking as friends.

You all know where my allegiance lies. I am not here to change the college system. I am not here to become a senior manager. I am not here to get somewhere else. I am here because I love teaching you. You know I am here because talking to you about stuff like power is rewarding to me. So you know I am no happier about being out on strike than you are.

You know how I feel about power, so you know I wouldn’t use it to get something from you.

Faculty will be working their relationships with students next week - calming concerns, revising course plans and making graduation and passing possible. In that effort will come a happy and successful end to this semester. It will save the relationships faculty have with their students. It is important because any one who knows about teaching knows that relationship is critical.

That’s the faculty side.

However Management did it in a crafty, power-based way.

It was accomplished by letting the faculty take the heat. By creating a public impression that faculty were asking for unreasonable things and were already being overpaid. Management built public support by suggesting that they had made worthwhile offers. Although those inside knew these to actually be lies, because the union was not anticipating a strike, the union was not prepared to respond to the press with truth.

The idea of without prejudice talks is that bargaining teams can speak frankly and find middle ground without compromising their position. The idea that we have closed door negotiation is to give us a chance to find compromise without having other people looking over our shoulder and second guessing us. The union was not prepared for the manipulation of media blackouts followed by spin doctoring by the Management. Management’s press releases were dangerously close to false. There was enough spun truth in them to prevent a black eye. However at all times the Union bargaining team was unwilling to make those accusations because of the power within them and future importance of trust in the negotiations.

The frustration showed however in the public allegation of bad faith bargaining, which only came when it was clear that no settlement or further talks were possible.

All the while Management worked quietly behind the scenes. They exploited the opportunities which arose when the Minister called them into his office and when the Premier said it was time to end the strike.

Did you see how the Management let the Province make the first move each time there was progress? The Minster called the parties into his office privately. It was then that the Management could say that there simply was not the money to give the faculty what they wanted. They could also let the Minister know that they thought, in fairness, that the faculty may have the right idea if we are to increase the quality of education.

They could let the Faculty go into the Minister’s office and do the ranting about how the Premier made these promises and all they are trying to do is get the college Management to implement what the Premier said he wanted and the Rae Report said we needed.

Then they played the all or nothing card again by saying, we can’t afford to give you these things so we have to do an “all-or-nothing” arbitration. We can’t saw it down the middle because if we agreed to that we would have to find the money to pay for it. All this work to get the province to agree to pay for it would be lost if they agreed to simple binding arbitration.

So they stonewalled. They stonewalled an untenable position. They stonewalled a dangerous position. They stonewalled a position that anyone would say is ridiculous if they were looking on with even a hint of reasonability.

But it worked.

They got Mr. McGuinty to make a public statement about the end of the strike and the return to classes Monday. But they held on until he followed that up with a quiet phone call telling them to accept binding arbitration.

Now this strike is his problem.

Now the outcome of the arbitration and its costs will be easily laid at the door step of the Ministry and the Premier. After all, the Management would never have agreed to those demands and the strike would have continued if not for the Minister and the Premier wanting the students back in class.

The Management conducted power as masters. They did not once embarrass the province. They kept the business between the Management and the Province behind closed doors. By protecting the public image of the government, they did not alienate the person they were actually working against.

Sometimes we use power on those who are working with us.

The Management had the ability to pass the buck and impact the public persona of the Minister and the Premier. They had the ability to hurt the way the public saw them. They did not use it. By refusing to use that ability to hurt the politicians, they helped them. They used their ability to influence the way the Province chose to solve this impasse.

They used their ability to embarrass the politicians by not using it. They let the students and the faculty and the public and the official opposition and the press direct their attention to the Minister and the Premier. They let the power pass over them and into another.

They created a strike and let all of the power in it pass over them and into the politicians. They did not let up until the politicians stepped up and took the heat.

Don’t think that the province didn’t recognize this and exploit it for their purposes also.

Did you see the slight of hand of the province announcing the increase in tuition at a time when the hatred of that move could be focused on the faculty not the government? Also it was delivered at a time when students were out of class. They were at home awaiting a resolution of the strike. Could you imagine the size of the protest that may have taken place had they made that announcement when students were at their respective colleges and able to organize a proper response?

What do you think would happen to a politician if they cave into to a request for more education spending at a time when they are one of the only two provinces to have a budget deficit? What would the right wing say to the public when that spending comes as a result of a strike?

So now the budget goes through. A little more money will flow down to the classrooms. It will come from arbitration and so it will not be a public announcement subject to criticism.

There are no stupid people here.

So let’s hope the faculty can learn from the great power artistry of the Management and exploit our ability to keep our allies close. Let’s give the students the best education we can over the next few weeks. Let’s draw the students groups closer and see how we can get them involved in the arbitration process. Let’s speak to the public about how we were on strike for the system not for our pockets. We were fighting for the quality of education. Let’s keep asking the public to write to Bentley and McGuinty demanding the money to make the classroom better. Let’s tell the parents not to worry. We will get their kids through successfully.

In the end we have the opportunity to be the hero that got the Goliath of the system to give in. We can thank the students for their sacrifice. They took one for the future of college students everywhere. Together with the students, we can be the heroes here if we want to take that position. But we will have to start using the media.

Let’s expose this whole thing and then use our compassion to make it better.

In the end Mr. McGuinty wants to fund education. In the end the management wants the Ontario college system to be the best in the country. In the end faculty want to be the best educators they can be. In the end the students want to learn and understand. In the end we all agree – we need more faculty to deliver a better college education.

Let’s use that for our mutual success.

A primer in power....

Still silence on the bargaining front. I hope you see it as I do. No news is good news.

As we get closer to a settlement we can be happier and lighter. So let's take a lighter look at power for today. After all Power can be fun too.

Here is a little power thread from our marketingatfleming.com website.


Mar 20 2006, 12:48 PM
Hey
Silly me
I don't know how to take a jpeg image and turn it into a power point background for a slide. I assume it is easy but I am not figuring it out....
You know, wash it out to a watermark and fit it completely in the slide so it serves as a background to a number of slides...
Who does?
You may want it for M PLans and Presentations later but I need it soon...
Talk to me...can you walk me through it?
Can you do it for me...?
Les
--------------------
Do you ever wonder where people's power comes from?


Mar 20 2006, 04:02 PM
Open Power Point
Click 'Format' drop down menu
Click 'Background'
Click the drop down box
Select 'Fill Effects'
Select the 'Picture' Tab
Click 'Select Picture'
Find the picture
Select the picture
Click Insert
Click OKSelect
Apply to All
That will take a picture you have and make it the background for every slide in your presentation.
Hopefully that does what you were looking for it to do.As for watermark? Don't really know what you mean but you can probably photoshop it to look however you want then insert it.
Let me know if it works
--------------------
Calvin SJ - 2nd Year Marketing"Trying is the first step to failure"


Mar 20 2006, 05:41 PM
Beautiful!!!
Thanks.
Les
--------------------
Do you ever wonder where people's power comes from?


Mar 21 2006, 08:14 AM
Knowledge is Power
--------------------
Calvin SJ - 2nd Year Marketing"Trying is the first step to failure"


Mar 21 2006, 08:20 AM
C'mon
You know better.
Knowledge is a mechanism of power.
There is no power without need.
Your knowledge only had power because I needed it.
Otherwise it was simply existing in your head.
Just like power does....
Les
--------------------
Do you ever wonder where people's power comes from?


Mar 21 2006, 03:10 PM
haha
you know what I meant.
But what held more power?
the knowledge I had or the fact that you knew you could get it
Take that
--------------------
Calvin S-J - 2nd Year Marketing"Trying is the first step to failure"


Mar 21 2006, 05:57 PM
speaking of power......my DM group got their hands on a little mechanism of power...
however, I think we are keeping this one to ourselves....
It will be way more fun knowing that we have it without having to actually use it.
Cal you are going to LOVE and I mean L O V E this one!!
P.S I am really hating this strike.....missing the teachers like crazy and now feeling like a BIG NERD for saying that!!
marketing wut!!
P.P.S does having a mechanism of power but not using it still make it a mechanism of power? Or does the subject have to know about the mechanism?? really missing les right now
------------------------------
beckyr


Mar 22 2006, 09:33 AM

Becky Becky Becky...

Remember that mechanisms are not just things. They are the ability to use the thing to help or hinder the needs of the subject. Having the thing does not make it a power mechanism unless you have the ability to use it to affect another person's needs and therefore control, influence or seduce their choice.

For example...Let's say you have a photo of Calvin in ladies underwear.

Now having that photo is not power in itself. Though I am sure you feel the exciting power waiting within it. But that power does not come from the photo, it comes from Calvin's need to keep it private or make it public.

Maybe Cal gave it to you. Or maybe he posed for you. Maybe you posed for each other. Maybe he wants you to have it. Having it in your possession does not make it a power mechanism.

But let's say he doesn't want the guys on his hockey team to have it.

Now you have the ability to do things with it.

You could do something that hinders him. Post it here on the web for example. Publish it in the Peterborough Examiner. Make copies and bring it to power class. That ability would take the thing and turn it into a power mechanism.

I am sure Cal would feel the control and influence.

On the other hand maybe Cal is lonely and he wants you to do that - maybe he needs a date.

Well then, doing all those things are not a hindrance to him but a help.

So instead of threatening to post it on the web you tell him that you won't post it on the web unless he does, says or thinks something that you want him to do say or think. When you do that, now it is mechanism of power by helping his need.

It is that ability to use the thing in some way - a way that helps or hinders Cal - that creates power in it.

Of course using it does not have to happen. The ability may be potential - through threat or promise - offered on condition. So for example, instead of publishing it on this site you just threaten to publish it unless he does what you want. Still power.

Or let's say you create a whole new "The Real Cal" website and send him the link. Then you tell him that you will share the link with everyone in the class unless....degrees of use...do you see it?

Degrees and potential are other ways to use mechanisms. A mechanism is not just a thing - it is the ability to use the thing to help or hinder the requirements desires or attachments of someone who you want to make a choice that matters to you.

Things are just things. That's why so many of us are tricked into thinking that once we have obtained things we will have power. Then when we get them we are just as powerless as before.

Or we may have power but we find that we are not happy about it. We are lonely.

Remember that having power over Cal creates a BiPolar reality that means he has power over you. You are only using it as a mechanism because you want something from him. For example you tease him into thinking that you will post it on the web because you want his attention. Maybe you want him to spend time with you because you think he looks so darn good in ladies underwear.

Well when he recognizes that you are only using power over him to get his attention he can turn it around. After all your need is his source of power. And you would not use power on him unless he had some ability that you needed.

So he might say, "If you publish that picture I will not let you come over to my house and photograph me in the other fifteen outfits I have."

Or he might say, "If you don't publish that picture of me I won't be your friend any more."

Then comes the real problem. Using power always destroys trust. All you have to do is threaten to use power over Cal and you will lose his trust - at least in the matters of ladies lingerie - forever. He will never pose for you again.

Hec, he may even use those photos he showed me of you.

So there you go - an explanation of power mechanisms and the use of power. A little lesson to get you through the strike. Did you notice though that I used compassion instead of power?

I could have used power over you because you told me that you missed me and that you wanted to have something explained to you. You showed me your need and I could have used it.

I could have said that I would not explain these power ideas with you unless you showed me those photos of Cal and you together in each other's underwear. But I didn't. Instead I used compassion and said, "She needs and answer. I have the ability to answer. Together we have a happier life if I show her compassion. Cause just like power destroys trust - compassion creates it. Compassion creates happy relationships. Power destroys them."

See how compassionate I am?

Now do you see what compassion you could have? You could just show me the photos because I really want to see them.

Later,

Les
--------------------
Do you ever wonder where people's power comes from?

Information about information

Well as they begin to discuss the settlement of this strike it is interesting how they use information to control the process. Information, and the power it triggers, continues to be our focus in this power dynamic.

Yes they are using the mechanism of information to help find mutually acceptable solutions. But they are using it in a new way.

Last week it was about sharing and witholding information. It was about framing and characterizing information. It was about true information and false information.

Now we have a news blackout. No one is allowed to know what is going on and what they are saying.

Last week we did our laundry in public because last week public opinion was what we were about. If the public sided with Faculty then the Management knew they had to compromise. If the public sided with Management then the Faculty had to rethink their position. If the public put pressure on the Ontario Government and the Premier then it was going to be the government that had to kick in some more moeney to solve this thing.

Last week we needed the public to show what they felt and thought so we provoked them with information that was shared and partially inaccurate. Inaccurate in the sense that it was biased and incomplete. It was one sided.

We used the public's need for information to impact their choice of who they would side with. To do it we used the sharing of biased information. Partial truth. Partial untruth. Some of it and not all of it.

This week, having accomplished our goal for last week - the management got the government to make the first move - we now want the public to stay out of it so we might accomplish this weeks goal - settlement.

So this week there is no information going on. None. We wait silently. We want to know. We check the news and the web but find out nothing other than they are talking. This is, in itself, good news. But it is not much news. We want more.

This week they use the withholding of the truth.

There are two axis to this Information Power Mechanism Matrix. Information that is shared or withheld. Information that is true or false. Of course there are numerous degrees in between. But those are the two critical dimensions of information as a power mechanism - Veracity and Publication.

Are you learning about the power in information? Are you seeing the depth and breadth of your need for information? Are you seeing how the need coupled with the ability to manipulate the two dimensions creates power and controls the choices you make?

They say that law and sausage are the same. You don't want to see how they are made. I suppose it is the same for strike settlement.

The use of information got us here. But we do not want to know what they are saying now. It will only make us mad to find out how easy it will be to settle this. And when we are mad that's when we know we had power used on us.

They do not want you to know that.

There is always choice...

I got an email at onhavingpower.com from Chris.

Just thought I would tell you how much I am enjoying your blog. I've had quite a lot of time to burn and your blog has kept me sane through this strike. Now I have a question that has been bugging me. Assuming that the strike does end in the very near future and we head back to class what are the professors going to do to regain "control" of the classroom. I have talked to a few fellow students (who are not in your power class) and they seem to believe what management says. If this happens I predict a lot of tension in the classroom and concerning assignments. Many students have a hard time tying their shoes in the morning let alone realize that management has been playing both the students and professors. Hopefully you can share your insight to this :)


Well I think it is fair to anticipate animosity in the classroom.

When we get back – which I hope is next week – the first thing we will have to address is how we will cover all the necessary material to complete the requirements of courses and programs.

We will have lost of three weeks and will likely be adding one or two weeks onto the end of the semester.

Some will complain because they will have no place to live. Leases will have run out or plans will have been made earlier. For most this will not be an issue because most leases will run to the end of April and we will be finished before that.

Some will complain that will have lost a week of learning. In all necessary cases we will get the material covered. Classes will be more intense and in some cases they may schedule an extra class.

As a result some will complain that the work load is harder than they can manage and they are being treated unfairly. Some will complain that their grades are not as high as they should be. Some will complain that they will have to miss work at their part-time job so they can keep up with the work load. Some will complain that the extended duration of the semester hurts their ability to make money this summer.

Some complaints have an air of legitimacy and will be taken into account when the courses are revised, the grades are calculated and the diplomas are awarded. Other complaints are just people looking to complain.

Some will complain that they didn’t know when the strike would end so they did not do any home work. Now they are behind even more.

Right….

Some will complain that the revised due dates and exam dates put them at a disadvantage because they couldn’t plan ahead for them.

Ya… as if….

Some will complain that their education is tainted because of the strike.

Tell me do you remember the last post secondary strike? No? Well that’s my point.

Some will just complain. They will complain no matter what the solution is.

But in the end Chris, you are right. There will be some undertone of animosity. Grumbling and whining. Frustration and criticism. Fear and anger.

Anger and fear. The emotions of power.

Because their needs have been used to accomplish someone else’s ends they are angry and afraid. These are the emotions that remind us that power is in play. The students will complain because they feel powerless and they will express it. Not in a useful form. Complaining doesn’t usually help. It is an over attention to the problem. The focus needs to be on the solution.

But the complaints will come as a reaction to the power they are feeling. Others control their future.

I expect that the faculty will be just as angry and afraid. Where will they find the time to get all the necessary material and lessons covered? They will have to redesign half of every course they are teaching. They will have to make whole new plans and negotiate with students to get the buy-in necessary to pull it off.

They will do most of that work without pay - weekends and evenings. Some are doing it right now.

We can do a power analysis. The Needs are obvious.

The students need to finish their year without increased cost or effort. The faculty need to deliver that education within a shortened time and with fewer resources.

The realm of circumstance puts a limit on the time and availability of people.

The abilities are obvious. The students have the ability to work with the faculty and increase their school efforts to accomplish this or they have the ability to resist and complain. They can refuse to do what is necessary and the faculty will be unhappy.

The faculty can work hard on their own time, revise their courses, lay out a plan and compromise on non-essential matters making the next few weeks tolerable – even enjoyable – like before. Or they can refuse to do the extra work. They can insist that the course remain the same and that the students just have to do the work and suffer through.

Both the students and the faculty have a choice.

They can use power and exploit the needs of the other. Or they can use compassion and accommodate the needs of the other.

They can examine the needs of the other and, rather than use those needs to get something that they want, they can use the awareness of the needs to generously help and support the other.

Chris, it is my intention to work on my compassion. I will be coming into the classroom saying that we are together in a tough situation. We need to focus our efforts together to make it work. To get an education and still have some fun doing it.

I will do my best not to respond to their power with my power. I will try because power never ends and power destroys trust.

Look at the mess we are in due to the use of power to date. You only ask your question because you no longer trust anyone. That loss of trust is the direct result of the present use of power.

Power and compassion are both about needs and abilities.

It seems that we can learn a lot about power from the strike. But we can also learn a lot about the opposite of power - Compassion.

Tell Me More....

I am wondering if you see the depth and breadth of our need for information.

We are a thinking beast. We like to think. We believe in thought. As Weber said – we have a never ending quest toward rationality. We believe in logic and fundamental principles like freedom and fairness.

We have values and we use our thinking ability to bring them to life.

If we borrow from Maslow we might say that we in the western world have very few Physiological or Security needs unmet. We have the food, shelter and security in abundance.

Although we cannot pretend that everyone in our North American society has what they need – and we need to address this poverty for many reasons – we can say that millions of people in that society have no real worry about their physical well being.

I will address the impact of the western poor another time so go with me on this for now….

Maslow would say that as our lower level needs are met, we are subsequently focused on our Belonging and Self Esteem needs. These are the next two significant categories in the Humanist’s Hierarchy of Needs.

This is the one of the most painful things about our way of life. It causes me concern. There is not much that keeps me awake at night. But when I think of the way my children and my students are controlled by their need to belong, I get truly afraid of the power they experience.

To belong is everything. There is nothing more important. There are in groups and out groups. We define and divide each other into groups based on the way we look. Based on the way we eat. Based on color. Based on religion. Based on the music we listen to. Based on the clothes we wear. Based on our hobbies. Based on our skills and abilities. We will divide each other and ourselves in any way we are even a little different.

We divide. We divide and the ones who are best at dividing and paying attention to how we are divided are the young.

It was long enough ago that it does not pain me anymore, but I remember the groups in high school. I remember the jocks and the brainers. The disco-ers and the rockers. The cool kids and the nerds.

I remember when Bruce killed himself.

Belonging is everything.

To belong requires a vast set of knowledge. It is information that defines makes us one of those who belong in the many groups and divisions. It is information, coming in many forms and from many places that serves the purpose of division. Our need to belong is essential and we need information to decide where we belong and how we see our selves.

That information gets measured against our values and our principles. Those principles and values are also the basis for division and segregation. We use the information filtered through the sieve of our beliefs, to determine right and wrong, in and out, us and them.

We are so fixated on the need to belong that we thirst for any information whatsoever. We take in anything we can get. We will take it from media but we will take it from conversations. Rumors. Gossip. Any kind of information is taken because we have such a need for it. We are making big decisions – like who belongs and who doesn’t – so we must have some information to use.

We need it. We need it so badly that we lose sight of the power in that need. We often forget to use that rationality we are so good at to decide if information is reliable or possibly false. We need information and we need to belong.

So we pay for information. Whether it is your cable TV bill for the news networks and MTV or it is a magazine or newspaper, we pay out big bucks to have the information we need.

Since the beginning of the strike I have listened to more public radio than ever before. I have paid more attention to the news networks than ever before. I am learning about their biases and their perspectives. I am seeing how the society we live in perceives the college system. The government and of course how they perceive professors.

Inherent in the need to belong is the requirement to divide. Inherent in living those divisions is the need for information. These needs are becoming complicated.

The need to belong is compounded by the need for information. Once we have the information – whether it is true or false – then the need to decide which group we belong to kicks in. Then those needs begin to complete because how we divide each other in the groups of right wrong and in out for this strike will not be how we divide the in out and good bad of being back in a classroom.

Today you may need to label the faculty as bad. You need to belong to a group that sees unions as problematic and faculty as spoiled and wrong.

But in two weeks the strike will be over and you will need those faculty to give you the final lessons in your diploma and you will need them to be willing to teach and guide you to the completion of the semester.

Where you belong today is not where you want to belong later.

And where you think you belong in either case depends on the information you receive and how you filter it through your values.

The breadth and depth of your need for information is almost incomprehensible.

But in that need lies the power to control you. And those with the ability to share or withhold information know that.

Why do you think the Minster of education publicly called the parties to meet with him but them held those meeting behind closed doors? He did it because he needs to control your opinion of him. For it is your opinion of him that allows him to have the job. There is always another election to be won.

Information needs, belonging, self esteem – power. No wonder the students are feeling controlled and played with. No wonder the faculty are feeling controlled and played with. No wonder the Management and Minister are scrambling to keep information under control.

The information about this strike is some of the most important informational needs we have had in quite some time.

I have never been a union guy. I accept the history of this industrial society and that the rise of the labor union movement was important and good. I see its role and its value. I see our civilization as bettered by its existence and on going presence. Not because we have people being exploited so much any more – though that still exists – but because it provides a place for people to belong. We need that so badly. And we still have that white collar – blue collar division.

I would never had an education or an opportunity but for the fact that my father was part of a union. We got health care and benefits. Without his pension I would be caring for him today. As a plumber my father got a better-than-average wage to support his wife and six kids. I was of the labor class. I could have easily stayed there. But the improvement in my family’s lifestyle as a result of the benefits of being unionized labor gave me the ability to see the American dream and that I could do anything. As one of the first on either side of my family to get an education past high school, I saw hope. I was poor and I was known as one of the poor kids in high school and in university, but I was able to see my self as able to belong to that group and was therefore able to push ahead and succeed.

My Dad’s union was important to him and to our family. But I have never been a union guy.

But when a strike happens…well it is clear what group we belong to.

So what does it mean to be a striker? What does it mean to be Management? What does it mean to be the innocent victim of a work stoppage? And who should we side with? What group do we belong in? What group do we support and see as right? Which group do we see as wrong? Which group do we feel sorry for? Which group do we need to be sympathetic with to protect our own future. The strike will end, will I still want to be in the same group then?

We need answers to those questions because we are compelled to divide. We need to belong. We need to belong to the group of people who know what is right and what is wrong. We need to be one of the people who really know.

We need answers to these questions because we need to have self esteem. We want to be right. We want to have the self esteem that comes from being the one who is smart enough to understand and the one who is capable of being right.

So much need. So much need that can only be satisfied with information.

So much power.

I know that through this ramble I have digressed into many new areas. I have jumped around a bit. I have left things incomplete. As such have left you with a great many questions and unresolved thoughts.

Where does he stand on strikes and unions?

What about the meeting they had yesterday?

What does Les know that I don’t?

Tell me more about this Maslow guy…?

What is all this about the poor in North America?

What about this painful experience of youth and belonging…?

Who is Bruce? What happened?

Information you need to resolve your need to satisfy other needs. I have left you with needs. You will be back to see what I write tomorrow. Power….?

See what I mean….?

Strike Three

Well management is certainly not afraid to proactively use power.

I suppose for them public opinion is paramount. In this case, it is their ultimate mechanism of power. But they are using it with desperation.

The College Presidents are scrambling. They are trying to stay one step ahead. Once you start using power with people, you can’t stop. Power games never end. They just go on and on.

Remember that we only use power when we need something. This is the BiPolar Nature of the Power Dynamic – it should never be forgotten. Just as a dog only barks when it is afraid, people only use power when they have demanding needs. The College Management is barking.

The College Presidents need this strike to go away in the same way it started - without anyone knowing how it happened. They need to look like they are solving it. Not that they have created it. So they are acting with power - fast and furiously and in a slight state of panic. Why else would they promise to teach courses?

Feeling the pressure, the Presidents came forward to the press. The public - principally the students - are concerned that those enrolled in college will have to forfeit their year because they will lose the last few weeks of the semester due to the strike.

In response to the questioning of the Press, College Management has guaranteed that the students will not loose their year. Moreover they have guaranteed that they will be able to complete their semester by the end of April. They have promised that they will have a plan any day now.

They say if necessary, the administrators will teach the courses.

They want to look like they have mastered this situation and will save the day. To me they look almost clairvoyant.

What a ludicrous promise. How could they even hope to accommodate this unless they already had the plan? They are talking about things that should appear out of their control.

I want my students to think of the movie we watched - The Last castle. Just like Gen Eugene Irwin in fighting the warden, they have learned how the respective players react to power in such circumstances. This is not the first faculty/education based strike. They have seen the battle plan so many times they can recite it.

Now that the Faculty Association has come forward to expose the intention of the Management to create the strike, the Management comes forward and proves that to be their plan by promising what we all expect.

They know that the strike will end in a week and a half because the Province will act with back to work legislation. They know that the Faculty will teach the students to the bitter end because they are the ones with genuine concern and affection for the students.

Management is not making any real promise to do anything because it will be done for them.

However they are exposing their need. They need to have the public blame faculty for the problem. They want to hide from the obvious fact that they have manipulated the students, the faculty and the public into thinking that it is everyone but the Management that is to blame for the strike. They want to dodge the bullet. They want to paint Dalton McGuinty into a corner and ambush the faculty at the same time.

They are using McGuinty’s need to be the Premier who saved education. He has claimed to be the saviour and now he has to put up or shut up.

They are using the students’ and the Faculty’s lack of preparation for a strike and need to get back to their respective tasks. The faculty and the students are in agreement – put pressure on McGuinty because the Management has no intention of coming back to the table let alone offering a meaningful settlement. The only way this strike will end is by legislation.

They are using their ability to force a strike by bad faith bargaining and their ability to use the press as an ally. Sadly they are using their ability to modify, manipulate and bend the truth. They are using their ability to lie.

They will work the press into pressuring McGuinty to come up with more money. They have cornered the Faculty into working extra hard without even an agreement in place. Remember this strike will end with legislation. That means the problem won't be solved. It will sent to arbitration. While the faculty struggle to help students complete the year, they still will not have a deal.

That is what the faculty bargaining team has been saying for months. The Management has been bargaining like they were preparing for arbitration.

All this manipulation to look like the hero to the students.

Of course that will be a fantastic feat of power if people don’t look through it. Power always seems to work best when it is secret. That is why we hate it so much. Management seem to have kept the shells moving fast enough to keep the public's eye off the ball.

Unfortunately there is one thing they have forgotten – Power destroys trust.

The Faculty have been played and they will never forget it.

Management predicts the end of the strike and the successful completion of the semester by the end of May. No clarvoyance there. They just know the playbook. Here is a better prediction for you. Next time, because of the Management’s use of power, the Faculty will use power too. In the next round of bargaining the Faculty will have saved a war chest of strike money. The College presidents will get a strike that takes place before the students have made their final payment for their tuition. The Faculty will have consulted with the students to get them on board. The strike will last two months. And then they will return to work ona work to rule. The Management will pay salary increases that are staggering and the students will sacrifice their year. But they will have the pleasure of exercising power by not paying their final installment of tuition. That will critically hurt the cash flow of the Colleges. It will use the real ability to affect their needs.

Further more the Province will anticipate they games and put pressure on the Management to bargain a solution. In fact they may permit the next strike to be the one that does let the students loose their year. They won't be forced to legislate back. They will remember how the College Presidents used power this time.

The next round of bargaining will be nasty because Power destroys Trust.

Think it is a good idea to use power?

Well… Strike Three – You’re out.

Information Control - The Third Dimension of Power

When you can cause a person to make a choice that they other wise would not make, that is power.

But power is better when you can control the range of choices they see as possible.

Power is at its best when you can control the range of ideas from which possible choices might come. This is the third dimension of power. This is the use of power in the most secretive of ways.

This is the level upon which information works as a mechanism.

I am powerful if I can get you to see things my way. I am more powerful if I control the information you use to make a decision. I am ultimately powerful – leading to the concept of domination - if I can control the way you see your reality.

We all need information to make decisions and judgments. We use our five senses to gather data about what we call reality. We will use our sight to read and our ears to hear. But since we cannot hear and see everything we need others. We willingly take, at second hand, the information from those we trust.

We do this because we have not the time to learn everything, nor the ability to know everything. We need as much information as we can get but it must come from a place or person that we believe will not be sharing that information with us to achieve their ends. We want sources that share information with us for our own benefit. We want a caring altruistic source.

Hence we trust our parents because they have as much to gain from our happiness as we do. We believe that our parents want us to succeed and thrive. They would not lead us astray. They would not take advantage of us.

In the same way we trust our teachers. In truth there are times in our lives when we trust our teachers more than we trust our parents. After all teachers are “experts.” These are people chosen and rewarded and paid by our society to provide us with the information we need for success in life and career.

Teachers and parents are inherently trustworthy.

But from time to time teachers and parents are little more than participants in a larger social context. They too are reliant upon others for the information from which they construct their reality and make their decisions and choices.

Then we turn to the press. The various information and news media provide us with the truth our parents and teachers do not have. It is natural to turn on the television or the radio the instant we need to know. We will ‘Google’ any topic and seek the “truth” on the matter.

In all information there are base assumptions. These are the fundamental ideas we do not question.

For example there are always good guys and bad guys. Someone is right and someone is wrong in every circumstance. There is always someone at fault. There is a victim, a perpetrator and a redeemer.

So, for example, in the case of a college faculty strike, if the carrier of the message can frame that message in those terms – victim, perpetrator, redeemer, and the assigning of fault - they will have that third dimension of power.

They have what you need. They deliver it in the form that you have come to expect it and find it easy to accept. They are “unbiased” and reliable – trustworthy. Whether you have an awareness of it or not they have power over you. For it is in being the one with the information you need, that they are the one who can impact your choice.

Check out the writings of Noam Chomsky on the “manufacturing of consent” and the use of modern propaganda. This would be necessary reading in the power course. As we talk about the importance of critical thinking and critical awareness. I usually use a recording of a Chomsky lecture as a replacement of my lecture in week 10 of the course. Click on the title above to read some Chomsky-isms...

To understand propaganda you must break down the message into its component parts. Look to the words and their meanings. Often there are implied meanings that form the heart of the message.

Semiologists refer to the denotation of the symbol and the connotation of the symbol. A word is nothing more than a symbol. But as a symbol it has to be deciphered and interpreted. It is in the proactive choice of symbols that carry meaningful connotations along with their denotations, that we use the need for information to generate power on the most sublime level.

The choice of vocabulary and use of numbers is the simplest and most effective form of propaganda and it is being used fairly well by the College Management.

They have started the discussions related to this matter by calling them college “teachers.” With that comes the connotation of classrooms, summers off and playing with children.

However, the vast majority of college professors have graduate degrees, experience in research and although they may use a “classroom,” they are lecturers and seminar leaders. You can’t get a job in any college school of business anymore without an MBA or equivalent. You sure don’t need that to teach high school business.

It is the use of the connotation of “teacher” that begins the mistrust on the part of parents and students.

In the past teacher strikes have been seen as the exploitation of students by the teachers to get what they want. In this case, if you read the facts, the Management forced this strike. They made no attempt to bargain toward a settlement because they didn’t want one. They wanted to exploit the “teachers” to gain a position of pressure upon the “government.”

FYI - I always encourage my students to see the word government as two words – bureaucracy and taxation.

So here we are with a dramatic change in the allocation of the victim/perpetrator roles implied in our message. The fault for the loss of classroom time cannot fall to the professors because they didn’t want the strike – they just couldn’t get an offer. That is why there are formal charges against the Management for Bad Faith Bargaining.

But there are even better techniques at work. The use of numbers adds a legitimacy or empirically infallible character to a message.

In this case however the numbers are virtually fabricated and misleading. Use the average class size number being proposed by the Management. It has been calculated by taking all of the students in college and dividing it by the number of all of the “faculty designated” people – librarians, counselors, active faculty, faculty on sabbatical and other types of leave, faculty doing jobs for the college which are other than teaching and even those faculty who are away from the job because they are ill.

This is not average class size. This is a meaningless number. If you want to have the average class size you take the number of class situations – lectures and seminars and you average the number of people in those rooms at the time. Interestingly enough no one has made that calculation.

To speak of average class size is ridiculous for those of us teaching in business.

We deliver the courses in lectures of 200 and seminars of 40.

Some programs have less than 40 students at each stage (semester 1,2, or 3 etc.) and as such their average class size is less than 40. Others have more than 40 and sometimes have to learn in classrooms with 50 or 60 in them.

I am teaching ten distinct classroom situations – four lectures and six seminars and I have an average class size of 42.6. My lecture of 106 is offset by my lecture and seminar to 26.

How’s that for using numbers….?

Finally they have used a great misleading combination of numbers and terminology.

Management claims they are giving a 12% increase over four years to faculty thus making them the best paid college “teachers” (professors) in the country.

If faculty were given a 12% increase this year that statement would be correct. Since that is not the case it is a lie. It is a well crafted lie. It is a lie with truth within it. That may explain why Management is not ashamed to utter it. But it is a lie nonetheless.

The increases are in fact a little more than 2% each year compounded over four years. Moreover with each year, every other faculty union in every other province will be getting largely the same (or more) of an increase. This will mean that Ontario College Professors will continue to be in the same position relative to the other provinces that they have always been. By the way, that is not the highest paid provincial group.

In fairness Management has been subject to the same kind of propaganda lie. The Premier wants to be called the great advocate for the education system and has promised $6.2 Billion over the next five years. Divide that by five (years) and then again by 24 (colleges) and you get a number of about 50 million. Larger colleges will get a larger share and smaller ones will get a smaller share. Not quite the billions of dollars it seems at first blush. Not quite the reality that $6.2 Billion seems to imply.

Propaganda.

By choosing the vocabulary and the presentation of the empirical support, the College Management has successfully framed the issues in terms that make it easy to faculty as the villain, students as the victim, College Management as the steadfast leader and the province is at fault.

They have used the information as a mechanism of power to define your reality and hence control who you pick as the good guy.

Three dimensional power at its subliminal best.

Strike Two

Click on the title above to get the information from the other side....

Before I get into the power of information and what Dr. Lukes refers to as the third dimension of power, check out the link above and compare it to what I will say tomorrow.

At least we can use this strike to learn about power. So I encourage you to look at the dynamics, the actors and subjects ...

...and most important - the needs.

At the end of this battle the court of public opinion will render a verdict.

They will tell us who are the winners and losers.

Like that matters....

I suppose it does to me - otherwise I wouldn't be writing about it.

Until tomorrow....

The Power in Framing the Issues

Dr Steven Lukes calls this the third dimension of power.

The strike has been created using that dimension.

The strike is particularly difficult for me because of the lack of interest my union is putting into controlling the message that is getting out in the media.

It breaks down like this...

College Management wants the Faculty to be out on strike because they are dissatisfied with the funds the provincial government has dedicated to the implementation of the Rae Report.

For more than a decade the funding of Colleges in Ontario has been declining on a per student basis. This decline has created the lowest rate of funding in the country. For the richest province in the country to be funding higher education in such a limited way is inappropriate in so many ways that they don't need explanation here.

Along comes Bob Rae - former premier of the province who explains in a very detailed report - a report that the province adopts - that our college system needs more faculty, more faculty time for students outside of the classroom, and smaller group learning situations.

These are, by the way, the reasons faculty are out on strike.

The province then allocates $6+ Billion dollars over the next five years to go to the college system. ( Interesting way of saying it...)

Management is dissatisfied with this sum. It is not enough to put the system back on track and accomplish all the recommendations outlined in the Rae Report.

The College Management approached the Province and explained this. The Province has become very good - since the days of Mike Harris - at ignoring the words of the College Presidents and as such, no more money is coming.

So along comes collective bargaining for the Faculty. It goes badly. It goes badly because College Management only tables packages that they KNOW the faculty cannot accept.

The result of any of those proposals would be retrograde motion. It would be taking away good working conditions that were achieved through earlier bargaining. These proposals make less time for students and result in salaries falling farther behind the salary midpoint between university and high school salaries.

In fact, at 9 pm March 6th, the eve of the strike, after a lot of somewhat productive bargaining and the real prospect of settlement in reach, the College Management takes back an earlier agreement and puts increased teaching time back on the table. They do this knowing that it would never be acceptable to the faculty.

They created a strike after they got bargaining to the point of knowing what it would cost them to give the faculty what they would be willing to accept. At that point, the College Management put back on the table something they knew would never be acceptable.

That is why the college Faculty association is saying that the Management is guilty of bad-faith bargaining. That is why they are saying Management wanted the strike.

Nonetheless the result is that the Faculty go out on strike.

This is what management wants and needs. Yes it is what the management NEEDS.

Every time there has been a faculty strike at a college or university in Ontario it has ended with the provincial government legislating the faculty back to work. The College Presidents know this. The Faculty know this.

The Faculty Association is expecting a three week strike because the provincial legislature is not scheduled to sit for another two weeks.

The Management wants the province to legislate Faculty back to work so they can use that act of the legislature to leverage pressure on the premier and the government to give them more money to accomplish the goals of the Rae Report and more.

"You sent them back to work so you pay for it takes to settle this bargaining."

They know they are saving about 2% of the total salary budget with each week of strike. Which covers the 2% each year they are offering in salary. They are calling it 12% over four years, but what it is, is 2% per year compounded - but that is what we will talk about tomorrow.

Now they begin to frame the issues by saying that the "teachers" have an "average class size of 28" and will get pay increases of 12 % by 2009 which would make them the "best paid" "teachers" in the country.

Hence the lack of support for the Faculty and the pressure on the province to legislate them back to work.

Management won't come back to the table or bargain face to face. Nobody is working to settle this.

So before I start to explain the power in information and the framing of the issues, go write an email to The Premier Dalton McGuinty and tell him you can see through all of this and to stop letting the Management use the Faculty who are using the Students.

Send them all back to work.

And seeing the power dynamics and plans of the Management, Faculty should never have gone on strike. It is what they wanted. Faculty should have worked to rule. That would have cost College Management money and put McGuinty on the hot seat instead of the Faculty.

Strike One

Been walking the line for three days.

Had every intention of blogging about this silly strike and keeping track of the way power is in play. But I have been both exhausted by walking in the cold and rain and frustrated by the ill feelings this whole mess creates in myself and my colleagues.

I come home angry from it all.

Anger is one of those emotions of power.

I know what I want. I want to get back to teaching power.

I know that they have the ability to resolve this. They have the ability to make the classroom and the process of this education better. They have ability to end this strike and let me get back to teaching power.

Most of all they have the ability to get back to talking and negotiating.

That is their power over me and I am as unhappy as anyone being a subject.

However, I know that unless I want to engage in this power dynamic by using my abilities, I had better find a way to depower it all and find some compassion.

So I remind myself that we are all just here walking the earth and no matter what I still have choice.

So I choose to be at peace.

I offer an old one I haven't seen in some time but was sent to me by a friend.

I like it. Always have. Hope you do too. So until tomorrow and a little more energy....




Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,and remember what peace there may be in silence.As far as possible without surrenderbe on good terms with all persons.Speak your truth quietly and clearly;and listen to others,even the dull and the ignorant;they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,they are vexations to the spirit.If you compare yourself with others,you may become vain and bitter;for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.Exercise caution in your business affairs;for the world is full of trickery.But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;many persons strive for high ideals;and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.Especially, do not feign affection.Neither be cynical about love;for in the face of all aridity and disenchantmentit is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,gracefully surrendering the things of youth.Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.Beyond a wholesome discipline,be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,no less than the trees and the stars;you have a right to be here.And whether or not it is clear to you,no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,whatever you conceive Him to be,and whatever your labors and aspirations,in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,it is still a beautiful world.Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

Could I come to share these ideas with you?

Come to www.onhavingpower.com and visit the Speaking and Training area.


I want to take the time to invite all of you to consider having me attend to your company or organization and speak about these ideas. It would be my pleasure to have a chance to speak with you and discover power together. It is a thrill for me when I see the look in your eyes as you come to understandings and insights.

My course at Fleming has been very well received and those who have taken it speak of it having a significant impact in the way they see relationships.


Those who have attended seminars say things like…

“…the entire time I was going through a series of insightful/reflective moments…these all accumulated to leave me feeling encouraged in the end…”

“I gained insight and resolved to make some positive changes in my life, particularly in my career.”

“The pulling together of control, influence and seduction under the one banner (power) was brilliant. Of course they are all power – but perceived so differently.”

“Really opened my eyes to the way people use power, it showed me how to use power – both good and bad – I realized how power is broken down and how to see it being used on my self and others.”

“I learned a lot about myself and how I should view the world and people around me.”

“The recognition of the use of power vs. needs in my own personal relationships was a ‘light bulb’ moment.”

“I gained a deeper understanding of how power is used both against me and by me on others.”

“Understanding that power is not real – it’s all in our mind brought a whole new realization to the table.”

“Now I know how to handle power, power struggles and deal with it in the future. Understanding what power is all about will only help in the long run. Thanks.”

“Insightful, entertaining, intriguing. Beneficial.”

“I found this to be very interesting and useful, something I will be able to look back on in the next stage of my life as well as to better understand the outcomes of other situations in the past.”


I hope I can offer this and more to your organization.

Check out the Speaking portion of my website.

I look forward to hearing from you.