Power politics - essential to leadership?

Is it really absolutely necessary? Well, think of it this way, there is good politics. And there is bad politics. The reality is that both exist in any organized setting. The challenge is how you play the game. Often, the outcome make or break your ascent to the chain of command. According to one writer I came across, good and bad politics are defined as:

1. BAD politics: is one played by people who spend most of their energy managing up. In other words, working their chain of command at the expense of being a true leader for their organization. While this is necessary during times of crisis, these people base their career on building relationships with the power brokers. They attend all the right meetings, take personal credit for other's ideas and hoard information. This last point is key. Information is power and power is politics. He who has the knowledge has the power. The dead giveaway of a political person is when they rarely share information. On climbs this is obvious.

If you want to play the game you must build your network up, not down. Then make yourself visible to the network. These two steps will distance you from your peers and subordinates (if any). You will spend more time on your networking than on your job but you will still have to find a way to get your job done thus the "This was my idea" behavior.

And then, there is:

2. GOOD POLITICS - The good politician also builds a strong network but does so at all levels of an organization. They spend time with first level employees as well as two levels up. The have a solid understanding of what makes their organization or job successful and can represent it clearly and accurately at any level.

The good politician shares information and encourages other to do the same. Thus they build on their knowledge base often connecting the dots to see something others miss. They are visible to their network in appropriate ways. They attend meetings when they can add value and make themselves available and approachable throughout an organization.

At the end of the day, here are more Bad Politicians in any organization setting than Good ones. Perhaps this is because the Bad Ones have gotten ahead and continue to make the rules.

Regardless of how you play the game, the game exists. For me, the key question is - have I slept well at night?