The mindset shift principled leaders need to navigate a political environment.

As a principled, value-based leader, do you ever feel like a fish out of water?

Does your success seem limited by the forces of organizational politics?

Maybe it’s time for a mindset shift.

Last week, I attended an Institute of Coaching interview with Dr. Jeffrey Pfeffer, author of the “7 Rules of Power.”

As you might guess from the title, his book is about how people gain and stay in power. As my colleagues and I listened to the interview, you could almost hear a collective gasp as we struggled with what we heard. Some of Dr. Pfeffer’s rules seemed to violate many of our values.

For example, Rule 2 is “Break the rules” and Rule 7 is “Understand that once you have acquired power, what you did to get it will be forgiven, forgotten, or both.”  

What we thought we heard was-do whatever you need to do to gain power. Don’t let your principles, values, or ethics hold you back. And, don’t worry, once you get power, no one will care what you did to get there.

Many of us took to the comments to express our outrage. “How could this be? This is just wrong!” But Dr. Pfeffer made it clear to us we were doing the equivalent of denying the existence of gravity. In his book, he’s describing the rules of gaining power based on the reality that he’s uncovered through his research. Regardless of whether reality outrages us, it’s still reality. “You have to understand cancer to treat it”, he said.

This experience reminded me of many conversations that I have with clients.

We have beliefs about what “should” and “shouldn’t” be true in the world. The problem is, reality doesn’t care.

What is, is. Whether that’s how we want it to be or not doesn’t matter.

We are often paralyzed by situations where we have firm beliefs about the “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts” that don’t align to reality. Here are a few examples.

“My work should speak for itself. I shouldn’t have to toot my horn.” So, we don’t toot our horns and we don’t get the promotions and raises we want.

“I shouldn’t have to play organizational politics. People should just do the right thing.” So, we don’t and we’re outmaneuvered by those who do.

So, how can we be successful leaders in organizations without violating our principles, values, and ethics?

We need to move FROM naivety TO strategy.

We must be “as shrewd as snakes,” even while we’re “as innocent as doves.”

Staying true to our values and principles is non-negotiable. Our organizations and our world depend on it. But we also must have a clear-eyed understanding of how the world really works and operate strategically within reality.

What’s at stake?

If we’re outwitted by unprincipled leaders, then they will have disproportionate power. In every walk of life.

As a principled leader, can you effectively navigate organizational politics?

Again, our organizations and our world depend on it.