Editorial: Leaders should know when to go

Power, according to Henry Kissinger, is the ultimate aphrodisiac. Is it any wonder, then, that the first law of those holding power is to cling to it? No matter how strong the message that their position should be relinquished, no matter how counter-productive the act of clinging, the urge is to sit tight and hope the tide of sentiment will turn.

Power uncovers the real disposition of those who grasp it, and makes fools of those who do not know when to let it go. The folly is all around us, from the humblest community group to the biggest corporate boardroom and loftiest political assembly.

At the moment, New Zealand is replete. There is the National Party president who is resisting calls for her resignation; there is a rugby board that hopes damage limitation will save its collective skin; and there is the insurance chief who has resigned in the most grudging manner.

Power is rarely surrendered lightly. Misfortune may undermine people's strength and their ability to guide the organisation of which they are titular head. Only rarely, however, can they bring themselves to acknowledge they are the architects of that misfortune. To do so would be to set out along a road that ends in capitulation. If they are told their time is up, they will not accept it. Instead, it is a time for manoeuvring, lame excuses and fighting for all they are worth.

If blame is accepted, that manoeuvring must involve a peace offering. Thus, the New Zealand Rugby Football Union board, on receiving the damning Eichelbaum Report into the loss of World Cup sub-hosting rights, was prepared to sacrifice its chairman and chief executive. From the rest came a standard excuse: They talked of the need for "continuity" - code for a craving to retain their position at the pinnacle of the national game.

But just as the rugby board underestimated the public's desire to see the World Cup played here, so it did not anticipate the provincial unions' antagonism. Thus, there was a further offering when Murray McCaw, who had quit the chairman's job, then left the board altogether. His successor claims the remainder of the board are "not power-crazed people wanting to hang on". Yet they continue to deny reality, even as the provincial unions orchestrate a fresh election that will surely unseat most of them.

Michelle Boag has become similarly limpet-like. She, as president of the National Party, could hardly be expected to shoulder all the blame for a disastrous general election. But equally she was not blameless. As some within the party demanded her head, she has chosen a McCaw-like strategic withdrawal as the means of holding power as long as possible. First, she said she would not seek re-election next year. Then, as opposition mounted, she manoeuvred her way into overseeing a review of National's campaign. While the writing is on the wall she imagines there is a chance to reword it.

Scapegoats are, of course, part of the deal when things go wrong. Sometimes, the process can be a little unfair. Take James Boonzaier, the long-serving Tower managing director, who was a victim of the company's languishing share price. The Tower chairman, in announcing the departure, said that every chief executive ran out of puff. Perhaps so. But all of Mr Boonzaier's initiatives would have been approved by the Tower board. Not one director will, of course, acknowledge that - and offer an additional resignation.

Mr Boonzaier has responded by talking huffily of being a Tower shareholder and of holding the board accountable. Therein lies perhaps the most unfortunate consequence of the power game. Often, the lot of the lingerer will be played out in public. As frustration builds, harsh words are spoken; the party, board or company is exposed to further derision. There is a capacity for destruction in those who cannot rein in their craving for power. They bite the hand that once fed them. And that is the most wretched commentary of all on those who do not know when to go.

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