Prestige → Dominance Shift

Respected leadership slides into rule through status, fear, or control.

What it looks like

• Expertise becomes entitlement
• Charisma substitutes for evidence
• Criticism is treated as disloyalty
• Rules start bending around one person

Failure mechanism

Legitimacy stops being earned through performance and starts being enforced through status, threat, or capture of gatekeeping functions.

Minimum viable controls

Verification

• Evidence standards for major decisions
• Clear separation of narrative from proof
• Track exception/override patterns by leadership node

Counterweights

• Independent oversight with real blocking power
• Succession protocols and term limits where appropriate
• Dissent immunity (protected challengers)

Correction Loops

• Regular governance audits of concentrated power
• Sunset clauses on special authority
• External review triggers under pressure

Proof you’re controlling it

• Independent oversight can constrain leadership
• Decisions remain evidence-bound under conflict
• Succession and rotation are real, not symbolic

Where it shows up

Primarily Institutional, then cascades.

Related patterns

Authority Without Friction • Gatekeeper Capture • Bad News Suppression