SUBTEXTsuddenly see it all as an illusion without inner rewards, and may
turn from it.BECOMING A LEADER
It is all well and good to realize that your PQ is high and that
you have the potential to be a leader and handle power, but what
good does that do you if the opportunity to lead never arises? Is
power situational? Does it depend on being in the right place at
the right time, or are there some people who can rise above their
situation to become powerful—people who will create their own
opportunities?
Take a person who scores high in handling power, but works
in a subordinate position. If the right circumstances present them-
selves, she could be a leader, but failing that, is she forever
doomed to the subordinate role she holds?
Dr. G. A. Talland reported in the Journal of Abnormal Social
Psychology that he studied men and women in psychotherapy
groups. Did those who exerted power and eventually became leaders
do so by sensing the opinion of the group and going along with
that opinion? Or were their own ideas close to the ideas of the
group?
Neither of these two factors was at work, according to Dr. Talland.
Careful observation of group dynamics convinced him that the
successful leaders were able to gradually change the group's ideas
to fit their own. It was less a case of taking advantage of a situation
to become a leader than of changing the situation to fit their
need for leadership. They were strongly motivated in terms of
power, and although the groups they entered had established leaders