Tag: Power

Top 5 Books of 2025

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A precondition for reading good books is not reading bad ones: for life is short.” Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer

As it turns out, my reading this year was skewed to power and politics. I know, I’m as surprised as you are, but it was a fascinating year of reading, also devastatingly troubling. But I have found one of my all-time new favourite books. You will see below.

TOP 5 NON-FICTION

The Chancellor: The remarkable odyssey of Angela Merkel – Kati Marton

Angela Merkel is a unique and brilliant women, born in a unique time, in a unique place. Some would say just the right time and just the right place. She could have chosen to go into academia and make a significant impact there, instead she chose public service. With an interest and skillset for global affairs, when East Germany opened up it allowed her to continue her journey which eventually led to the role of Chancellor of Germany, and one of the best leaders the world has seen in recent times. Humble to the point of still doing her own shopping at the local supermarket, and private to the point that her staff never saw inside her small home. This book is an incredible insight into who she is, how she thinks and the legacy she left. It’s an unofficial biography of course, because Angela would never sell her story, but still is a very full telling of her story nonetheless.

The Fifth Risk – Michael Lewis

Classic Michael Lewis – running through the biggest risks to America and diving deeper into the fifth one, being the risk of the failure of complex government functions due to incompetence/ignorance and poor management.

Michael spent time with people who worked in some of the most unknown and misunderstood elements of the essential government operations, his conversations with those people shine a very scary light on what happens when the transition into a new government is not handled well, or in some cases, doesn’t happen at all.

Lost Connections: Uncovering the real causes of depression – and the unexpected solutions – Johann Hari

As only Johann Hari can, through his journalistic approach he takes a deep look at depression through first hand experiences as well as in depth conversation with experts across the board. Not taking the general medical advice on face value, he asks some challenging questions which are helpful to anyone who is struggling with depression, or know someone who is. A quick overview: medical interventions can be helpful in the depression journey, but they are not the only thing that can help – there is more to be done.

***TOP BOOK OF 2025*** Corruptible: Who gets power and how it changes us – Brian Klaas

Brian Klass answers the age-old question, does power corrupt or do corrupt people seek power? One that I have been trying to work out for a while but have never come to a satisfactory answer, until reading this book. Brian notes that those who stay in power for a long time are generally attuned to do what needs to be done to stay there, meaning that most have flexible morals as those who would not corrupt themselves for the sake of position and power have already opted out. Who is left over is a diminished field of leaders.

At the same time, the systems of accountability in place in power structures also have an impact how people behave.

If you combine those two elements together, we find ourselves with the world we live in. Perhaps we might want to change how we think about what makes a good leader.

Careless People – Sarah Wynn-Williams

Maybe it was just a year of freaking myself out or letting myself get disappointed with the people we let have some authority over us, but this book added to my sense of bewilderment. Sarah was at Facebook from early days and journeyed with Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Samberg through the growth period of Facebook and how they attempted to deal with political powers in order to keep that growth going, no matter the cost.

I wasn’t a huge fan of Facebook before reading this, now, wow. Reading this after finishing Corruptible, certainly helped me understand how this kind of thing happens but it didn’t make me feel any better about the shady people who say they are for making the world a better place but are only chasing growth and profit.

TOP 5 FICTION

Boy Swallows Universe – Trent Dalton

I am sure many have read this already, but Trent Dalton can write a story. I loved reading this book. Not just a story about a family living in Brisbane in the 80’s, it’s deals with organised crime, poverty, magic and kids growing up. The Netflix series did a great job of capturing all of that on the screen.

Everything Lost, Everything Found – Matthew Hooton

Brand new book alert!

Matthew Hooton lives in Adelaide and this book was one of the stories that gripped the most this year. From the rubber-tree plantations in the Brazilian Amazon to the heart of Michigan’s rust belt, the story follows Jack through his life of family tragedy, age and loss. I was truly sad when I finished this book because it was over, but I am very happy to be able to read it again.

The Overstory – Richard Powers

I had no idea what this was when I picked it up. It was a random podcast recommendation. I read the first section and thought it was a book of short stories. The first one, if it was a just a short story, was the best one I have ever read. But, the stories interconnect over time as the Overstory interacts with the main characters and the trees, although it could be said that the trees are the main characters. (That may not make any sense to you, my wife didn’t get it either when I tried describing it to her). Although I didn’t thoroughly enjoy how it ended, it was a very good read.

The Stranger in the Lifeboat – Mitch Albom

From the author of Tuesday’s with Morrie, Mitch Albom has shown himself to be an excellent fiction writer as well. (Other people may know that already, I am just discovering it). After a boating accident, survivors end up on a lifeboat, with a stranger that just seemed to appear. Through the challenge of survival in the middle of the ocean, the survivors seek to learn about the stranger but end up learning more about themselves, and death. Many of them die. Don’t let that put you off, it is a great book.

Steelheart – Bandon Sanderson

Apparently I read Young Adult fiction now. This is the first in Brandon Sanderson’s series about the Reckoners. I read the whole series this year, that’s how good this book was.

It’s a superhero thing, but not how you would imagine.

The Generosity of Confidence

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“Confidence is your ability to see yourself as flawed, as imperfect, but still hold yourself in high regard.” – Esther Perel, quoting a friend.

For some, confidence is all about bravado. About ‘faking it til you make it’. About focusing only on the good things and covering over anything that is bad so that no one sees it, and so it doesn’t exist. It is strength. It is power. It is arrogance.

They also would consider humility a weakness, and something to be avoided at all costs because you ‘cannot be strong and humble’.

I strongly disagree.

There is a strength that comes with being self-aware enough to know that you are flawed, and you are imperfect, but at the same time you can be confident in who you are and what you bring.

Failing to recognise your flaws and imperfections is not strength, or confidence. That is weakness. Everyone else can see it. Even if you think you are excellent at hiding it, it seeps out. Everyone knows you are flawed and imperfect. Don’t kid yourself, because you would be the only person you are kidding.

This humble strength is innately generous. It gives you space to recognise that you aren’t what you want to be yet, but even so, who you are right now is awesome. You can be confident in that.

But where are the sea lions?

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“I made the booking and didn’t know what was going to happen” a Friend told me, when describing a trip she had organised to swim with sea lions in the ocean.

It turned out to be a wonderful day at a beautiful spot, but no sea lions turned up. Undeterred, she said “sometimes the sea lions don’t swim with you.”

The truth of that became embedded in my mind and is something that I come back to regularly. It captures our world perfectly and flies in the face of what we think we can control.

You can do everything within your power; make the booking, turn up at the right time, wear the right gear, have the right mindset, but in the end there are things that are outside of your control that can get in the way. Sometimes sea lions don’t operate on our schedule or according to our wishes.

In response to that we could waste time and energy cursing the sea lions, or our bad luck because we missed out, but generally the only thing that we can do is to accept that sometimes sea lions don’t swim with us.

It is highly likely that in any one area of your life right now, something outside of your control is stopping you from doing something that you want to do, perhaps they are sea lions, perhaps something else – are your cursing or accepting?

Remember, sea lions run on their own schedule.

How do I know if it’s generosity? (Or manipulation…)

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Sometimes what may look great on the surface, or upon initial consideration, turns out to be a little less than we expected. I have met people who appear to be amazing, accomplished, friendly and incredibly successful at first glance, but as I spent time with them, I began to realise that they were not quite what they promoted. In fact, they have played fast and easy with the truth.

Generosity can be just like that. Someone may give you attention, gifts and surprises which are delightful. Over time though, something doesn’t appear right, and you may feel pressured into thinking, or acting or responding in a certain way because “you owe them”.

So, how do you know when someone is genuinely being generous?

In other words, how do I know if someone cares about me or just cares about themselves?

Here a few things to look out for:

If it comes with strings

If you are given a gift of any sort, but it requires something of you in return, that is not generosity. It is a transaction. Which might be okay if everyone in the transaction is fine with it, but don’t confuse it with someone be generous to you. If you are unsure, try saying no to the request that is made (either a verbal request or an unsaid expectation) and see what the response is. If they get upset because you are not giving them what they are owed, then that’s your answer.

If it keeps you in a place of vulnerability

Some gifts seem very generous, and may even be given in good faith, but the consequences of the gift keep the receiver in a place of vulnerability. The Nestle scandal in the 1970’s comes to mind – there was outrage when it came to light that they had provided free formula to new mother’s in hospital in developing countries, which seems incredibly generous. But after the mother’s left hospital they needed to purchase it. Of course, by this time the mother’s breast milk production had been interrupted due to the formula use and they had no other option but to find the money to pay for the formula. A ‘gift’ that seems generous but kept people in a place of vulnerability instead of empowering them.

If it hurts you

Sometimes receiving a gift can cause you damage. For example, if someone gave you one billion dollars.

“How could that hurt me?” you ask.

Large amounts of money can create a huge burden, damaging relationships and families, and build significant costs and taxes to manage.

“I’ll take my chances” you say, well it didn’t work out so well for these guys. A gift for someone who is not ready for it can create huge problems.

Most of the time when you receive a gift, it is lovely but there are times when it turns out not to be generosity at all. Generally, anytime a gift is given that creates a power imbalance, it’s most likely not a generous act.

Character Matters

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“How you do anything is how you do everything.” Unknown

I have been struggling with the rise and fall of leaders in our world, and trying to identify which leaders I think are worth emulating. There are those that seem to have a large following, who talk a big game and appear to move heaven and earth to get what they want. But I dislike them greatly – which got me thinking, “Am I crazy? Am I missing something? Maybe what I think is a great leader is wrong?”

Then it hit me, in two words what I had trouble articulating for such a long time.

Character matters.

How you do things matters. How you treat people in your day to day interactions matters.

Character is who you are when no one is looking. Character shows up in how you behave when things are not going your way, or according to your plan.

If character matters, then that would mean the Machiavellian way, geting things done using whatever means possible, even if that requires destroying other people in the process, is not okay.

There is a way to lead without trampling others under foot. There is a form or leadership that genuinely would want to let go of power if it was for the benefit of those it is leading. That is the kind of leader I would follow and seek to emulate. There are only of handful of examples of this sort of leadership that come to mind…

Power Over Others is Weakness

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“Power over others is weakness disguised as strength.” Eckart Tolle

It’s obvious when it happens to other people. I can see it as clear as day, and I can’t figure out why they can’t.

A negative comment, a harsh opinion, and quite frankly, offensive words, from someone that is unknown to the individual. Someone that hasn’t earned the right to have any opinion that carries weight, but still it upsets. In that moment they are allowing this anonymous person to have power over them, and that anonymous person is stepping into that position of power by taking on a role of ‘expert’.

The truth is this: anything that is said or done, especially from someone whom you do not know, has nothing to do with you or your behaviour, and is all about the other person and their issues. Their pain and insecurity is overflowing and manifesting as judgement and outrage.

It is easy to see when it is happening to others, but when it happens to you, when someone judges you for something you say or do or write, it is a lot more challenging to not be swayed by ‘public opinion’. It can be difficult to not give someone power over how we feel.

It is even harder to spot when you are the perpetrator of that ‘public opinion’. When you are tearing someone down because of their ‘awful’ behaviour sometimes it is almost impossible to see that your pain and insecurity is overflowing on to others. That feeling of power and influence is intoxicating.

Power is an illusion. We seek it and wield it because it can help us feel strong, but ‘power over others is weakness disguised as strength’.

True strength comes from humility. It comes from generosity. It comes from lifting others up. It takes great strength to not be swayed by ‘public opinion’ and secure in your own identity.

If you are in a position of power, or a seeking a position of power, perhaps take a moment and discover what area of weakness you are trying to cover up.

The Dangers of the Mob

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“The Government got that wrong. They have double standards.”

It has been a common refrain around the country in the past few weeks when discussing the protests around the Black Lives Matter movement.

Many have asked why we haven’t been able to gather for weddings and funerals in large groups during the Coronavirus pandemic, but thousands of people have been given approval to meet together and protest. How is that fair? What is the government thinking?

Maybe the government was confident that the protesters would be outdoors and could maintain social distancing, or perhaps it had nothing to do with any political alignment or any opinion about how contagious or controlled the virus was, but was based on the power of the mob. Of course, not all protests turn into riots, in fact very few do – but the risk that something will escalate is real.

Here are three insights into mob mentality:

Mob Mentality is Dangerous. Something significant happens when large groups of people get together, especially when they are all in agreeance on a hot-button political and emotional issue. In a group setting, individuals are emboldened and grow in courage to act in ways that they never would if they were alone.

History shows us this – whip a mob into a frenzy and it can turn into a riot. We saw this in Cronulla in 2005, but there have been many others including in Kalgoorlie in 1934. We’ve seen it in America numerous times also, in LA in 1992, Baltimore in 2015 and, of course, LA in 2020 (among many others). Jesus was crucified by the mob, without evidence and without the explicit approval from the ruler of the day.

Mob Mentality is Powerful. Governments across Australia did not deny people the ability to come together and protest in the midst of a pandemic, basically because they had no power to do so. Some groups are just too large to stop.

For example, WA has almost 7,000 police officers, including auxiliary staff. All you need is for 8,000 people to turn up somewhere and authorities have little hope to quell anything that gets instigated. Trying to keep a large group from rising up and overpowering you in a violent incident is not as far fetched as we may think.

Fredrick Douglas said “the oppressors only have as much power as the oppressed give them.” Which means that the mob can be outrageously powerful, for a while.

Mob Mentality is Short-lived. It can escalate quickly but then, just as quickly it can dissipate. Sometimes within seconds, sometimes within hours, other times it can last for days and weeks – turning into an ‘occupy’ type situation. But the mob will always run out of steam and begin to disintegrate, but only after the damage has been done to the people and the places around it. The longer it lasts the more damage is done, and when it is over the community is left to pick up the pieces and get back to real life.

Politicians fear nothing more than an angry mob, because whilst it exists, they are powerless against it.

I Know My Rights

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Written by Kelsie De Haan, Opportunity International Australia Political Intern

Everyone should have access to the most basic of rights. That much we can all agree upon and the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights backs me up on that on. It outlines what people are entitled to simply by being born human. It also outlines the responsibility the state has to uphold the rights of their citizens and provides a guideline to moral and ethical behaviour.

In 2005, a report was released outlining the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ (R2P) which demonstrates how rights and responsibility play out at a global level. One of the key components of this is the state’s right to sovereignty which is forfeited if they do not uphold their responsibilities to their citizens. For example, to protect them from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. It doesn’t stop there. Those who uphold the first responsibility are then given the added responsibility to help other states uphold it. Again, if they fail to prevent these atrocities or even perpetuate them, the international community assumes the responsibility to protect through intervention.

The right to sovereignty carries enormous responsibility to ensure the wellbeing of the citizens and we rightly expect this from our leaders. We readily criticise leaders who perpetrate human rights abuses and citizens pressure their own governments to take up the responsibility to intervene. For states to have the right to self-determination and self-government, first they must demonstrate their fulfilment of responsibility to promoting peace, protecting citizens and caring for the environment.

Somehow, things seem a little different at an individual level. The concept of responsibility tied to rights is often overlooked. We tend to be so quick to declare our rights and then dismiss our responsibilities. We expect the right to welfare as a citizen but we don’t like the responsibility of paying taxes – some even avoid paying tax and therefore impede on another’s right to receive adequate welfare. We love that we have the right to free speech, but are quick to shoot down other opinions that are different from ours – even attempting to silence through intimidation and violence. We revel in the right we have to live in freedom and safety but bemoan a speeding fine we receive when we put the safety of others at risk.

When we claim our individual rights without considering our responsibilities to those around us, it becomes very dangerous. It can lead to a place where the responsibility to respect another’s rights and protect their freedoms is overshadowed by the idea of ‘my rights over your rights’. Or in other words, ‘me first, you are not as important’. When this rhetoric is used, conflicting rights become the norm and solutions become less clear. It’s complicated. We see this daily in Australia where an individual’s right to seek asylum is in direct conflict with a state’s right to sovereign borders, or the right to free speech versus the right to live free of fear and hate speech, and even the pro-choice versus pro-life debate as it reflects the conflicting rights of a mother and her unborn child.

How do we justify privileging one person’s rights over another? It sounds awful when it gets stated like that, but we do it every day. I’m sure we would like to think that the ‘good guy’ always wins, but unfortunately it is more often the person with the most power who has their rights recognised and prioritised. When the responsibility to consider the needs of others is removed from the equation, conflicting rights are resolved through oppression of the disadvantaged by those in power. History shows us that oppression of a minority and the suppression of their rights appears to be the default setting, changing only when someone in a position of power draws attention to the injustice and allows an oppressed voice to be heard.

If being powerful is the prerequisite to exercising rights, this leaves women and children in a very vulnerable position. Fortunately, there are organisations like Opportunity International Australia and others whose sole purpose is to uphold their rights and empower them to a life free from injustice and poverty.  Yet for many other minorities, oppression and silencing of rights is a reality they face every day as a result of our reluctance to accept responsibility – responsibility to care for others, to make sacrifices for those in need, to listen to others and to simply be a responsible global citizen.

So, know your rights. Ensure that you have access to them. Make a stand for them. But don’t stop there. Know the responsibilities that you have because of your rights. Ensure others have access to their rights (no matter who they are or if you agree with all of their opinions), and make a stand for them. Use your rights to uphold those of others, not to oppress them.