Today, on TV, a Romanian film director told the story of his unpleasant experience with a government with which he had to collaborate to make a movie. It was a technocratic government that was expected to be more open, to be civilized. And yet … those with whom this director had to deal, ministers of that government, confirmed what is said: ‘Give a man power and you will see his true face’.

We have all met people who seem to have changed overnight when they became heads of department, company, ministry. I don’t know how it happens, but it seems that for some, their synapses don’t work anymore and insted some negative ones are activated, some that have to do with self-interest in spite of everyone, with ego, pride, incoherent decisions, indifference, lack of vision, clarity, political games, to name just a few. The position comes with the ‘I deserve’ attitude, the others are at my disposal, they serve me. There is a certain primitivism in this attitude of master of slaves.

The big business schools talk about ‘servant leadership’, about the leader who takes action in the service of the people, about some causes, ideals. But it is a beautiful concept, we like to bring it into the discussion, to wave it in the ears of others. When it comes to behavior, however, we often behave as in the stone age. Polished, but still a stone age. This position may seem sharp. But I would like to hear examples that contradict me.

Georgeta Dendrino