Yaniv Preiss

Real tyranny, meaning doing anything to reach power and preserve it, is beautifully captured in The Prince by Machiavelli and The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene. I also wrote about it in The Machiavellian CTO – Evil Path to Glory.

Most managers don’t wake up intending to be tyrants. But lack of awareness, insecurity, ego, and pressure push them into behaviors that feel powerful in the moment and destructive in the long run. Sometimes, the manager feels like a hero by solving the problem they just created.

Below are some common stupid power moves managers pull and what they unknowingly break when they do.

1. Acting Like the Smartest Person in the Room

The power move: speaking first, giving the solution, cutting people mid-sentence, “correcting” every detail, and making decisions without input because “I’ve done this before.”

The damage:

• Creativity: people stop thinking because you already know the answer
• Psychological safety: nobody risks disagreeing
• Team maturity: the team becomes dependent, passive, and resentful
• Stalled growth: people don’t grow, cannot receive more responsibility or get promoted
• Bottleneck: slowness as the manager becomes the bottleneck, nothing moves without their sign-off, also reducing business continuity
• High manager workload: involved in everything and must decide
• Stalled manager growth: they cannot be promoted, as the team completely depends on them
• HIPPO effect (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion): when the manager speaks first, they inadvertently “anchor” the conversation, making it socially difficult for anyone to propose a different direction

Instead: speak last, listen patiently, let people experiment and make mistakes without punishing, delegate.

2. Withholding Information

The power move: releasing partial information or sharing it late in order to remain the central authority. Even worse is telling different people different things to stay in control.

The damage:

• Trust: people learn they don’t receive the full picture even though the manager has it
• Wrong decisions: misled by partial information, which can be worse than no information
• Execution speed: delay in information might result in delay in executing
• Ownership: trivially low, as people know they are only given parts
• No alignment: with partial and not always overlapping pieces of information, different people will move in different directions

Instead: share information early and often, translate what it means for the team (avoid forwarding with “FYI”).

3. Using Fear to “Motivate”

The power move: threatening consequences, hinting at performance reviews or disbanding a team, or overusing phrases like “any beginner can do this better than you.”

The damage:

• Productivity: people use their brain cycles on self preservation instead of doing great job
• Bare minimum: to avoid risk, people will do the minimal work, not above and beyond, no initiatives, no risk taking
• Lower team performance: hiding mistakes, thus not sharing and learning from them
• Attrition: this is the type of managers many explicitly leave companies for, due to suffering at work and potential burnout

Instead: motivation is about autonomy, mastery and purpose. Also, make sure hygiene factors are in place.

4. Taking Credit and Sharing Blame

The power move: announcing wins in “I” but discussing failures in “you” or “we”.

The damage:

• Motivation: recognition for efforts and results is stolen, why bother?
• Productivity: people use their brain cycles on self preservation instead of doing great job
• Bare minimum: to avoid risk, people will do the minimal work, no above and beyond, no initiatives, no risk taking
• Lower team performance: hiding mistakes, thus not sharing and learning from them
• Attrition: this is the type of managers many explicitly leave companies for, due to suffering at work and potential burnout
• Resignation of high performers: low performers will tolerate a credit-stealer because they just want to hide, and high performers, who thrive on impact and recognition, will be the first to quit

Instead: Let them shine, give credit and recognize good work. Give positive and negative feedback to encourage positive future behavior.

5. Pretending to Be Busy and Overbooked

The power move: using overload as a status symbol, showing up late to every meeting, sighing loudly about the “mountain of responsibilities,” and making people wait.

The damage:

• Credibility: people don’t think you’re busy, they think you cannot manage time
• Time loss: being late wastes time, and often again at the end of the meeting, running over time and making them late for their next commitment
• Waste: a culture of performative busyness, where the team starts faking overload too, just to look important

Instead: start on time and end on time, which is a good lesson for them as well. Delegate when needed.

6. Micromanaging Under the Guise of “Quality”

The power move: reviewing every document, rewriting people’s work, approving every tiny decision, nitpicking a redundant space character.

The damage:

• Efficiency: a lot of resources (time and money) are spent on every piece of work
• Quality: the fact that it’s the manager’s way doesn’t guarantee quality, especially as they have to review and work all deliverables
• Responsibility: people learn to be helpless
• Workload: the manager does their work and the team’s work, oftentimes blaming their team’s incompetence

Instead: set expectations, teach what success looks like, explain the “why” and let them reach results their way, and give feedback on their deliverables, delegate.

7. Using Company Values as Weapons

The power move: quoting values selectively when someone disagrees, using “ownership” or “excellence” as tools for guilt or pressure.

The damage:

• Cynicism: people learn that values are not the most important behaviors to display, but rather only when they fit the manager
• Ineffectiveness: unclarity about the actual desired behaviors
• Trust: people easily see when they are manipulated

Instead: when company values are ignored or violated by all levels, better ignore them. When they are truly lived, repeat them, explain how they contribute to success, share real stories, give feedback and rate them in the performance review.

8. Protecting Their Status Instead of Growing Their People

The power move: blocking promotions, saying “you’re not ready,” or keeping strong people in a box to avoid being overshadowed.

The damage:

• Growth: people who could have had more positive influence and bring additional value are blocked
• Respect: people view the manager as a political coward
• Team reputation: good managers have good people promoted and when this doesn’t happen it reflects on the manager
• Attrition: the manager becomes known as a career dead-end, and no strong candidate wants to join

Instead: grow your people and advocate for them, so they can bring more value. You will look good as a manager who grows professionals and leaders.

9. Playing Politics Instead of Solving Problems

The power move: aligning with senior leaders only to manage perception, not to fix issues and seize opportunities. Whispering concerns instead of stating them openly.

The damage:

• Organizational trust: people under and above the manager don’t see movement and don’t know what of the manager’s message is real and what is a show
• Transparency: reality is seen as we want to see it instead of how it is, which doesn’t allow taking advantage of opportunities and improving where needed
• Collaboration: peers and colleagues try to bypass working with such a manager

Instead: Give a realistic view of things with ideas and plans, not just complaining or blaming others and circumstances.

The Pattern Behind All Stupid Power Moves

Stupid power moves come from insecurity, not leadership.

Managers who don’t understand this end up with burnt-out teams that despise management, weak performance, and constant problems they created themselves.

Real authority is the byproduct of trust. It is built through:

• Clarity: setting the north star so people don’t get lost
• Consistency: being the same leader people learn to expect
• Coaching: investing in their future performance
• Accountability: holding the line on excellence, including self
• Transparency: sharing the “why” to empower the “how”
• Courage: trusting the team enough to let them outshine you
• Care: for the vision, results, employees, customers, partners

Leadership is doing the hard right, not the easy wrong.