The Revolving Door of Power: Who Are You Becoming on the Way Up?

Welcome back to The Workplace Mirror. This week, we are pausing our usual reflection on workplace scenarios to hold up a different kind of mirror, one that is personal, sobering, and human. Before we critique toxic cultures or dissect dysfunction, we must ask: What kind of leader am I becoming as I rise?

There is an old saying that echoes with truth: “Be careful who you kick on your way up, because you may meet them on your way down.” Power, position, and praise are all fleeting. The people we pass as we climb will often be the same ones we meet again, sometimes as equals, as gatekeepers, and sometimes as the ones holding doors we once slammed shut. Power, as I remind readers in BiteSize Advice: The Leader’s Mirror, is not a crown; it is a test. It reveals more than it gives. It exposes more than it hides, and one of the greatest tests of character is how we treat those we no longer need.

When leaders begin to believe their position is permanent, something subtle shifts. Kindness becomes optional. Respect becomes selective. Conversations grow cold. Assistants become invisible. Interns become irrelevant, and former peers? Disposable. However, no role is forever. Boards change. Companies restructure. Markets crash. Elections turn, and when the ladder shakes or disappears altogether, what remains is not your title; it is your trail.

I have seen it too many times. A leader once revered is now reduced to whispers. Not because they failed to perform, but because they failed to connect. Because the people they dismissed now occupy seats of influence, or worse, carry the wounds that shaped the culture after them. As John C. Maxwell reminds us, “Leadership is not about titles, positions or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another”. Influence outlasts position. Respect outlasts authority, and the way you made people feel, becomes your legacy.

So why do some leaders forget this? Because when your identity is wrapped in your role, losing the role feels like losing yourself. To protect that identity, some leaders become controlling, distant, or dismissive, especially toward those perceived as less powerful. They confuse respect with rank, and humility with weakness. They believe kindness is something you show on the way up, not something you maintain once you have arrived.

In The Leader’s Mirror, I write: “You are a leader because you choose to do the inner work no one else sees. You are a leader because your presence builds, instead of bruises.” That is the real measure, not your office, but the atmosphere you create. Not your email signature, but the feeling you leave behind in every room. Marshall Goldsmith puts it plainly: “What got you here won’t get you there.”

The habits that help you climb may not help you lead, and if you are not careful, the same drive that got you to the top can disconnect you from the people who helped you get there.

Leadership is not proven, by how you treat those above you, it is revealed in how you treat those beneath you. The way you greet the janitor, the way you speak to the temp, the way you respond to criticism from someone without a title, that tells us who you are. Because one day, you might need that janitor’s grace. You might be hired by the intern you ignored. You might be forced to ask a favour of the one you pushed aside. Or maybe you will not, but their sibling, their child, or their colleague might hold the pen that writes your future. Treat people with dignity, not because of where they sit today, but because of who they are. Not because they are useful to you now, but because you are responsible for how you lead always.

So let me ask you, Leader to Leader: Who have you forgotten on your way up? What trail of impact are you leaving behind? Would people describe your rise as empowering or bruising? Are you building a legacy, or just climbing a ladder? The truth is, power is a revolving door. No one stays at the top forever, and when the titles fade, the only thing that lasts is how you made people feel. Let The Leader’s Mirror be your invitation to reflect. To ask hard questions. To confront the parts of you that confuse elevation with entitlement. To lead not just for applause, but for alignment, humility, and long-term impact.

Until next time, Leader, keep looking in the mirror. For access to The Leader’s Mirror, visit https://karenhearttalk.com/ebooks/

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