When Power Becomes the Purpose
- Christos Makiyama
- Jan 17
- 2 min read
I have always enjoyed working with technology companies during their early stages.
What draws me is not just the energy, but the ability to help shape the strategy (and purpose) of a new venture while it is still forming.
Over the years, I have noticed a recurring pattern.
As companies grow through success, processes and structure naturally follow.
As incentives to sustain that success increase, expectations rise, and purpose is often the first thing to drift.
As goals are pursued, power naturally consolidates.
Consolidation is rarely the objective.
It is usually a consequence of trying to serve a purpose.
As power concentrates, pressure increases.
Time becomes scarce.
Acceleration follows.
Acceleration favors optimization.
Optimization favors simplification.
Exclusion becomes efficient.
Difference of ideas, inquiry, behavior, or attitude is not a problem when purpose is shared and the intent is the best outcome.
It becomes friction when trust erodes, time compresses, and alignment replaces dialogue.
Under pressure, difference is no longer engaged.
It is filtered out.
If it can be shaped, it is pushed to align.
If it cannot, it is marginalized.
If it resists, it becomes something to confront.
This process might not be intentional or malicious in the beginning.
More often, it emerges as a response to pressure.
Rules, dos and don’ts then become the easy moral guide.
They help coordinate behavior and reduce friction.
They legitimize what is correct and what is not.
But rules are means, not ends.
It is possible to comply fully with rules and still fail the purpose they were meant to serve.
Rules optimize coordination.
Purpose gives direction.
Higher purpose endures longer.
It aligns people beyond individual rewards.
It is grounded in values and virtues, not procedures.
When rules replace values,
when compliance replaces judgment,
and when optimization replaces meaning,
power begins to drift from its origin.
What was created to serve a purpose slowly detaches from it and begins trying to sustain itself.
“Avoided Objrect” Cornelia Parker 1995 - National Museum of Contemporary Arts, Athens
