By Joe Byerly
Thousands of years ago, as Emperor Marcus Aurelius sat in his tent on the front lines of war, he faced a far more dangerous enemy: himself. He had heard stories of what power could do to men. Rome’s history was littered with rulers like Caligula, Tiberius, and Nero—leaders consumed by power, indulging their worst impulses, their reigns marked by cruelty, excess, and self-destruction. He also studied how Julius Caesar’s unchecked ambition destroyed the Republic. As Plutarch observed, “His past successes fed his hunger for more… a lust for fresh glory, as though what he had already achieved was not enough.”
He feared what power might do to him. He knew his weaknesses and understood his own nature. For Marcus Aurelius, self-examination was just as essential as the study of philosophy, politics, and history. He believed that true leadership required understanding one’s own thoughts and behaviors just as much as the workings of the world. He was self-aware.
So he warned himself in his journal, a book that would become known as Meditations:
“Beware of becoming Caesarified, dyed in purple. It does happen. Keep yourself simple, good, guileless, dignified, unpretentious, devoted to justice, pious, kind, affectionate to others, and resolute in carrying out your proper tasks. Strive to be and remain the kind of person philosophy would have you be.”
I love those two terms: “Caesarified” and “dyed in purple.” Both are warnings about the dangers of power. In one of my favorite translations of Meditations, Robin Waterfield notes that “Caesarified” is likely a reference to Julius Caesar; Aurelius’ way of reminding himself not to become a dictator. At the same time, his caution against being “dyed in purple” speaks to the risk of becoming so consumed by the trappings of his position that he loses touch with his own humanity.
Marcus Aurelius understood something that many still struggle to accept: power doesn’t corrupt, it reveals.
Power strips away self-censorship, feeds our egos, magnifies what’s already there, and forces us to show our true colors: the good, the bad, and the really ugly.
When we step into power, the world around us changes. Fewer people challenge our decisions (at least to our face), our jokes suddenly become funnier, and the attention we once craved is freely given. In the absence of pushback, our ego expands, unchecked.
We stop thinking twice before making an offhand comment. The darker corners of our personality—the arrogance, the insecurities, the impulses we once kept in check—begin to creep into the open. And before we even realize it, they take over.
Lance Morrow, in his biography of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, observed:
“As president in the White House, a man becomes himself, squared—his hyperself, flaws and virtues enlarged by world attention and brought to fulfillment by the nature of the work and the power, and by the inescapability of the buck that stops on the desk in the Oval Office.”
Even in the world of hip-hop, power reveals. Jay-Z saw it across the rap industry, writing in his 2011 memoir Decoded:
“Women, money, ‘friends,’ piles of whatever your vice is. There’s enough of whatever you love to kill you. That kind of sudden change can destabilize even the most grounded personality.”
Power, like Miracle-Gro, doesn’t create something new—it amplifies what’s already there, for better or worse
So what do we do? How do we keep ourselves from becoming warped by power, our flaws enlarged, and our stability shaken? Becoming “dyed in purple”?
The answer is self-examination. We must be willing to look in the mirror before power does it for us. We have to know what’s lurking below the surface, before it rises to the top.
Long before we find ourselves in charge, we need to identify the cracks in our foundation; the parts of our personality that, if left unchecked, could sabotage not only our careers and lives, but the lives of those around us.
And once we do, we must take steps to keep those weaknesses in check—whether by surrounding ourselves with people who hold us accountable or by regularly reminding ourselves, as Marcus Aurelius did, to stay humble, to do the right thing, and to resist the pull of our vices.
Over the years, I’ve watched leaders destroy everything they worked so hard to build because their unchecked weaknesses were amplified with power. Even as self-reflective as I am, when I was in charge, I found myself locked in a constant struggle with my own ego and shortcomings.
Power doesn’t change us. It doesn’t corrupt us. It simply forces us to face who we already are.
If power reveals who we truly are, what would it expose in you?
Joe Byerly is the founder and director of From the Green Notebook and host of the podcast. He officially retired from the U.S. Army on August 31, 2024. If this post resonated with you or sparked any questions, feel free to reach out to him at Joe@fromthegreennotebook.com.
