Give someone a little power and you’ll meet the version of them that was hiding.

Power does not change people so much as it removes the reasons they were behaving. Rules, needing to be liked, having no say: those were holding a lot in place. Take them away and whatever was underneath gets room to walk around. Sometimes what shows up is generous, and sometimes it is small and mean, and everyone finds out at once.

Watch yourself the next time you get a bit of authority, running a group project or covering a shift. Notice what you do when nobody can push back. That is the honest measurement, and you are the only one who can take it.