There is a deeply philosophical question that seems to haunt every workplace, every organization, and apparently every condominium board in existence.
Why are the people who can barely climb the stairs still clinging to power like it’s the last lifeboat on the Titanic?
Seriously.
Why?
At some point the pursuit of power stops looking like leadership and starts looking like a very stubborn refusal to accept that time moves forward.
⏳ The Generation That Won’t Exit the Stage
Look around.
In politics.
In corporations.
On condo boards.
You will often find the same pattern: the oldest people in the room fighting the hardest to keep their titles.
Not because they bring the newest ideas.
But because they simply refuse to step aside.
There seems to be a belief that if they let go of the title – president, director, chairperson, whatever ceremonial badge is involved – the universe might collapse.
Spoiler:
It won’t.
🏛️ The World They Came From
Many of them grew up in a very different era.
An era where:
- Disabled people were called “handicapped.”
- Gay people were treated like social problems.
- Mental health was something you were told to “toughen up” about.
- Authority figures were never questioned.
That world is gone – and frankly, good riddance!
The modern world recognizes disability rights, diversity, and the simple idea that leadership should involve competence, empathy, and accountability, not just seniority and stubbornness.
🪑 The Condo Board Microcosm
Our building is a perfect little laboratory for this phenomenon.
The fiercest battles for power seem to come not from the young professionals juggling careers and families, but from the retirees who treat the boardroom like a personal throne room.
It’s fascinating.
People who supposedly retired from work somehow find limitless energy for meetings, gossip, and procedural warfare.
But suggest fresh leadership or new ideas?
Suddenly it’s treated like a hostile coup.
🌱 A Radical Idea: Passing the Torch
Societies move forward because generations pass responsibility to the next ones.
That’s not disrespect.
That’s literally how progress works.
Experience matters, yes.
But so do:
- new perspectives
- modern values
- technological literacy
- the ability to understand the world as it exists today
❓ So Here’s the Existential Question
At what point does leadership become hoarding?
And at what point does holding onto power stop being dedication… and start becoming fear of irrelevance?
Because if you truly care about an organization, a community, or even a condo building…
you make space for the future.
Not barricade the door against it.
