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Power Corrupts Even the Honest

The three basic human motivations are said to be sex, power and money. Power appears to be the least understood. Science Daily gives a short synopsis of a Swiss study based on Lord Acton's words, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

New research, published in The Leadership Quarterly, highlights the influence of power in leader corruption.

When appointing a new leader, selectors base their choice on several factors and typically look for leaders with desirable characteristics such as honesty and trustworthiness. However once leaders are in power, can we trust them to exercise it in a prosocial manner?

New research published in The Leadership Quarterly looked to discover whether power corrupts leaders. Study author John Antonakis and his colleagues from the University of Lausanne explain, "We looked to examine what Lord Acton said over 100 years ago, that 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'" —Science Daily

Read more at Science Daily.

You can get the complete study for $19.95, but being a shoe-string operation, HPI is presently seeking the best price: free—so far without success. In lieu of that, here is a free video on the subject featuring one of the study's authors, John Antonakis, an ethnic Greek who was born and reared in South Africa.