Growing Into Your Power

Studying people in power is a hobby of mine. How did they get it, how fast did they get it, and what did it do to them once they did?

If you look at early portraits of newly crowned kings, a lot of them look awkward. One that always sticks with me is the young Louis XVI of France. In his first official paintings, he looks uncomfortable in his own body. The crown looks heavy. The posture is stiff. It’s obvious the authority showed up before the inner structure did.

I have seen the same with colleagues of mine. They grind for years to hit a certain level, then they finally get there and start acting weird. Money, leverage, decision-making power. From the outside it looks like confidence. From the inside it’s often disorienting. The role changes overnight, but the person hasn’t caught up yet.

Success doesn’t make you mature. It exposes people. It shows you exactly where your character is solid and where it’s flimsy. That’s why some people get louder, more defensive, or oddly insecure after they win. They’re wearing power they haven’t grown into yet.

Elon Musk recently said he always knew who was lying or breaking the law simply by how loud they were when working at Paypal.

If you look at later portraits of the same king, everything settles. The posture changes. The weight looks earned instead of borrowed.

That’s the real work after success. Not flexing. Not proving. Not trying to look important. It’s building the inner discipline to carry authority without letting it turn you into someone unbearable.