This chapter examines how politics has become the ultimate case study in power gone wrong. It shows how politicians operate in uniquely toxic conditions, with excessively high levels of insecurity, distance from constituents and pressure to manage their image. It explains how these environmental factors can supercharge power’s negative effects. It explores how this has resulted in simplified discourse, eroded trust and rising populism. And finally, it explains the lessons organisations and leaders can learn from this, warning that unless they begin to more proactively manage power’s effects, they risk following the same destructive trajectory.