Power Genes: Understanding Your Power Persona--and How to Wield It at Work

by Maggie Craddock

A New Way of Looking at Power at Work

Who hasn’t left the office after a particularly frustrating day wondering what they could have done to turn a negative experience into a positive one? Perhaps it was a difficult conversation with a domineering boss, or an encounter with a know-it-all peer who made you feel insecure. Would you believe the way you react to these interactions likely stems from the dynamics you experienced as a child? Could it be that your childhood persona has grown into your power persona at work?

In Power Genes, executive coach Maggie Craddock reveals how to kick those old habits—trying too hard to please, acting out, using manipulative methods of persuasion—and tells how to use power more effectively to advance your career. Craddock identifies four power types and explains how to diagnose

• The Pleaser—you make others feel good about themselves but need constant validation and approval from them
• The Charmer—you draw others in with your charm, yet trust is your Achilles heel
• The Commander—you take charge of the situation and gain admiration from others, but fear any loss of control
• The Inspirer—you are star power in action, yet your vision for the future can derail the needs of workers right now

The book outlines a process for avoiding your type’s signature destructive reflexes and replacing them with new behaviors—helping you to interact productively with other people in the office. By showing you how to recognize your type’s blind spots and then recondition your actions, Power Genes will give you the insights and action plan you need to become a more consistently powerful professional. It’s time to throw out unproductive habits and take charge of your workplace relationships.

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Self Help, Management

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 13, 2011

About the author

Maggie Craddock is an executive coach with over 20 years of experience working with clients at all levels of the professional spectrum. Best known for her work with Fortune 500 CEOs and senior management teams, Maggie has coached people at all levels of the professional spectrum. She has been featured on CNBC, ABC News, National Public Radio and quoted in national publications including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the and the Chicago Tribune.

Maggie is the author of Power Genes: Understanding Your Power Persona and How to Wield It at Work (Harvard Business Review Press, 2011) and The Authentic Career: Following the Path of Self-Discovery to Professional Fulfillment (New World Library, 2004).

She has also written a wide range of nationally syndicated articles on relational agility in the workplace and her methodology has been discussed in publications ranging from the Harvard Business Review to Oprah Magazine.

Maggie has been featured at Deutsche Bank’s annual Women on Wall Street conference, she has served on the faculty of The Advanced Management Program at Wharton University and she is a popular keynote speaker at leadership conferences for both corporate clients and industry networking associations.

Before founding her executive coaching firm in 1998, Maggie worked on both on the buy side and the sell side in the financial services industry. As a lead portfolio manager working for Scudder, Stevens and Clark, Maggie received two Lipper Awards for top national fund performance: Best Short Term Multi-Market Income Fund, ranked #1 by Lipper in a universe of 77 funds, and Best World Income Fund over $1 billion in size, ranked #1 by Lipper in a universe of 7 funds.

She also served as a National Director of Consultant Relations for Sanford C. Bernstein and represented the firm at board presentations for top pension fund clients across the country.

Maggie received an M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics as well as an MSW from New York University. Maggie received her BA in Economics from Smith College, and she is an Ackerman certified family therapist.

Reviews

[Kat · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a lot of interesting insights in this book. The Pleaser/Charmer/Commander/Inspirer power grid makes an interesting starting point for self-reflection, and the book's main case study resonated with me as a people-pleaser. However, there's also a lot of places where I wanted details and got generalisms instead. It reads more like inspiring self-help than management theory in places. That said, I might read it again to extract more insights.

[Ram Kumar Lanka · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the last 3 years I have been working on stabilising and expanding our business. This required replacing a few senior employees and realigning the responsibilities to ensure we become a result oriented organisation. When I picked up this book last week at the book shop, my thought was to understand why and how our working relationships gets aligned and if I can pick and nurture a few more matured resources for the growth of the organisation. If at all I have to nurture the senior resources, how do i quickly understand them matters a lot.

This book has given clarity of thought on how and why certain people look at things with a different perspective which might be entirely different from your perspective. And how can we get into their perspective and get things moving .
Most of the time there is nothing bad about a resource but the context from which he is thinking and he is expecting from you, is entirely different from yours. And if you understand a few such perspectives you can continuously look for those traits and align yourself to get things moving.

I think this a must read for most of the people who wants to succeed in corporate career or outside. The four different types of people this book defines might be the people who are regularly working with you, but you are not aware of them. But once you read this book, you might understand the other side context / perspective and can work wonders to get work done.

I highly recommend this book for all senior people in responsible position and we might need to make it a must for them. For others it can be your stepping stone to move up in the ladder.

[Peter House · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Power Genes" positions itself as a book to help one through the process of self-discovery in how we derive power in the workplace (and elsewhere). Using a mix of case studies, observations, and pointers, the author weaves together a framework of four different power types, the Pleaser, the Charmer, the Commander, and the Inspirer. The labels and characteristics are the usual ones one might expect. Where the book shines in how it describes the different "power plays" the types have as well as when and how to use them. The book also narrates a couple of case studies from the perspectives of differing types, walking the reader through the reactions of the players that many of us can relate to.

The book is a quick read. It took me only two hours to get through it. So while I only gave it three stars, I'd recommend it by virtue of how succinct it is. It makes the reward/effort ration very favorable.

[Abdurrahman AlQahtani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book... in the beginning i felt like reading a bunch of theoritical views on personas and power, but Maggie (the author) knew very well how to present the power genes ideas in isolation in the beginning to be understood. At the end she reflected how these power genes blend in real life and don't work like black and white.
I also must say i have admired her style of writing, and the power of choosing words and phrases to best describe her ideas.
An enjoyable read, indeed!