Please read “E1. Meaning to the Meaningless” before reading any of my other articles on Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes 8:9 “…There is a time when a man lords it over others to his own hurt.”

Everyone recognizes a tyrant accept when looking in the mirror. They say power corrupts, and too often, they are right. Most of us have known people who let a promotion go to their head. I was in the U.S. army for four years. Several of us went through AIT together, and then the army sent us all to the same company in Germany. We were friends and worked well together, and then the army promoted one to sergeant before the rest. The sergeant let the promotion go to his head and he begins to act differently toward the rest of us. We resented the way the Sergeant treated us, and we resented that the sergeant used his rank to avoid work.
Fortunately, things settled out eventually, but for a while, everyone and everything including the mission suffered. The same type thing happens in factories, hospitals, banks and other workplaces on a regular basis. Solomon observed it, and recognized it as meaningless foolishness, but it is human nature and he had no cure.

When his disciples were arguing over who would be the greatest, Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. … I am among you as one who serves.” (Luke 22:25-26) Christ calls us to a life of righteousness. He lived out the example before us with a spirit of servanthood. When a Christian gets a promotion, the temptation to let power corrupt is still real. That is human nature, but the spirit of servanthood is the cure. The Christian does not act lordly because we know there is only one Lord. Christ is Lord.