Power trips: (1) do you do it? (2) on the receiving end, how have you dealt with it?

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Sad1 I think you have Stockholm syndrome

likeupliftingfunny

That's one possibility. Or, I have occasionally acted like a jackass over the years, and people have responded accordingly. I'll call an asshole an asshole any day of the week, and I'm not afraid to point that stinky finger at myself when it's warranted.

likesmart

The term "power trip" is usually used by someone who is wrong to describe someone in a position of authority forcing them to do something right.

Example: "My Mom grounding me for getting drunk is a total bullshit power trip."

If I feel like I'm on the receiving end of a "power trip", the first thing I do is take a long, hard and honest look at my own behavior to see where I was out of line. In retrospect, every "power trip" I've experienced was initiated (at least in part) by my own jackassery.

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Had my boss once say, Iā€™m smarter than you, just stop questioning and follow my direction. Thatā€™s no way to win an argument or persuade people to follow you. And outside of the moment, it screams insecurity. Know your shit and be willing to admit when others have a better thought.

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Depends on how much time is left on the play clock. Iā€™m all for open debate but (as mentioned above) if I am the decider then when I make the call, thatā€™s it. If someone canā€™t deal with it I have no problem letting someone know they are officially out of line.

Itā€™s called disagree and commit.

Account people do tend to be the worst when it comes to actual power trips though, because they control everything but make nothing themselves (and so often donā€™t understand what it means to make something)

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"Power trip" is a very subjective term. Have I FELT like I was on the receiving end of them? Sure - anyone who is more than a year out of school has been on the receiving end.

Do I power trip? I'm sure people think so. I get pretty arrogant sometimes but never with my own team.

I guess my definition of "power tripping" is someone saying, "This is how it's going to go, because I'm in charge and I f@%#ing say that's how it's going to go."

Being an arrogant ass tends to lead to someone else "power tripping", which can only be done by someone in authority over you...like your Mom when you're getting drunk at 15.

Or, say, your Creative Director, who isn't going to ask Junior SAD1 (who always has to be f@$#ing right) a fourth Goddamned time for the exploration he asked for 3 days ago, and has gotten everything but.

(In the end, his exploration sucked and he admitted it-but Jr. SAD1 still should have given him what he asked for in a timely fashion.)

SAD1 re your latest post - I tend to think of it as the first definition.

My question is more like, when have you felt like you needed to use your position of power/ authority to make an argument? Not to ask people to do something, but it comes across in tone.

And when have you felt like someone's done that to you?

Just interesting to hear šŸ˜Š

I donā€™t use my title to win arguments. However, a fundamental part of the job is making final decisions for which I am responsible. So, to steal a famous quote: ā€œI am the decider!ā€

But, you can do that without being an ass. Personally, I find I have a MUCH easier time working through things with people junior to me than I do with executive leadership. Especially if I donā€™t like them. I think thatā€™s because the politics get involved and you canā€™t say certain things because of how it might reflect on someone or some other nonsense. It hurts my ability to do the best work and I have very little patience for that

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