The Word Café Podcast with Amax
My unique message to the world is the power behind the words of our mouths. We have made light of it but cannot escape the fruits thereof. For me, words are the unit of creation, the building block on which our existence evolves. This podcast is for everyone who wants to better their living by using words and applying themselves wisely. I will be using the storytelling style fused with imaginative nuances to transport the listener to that place, where possibilities are not luxuries but everyday experiences; movie in voice.
This podcast will emphasize the power of routine, and what you repeatedly do, you most likely build capacity and expertise for what you repeatedly do. My podcast will help the listener learn how to practice success because the same amount of time you use in complaining is the same you can use to plant, build, prune, etc. I intend to draw the listener's attention to the power of their words.
The Word Café Podcast with Amax
S4 Ep. 231 Micromanagement: How Power Corrupts Leadership and Teams
Have you ever worked with someone who needs to control every detail, review every document, and be involved in every decision? Or perhaps you recognize these tendencies in yourself? The dangers of micromanaging go far beyond just annoying your team—they strike at the heart of effective leadership and organizational health.
Drawing from the timeless wisdom of Lord Acton's famous quote, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," this episode explores how even the most well-intentioned leaders can fall prey to the toxic allure of control. We examine how alpha personalities often slide into micromanagement, convincing themselves it's necessary while actually revealing deeper issues around power, trust, and narcissistic tendencies.
The biblical story of Moses serves as a powerful case study in recognizing and overcoming micromanagement. When Moses' father-in-law Jethro observed him personally handling every dispute from morning until evening, he didn't mince words: "You will wear yourself out." His solution—delegation through a structured leadership system—saved both Moses and the community he led. What's remarkable isn't just the advice but Moses' humility in accepting it despite his extraordinary authority.
Micromanagers create devastating consequences: they kill creativity, steal time from themselves and others, elevate perfection over progress, and strip team members of their sense of worth. As we explore these effects, we uncover the truth that no leader is omnipresent or omnipotent—and those who try to be "everywhere at once" ultimately fail themselves and those they lead. The solution lies not in tightening control but in building systems and people who can thrive with distributed authority.
Whether you're leading a corporation, a household, or simply working within a team, this episode offers crucial insights on why letting go creates more power, not less. Subscribe now and learn how to recognize and overcome the micromanagement trap before it undermines everything you're trying to build.
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Hello there, welcome to the World Cafe live show. Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good everything, wherever you are. Yes, this very moment on the surface of the earth, listening to me and seeing me super excited, yes, I am, it's been an amazing season. Yes, I am, it's been an amazing season. Yes, across the globe, so many things happening, political, economical. You know, stuff's happening. Questions flying here and there to ask that question, because it makes me feel good knowing that you are there, you're fine. Yes, and you are pulling through one step after the other. I'm good. Yes, where I am city of abuja, the federal capital of nigeria. Okay, what are we going to be doing today? What are we going to be talking about? Yes, I'm with my phone because I have a couple of things I'm going to read. Then we talk, and all of that.
Speaker 1:The topic of what I want to talk about today is the dangers of micromanaging. The dangers of micromanaging, the dangers of micromanaging. I've come to realize something about alpha personalities, you know, those of us who are visionaries or we are part of what I call it something new, a novel movement, a novel ideas, and all of that. We tend to slide into that frame of micromanaging and we lie to ourselves. Yes, we tell ourselves it must be done, it has to be done, has to be done. And somehow I have come to observe that those who micromanage has somewhat power what I say obsessed or driven and they tend towards narcissism. They become narcissistic in their you know tendencies and all of that and mostly alpha personalities I use the word alpha personalities because women, men and what have you and most of the time when you hear the word micromanage, what comes to your mind is a corporate setting. That is, it isn't. But there's something about micromanaging. The way I see it, it is power-driven. You know people who are power-crazy, but I'm going to read this. You've heard that statement before Power corrupts Absolute, power corrupts Absolutely. So, in course of preparing for this, I like okay, how do we begin this? Because I have two stories to share with you and we're going to pick it up from there, and this came to mind and I went to do one or two digging to like okay, who said this? So I'm going to read some things for you now. Then we, we make progress. Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely is an observation lord acton made in a letter to bishop Creighton on April 5th 1887. Now you know, this letter was published in 1907 as part of a collection of Lord Acton's work, historical essays and studies.
Speaker 1:For some context, let us look at it. Lord Acton his full name John Emmerich Edward Belbag Acton, is a fool mouthful, you know it's a mouthful, it's quite a mouthful, I must say Was an English scholar and considered to be one of the most learned men of his time. He grew up speaking four languages, became a professor at Cambridge and even pursued politics for a while. While acting, was Catholic and cared deeply about religious and political freedom. He believed that, in the search for truth, it was a historian's duty to make moral judgment on history, even if it went against personal beliefs. So you see why we do a lot of historical work here within the Word Cafe, yes. So back to the quote. So back to the quote, though.
Speaker 1:In his letter to Creighton, acton argues that people in position of power, especially popes and monarchs, should be held to a higher standard of judgment because not in spite of the tremendous power they have. He goes on to suggest that historians have a responsibility to uphold moral standards, calling out injustice rather than excusing them. Just because a leader has power doesn't mean the actions they take are automatically right or good. This is where power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts. Absolutely Comes in. Rather than assuming power, I mean powerful figures in history did no wrong, which he accused Creighton of believing. Lord Acton made his famous observation Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts, absolutely, absolutely. I beg your pardon, great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority, still more when you, you know, superaid the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than the office sanctifies the holder of it. So you see powerful people. Yes, don't forget what we're talking about. You know micromanaging, the dangers of micromanaging, and powerful people tend to walk in the shoes of micro managers. They don't see anybody but themselves. The next story a very powerful man in history, very powerful man. I'm going to read about him now and how he found himself within this frame. And who is this? Sorry, my network is a bit, ah, yes, now I have him.
Speaker 1:Here is the story of Moses, exodus 18, 14 to 26. When Jethro saw everything that Moses had to do, he asked what is all this that you are doing for the people? Why are you doing this all alone, with people standing here from morning till night to consult you. Moses answered I must do this because the people come to me to learn God's will. When two people have a dispute, they come to me and I decide which one of them is right and I tell them God's command and laws. Then Jethro said you are not doing it the right way. You will wear yourself out, and these people as well. This is too much for you to do alone.
Speaker 1:Now let me give you some good advice, and God will be with you. It is right for you to represent the people before God and bring their disputes to him. You should teach them God's commands and explain to them how they should live and what they should do. But in addition, you should choose some capable men and appoint them as leaders of the people, leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens Delegation, more or less. Now, they must be God-fearing he's giving him some reference God-fearing men who can be trusted and who cannot be bribed. Character. Let them serve as judges for the people on a permanent basis. They can bring all the difficult cases to you, but they themselves can decide all the smaller disputes. That will make it easier for you, as they share your burden, if you do this, as God commands, you will not wear yourself out and all those people can go yes, go home with their disputes settled. Moses took Jethro's advice and chose capable men from among all of Israel. He appointed them as leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. He served as judges for the people on a permanent basis, bringing the difficult cases to Moses but deciding the smaller disputes themselves. So clearly.
Speaker 1:Moses, yeah, powerful man. If you look at the resume of Moses, his CV, as we may want to call it, one man who saw God, yes, face-to-face, well-trained, he was a prophet. Moses was known, both in the realm of the spirit and in the physical, if you understand what I mean by that, the celestial powers or whatever. They knew Moses. But imagine what was going on here.
Speaker 1:The lie of power is a problem, just like what Lord Acton said. It's a problem. Just like what Lord Acton said. It's a problem for the powerful. You slide into that mold and you want to micromanage everything. You become overbearing, you kill creativity in a team, you suck out the oxygen because you want to be everywhere and at the same time. No, you can't do that. You can't take the place of divinity, you can't take the place of God.
Speaker 1:So this was what Jethro saw. You know, jethro was a priest, yeah, a priest. He gave his daughter out to Moses and he saw what was happening. He acknowledged the power Moses was wielding and all of that, but he said, no, you will kill yourself. He said that's one thing that happens to power hungry, crazy people they kill themselves. Eventually they die. Yes, so he advised them on what to do Delegate, delegate, that's what you should do.
Speaker 1:If you want to live long, if you want to live happy, then learn to delegate. And when you delegate to live happy, then learn to delegate. And when you delegate, let it not be like you gave somebody something. Take, for example, you give somebody your car as a gift, or go ahead, make, take use this car and all of that, and every day you keep calling the person to ask how is the car doing? How is this? No, you've not not given. You're still holding that thing. Let it go. That was what he told him. This will be their permanent job. So this was how I mean moses, before I say david.
Speaker 1:This was how moses was able to create political and economic leadership in israel, because this once he gave the power or authority he delegated because if you go to corporate settings, you have what we call DOA, that's delegation of authority. Then you have POA power of attorney. Simply put, you can act in my stead, hierarchically speaking. So maybe, if it has to do with the financials and all that, you have the capacity or you have the ability to sign to X tune of money. It could be a contract and all of that.
Speaker 1:Sorry, no one of these is I'm going to talk about. Yes, I'm bringing a little bit of my HRO aspect in this management and all of that. We're going to talk about that. So somewhere that day I'll create time for that. So you see, you're delegating his authority. It is your, what was the right word? His authority, your powers, so to say, your powers, so to say, you are not physically there, but you are, would I say, action-wise. You are there.
Speaker 1:So, when he took his father-in-law's advice, see the humility. Can you see the humility? No matter what, no matter how he was perceived, moses, who saw the face of God, who brought the 10 commandments with the tablet, the one who could see the cloud? Yes, that he listened to his father-in-law and he took his advice. So he did not look at. Do you know who you're talking to. This is Moses, the powerful Moses. No, he didn't do that, and scripture says that when he applied what the father-in-law told him, there was peace. So micromanaging takes away your peace. Micromanaging kills creativity in a team. Now, micromanaging kills creativity in a team. Now.
Speaker 1:Micromanaging steals time from you because you don't have time to rest. You want to be in everybody's face. You want to be in everybody's business. Micromanaging puts you in a space of perfection and not progress. And around here here I mean life. Perfection is an illusion. We are always on a progress high, if you understand what I mean by that. Progress over perfection. That is the rule of life Progress over perfection.
Speaker 1:But micromanagers, who become so narcissistic in their nature they want everything perfectly done. No, no, no. The fall is part of the dance. What do I mean by that? Mistakes, they happen, but we learn from them, we pick ourselves up, or we pick up that thing and we make progress. Micromanagers no, they're not. And again, micromanagers. Still the self-worth of a team stills the self-worth of a team. The people around just feel like we can't do it. It's only she, she alone can do it, because you know when she comes, can't do. It is only she, she alone can't do it, because you know when she comes you tend to. Everybody must wait for you. You must review all the documents, you must go through everything and everybody's just sitting down and if anybody comes out, why people are here. We're waiting for the bus. Why to review the documents, what for?
Speaker 1:So, in every setting, be it at the home front, be it the corporate setting, be it in our government, be it in the society, when you see power-hungry people, this is what it is about them. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. You don't see anybody, you just see yourself. But you know what happens to such people. They eventually get snuffed out by power itself. Because that was what Jethro told him. You wear yourself out, you will die before your time. You will die before your time. You will die before your time.
Speaker 1:Guys, this is what I came to do on the show today. Yes, this is what we came to do just to let us know the dangers of micromanaging. You don't have to micromanage. Yes, I know you're an alpha, you have the alpha personality. Your presence fills the room, are amazing, fantastic. But do you know what a team? That's what you work with. A team, yes, a team.
Speaker 1:Don't forget that, that you cannot be everywhere at the same time. You are not an omni and you can never be no. As long as you are in this mortal frame, even if you translate and you transcend mortality, you are still not an omni. You're not omnipotent. You're not omniscient. What's the other one? Omnipresent? You're not. So you must learn to walk with the team and again create that ground.
Speaker 1:Imagine, just imagine, if Moses let us quantify the powers or the power Moses had, let us quantify it limitless, let's say he had limitless powers, but now he brought leaders of thousands, hundreds, tens, and I mean 50 and tens, and he now distributed his powers among them. You think he lost or he just created himself more? Ask yourself that question Did he lose or he just had little Moses, if there's any word like that all around Israel? Did he lose or he just had little Moseses, if there's any word like that, all around Israel? And they were just living doing that thing. So that is it.
Speaker 1:Are you a manager? Are you a father, a mother? Are you in a political class? Are you a politician? Don't forget power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And what happens to people who think they have absolute power. They die, absolutely. All right guys, this is what we came to do on the show. Yes, uh, I'm always excited, but I need to end it here, and uh, I was made to understand. A word is enough for the wise. Yes, you want to be wise. Few words and you would, you know, create so much from there. Yes, we are available on all the social media platforms instagram, tiktok I have to say that, uh, linkedin. Yes, we're also. Yes, our youtube channel. Go ahead. Are you following us? Please follow us. Subscribe to this channel. You know, click on that notification button. Whenever, uh, hot and spicy and amazing uh episodes drop, you'll be the first to know and listen. All right, guys, thank you for being there. It means a whole lot to me. Till I come your way again, my name is amakri. Amakri is away. Bye for now.