The Laundering of Power

Leadership Rhetoric, Moral Arrest, and the Erosion of Organizational Life

Abstract

Excessive power seeking is often interpreted as a strategic misstep or a leadership style gone awry, yet its deepest impact is ethical and relational. This paper examines how leaders’ pursuit of power beyond its legitimate purpose alters the moral conditions of organizational life.

Using a deontological ethical framework, the analysis argues that excessive power violates fundamental duties toward others by reducing employees to instruments for a leader’s selfprotection
or self-promotion. Kohlberg’s theory of moral development further illuminates how leaders come to perceive such violations as justified, particularly when operating from preconventional or conventional stages of moral reasoning. Through an examination of organizational cases, including Theranos, Wells Fargo, and Uber, the paper demonstrates that ethical failure first emerges in relationships: trust becomes conditional, candor becomes unsafe, and the organization’s moral community erodes. Ultimately, the excessive pursuit of power distorts both leadership and the relational fabric on which ethical organizational life depends. Recognizing these relational harms as early indicators of moral stagnation is essential for cultivating leadership grounded in duty, accountability, and principled judgment.