Power: Why Some People Have it and Others Don't

by Jeffrey Pfeffer

“Pfeffer [blends] academic rigor and practical genius into wonderfully readable text. The leading thinker on the topic of power, Pfeffer here distills his wisdom into an indispensable guide.”—Jim Collins, author of New York Times bestselling author Good to Great and How the Mighty Fall







 



Some people have it, and others don’t—Jeffrey Pfeffer explores why in Power. One of the greatest minds in management theory and author or co-author of thirteen books, including the seminal business school text Managing With Power, Pfeffer shows readers how to succeed and wield power in the real world.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Leadership, Psychology, Management, Self Help, Personal Development

291 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 30, 2010

About the author

Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University where he has taught since 1979. He is the author or co-author of thirteen books including The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First; Managing with Power; The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action; Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People; Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management; and What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management, as well as more than 150 articles and book chapters. Pfeffer’s latest book, entitled Power: Why Some People Have It—And Others Don’t was published in 2010 by Harper Business.

Dr. Pfeffer received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University and his Ph.D. from Stanford. He began his career at the business school at the University of Illinois and then taught at the University of California, Berkeley. Pfeffer has been a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School, Singapore Management University, London Business School, Copenhagen Business School, and for the past 8 years a visitor at IESE in Barcelona.

From 2003-2007, Pfeffer wrote a monthly column, “The Human Factor,” for the 600,000-person circulation business magazine, Business 2.0 and from 2007-2010, he wrote a monthly column providing career advice for Capital, a leading business and economics magazine in Turkey. Pfeffer also was a regular blogger for the Corner Office section of BNET (CBS Interactive), and currently writes for the Harvard Business Review website, Bloomberg Business Week online, Inc., and for the “On Leadership” section of The Washington Post. Pfeffer has appeared in segments on CBS Sunday Morning, 60 Minutes, and CNBC as well as television and radio programs in Korea and Japan and has been quoted and featured in news articles from countries around the globe.

Pfeffer currently serves on the board of directors of the nonprofit Quantum Leap Healthcare. In the past he has served on the boards of Resumix, Unicru, and Workstream, all human capital software companies, Audible Magic, an internet company, SonoSite, a company designing and manufacturing portable ultrasound machines, and the San Francisco Playhouse, a non-profit theater. Pfeffer has presented seminars in 38 countries throughout the world as well as doing consulting and providing executive education for numerous companies, associations, and universities in the United States.

Jeffrey Pfeffer has won the Richard I. Irwin Award presented by the Academy of Management for scholarly contributions to management and numerous awards for his articles and books. He is listed in the top 25 management thinkers by Thinkers 50, and as one of the Most Influential HR International Thinkers by HR Magazine. In November, 2011, he was presented with an honorary doctorate degree from Tilburg University in The Netherlands.

Reviews

[Book Shark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t by Jeffrey Pfeffer

"Power" is an interesting study of organizational behavior that leads to obtaining power and thus success. Professor of School of Business at Stanford University and author or coauthor of thirteen books, Jeffrey Pfeffer provides insight to the path of power. In general, the author succeeds in persuasively defending his main ideas but he does so with little consideration or at the expense of ethics. This power-charging 288-page book is composed of the following thirteen chapters: 1. It Takes More Than Performance, 2. The Personal Qualities That Bring Influence, 3. Choosing Where to Start, 4. Getting In: Standing Out and Breaking Some Rules, 5. Making Something out of Nothing: Creating Resources, 6. Building Efficient and Effective Social Networks, 7. Acting and Speaking with Power, 8.Building a Reputation: Perception Is Reality, 9. Overcoming Opposition and Setbacks, 10. The Price of Power, 11. How—and Why—People Lose Power, 12. Power Dynamics: Good for Organizations, Good for You?, and 13. It’s Easier Than You Think.

Positives:
1. A well researched and accessible book.
2. Straightforward format. The author builds his case in a progressive, curricular manner.
3. This book is loaded with research-intensive examples of power in the corporate world.
4. The author stays focused on what it takes to gain power in the business world. " You can compete and even triumph in organizations of all types, large and small, public or private sector, if you understand the principles of power and are willing to use them."
5. The reasons for desiring power. "To be effective in figuring out your path to power and to actually use what you learn, you must first get past three major obstacles. The first two are the belief that the world is a just place and the hand-me-down formulas on leadership that largely reflect this misguided belief. The third obstacle is yourself."
6. Debunking the notion that the key to a successful career resides solely in performance. " The data shows that performance doesn’t matter that much for what happens to most people in most organizations."
7. The seven important personal qualities that build power.
8. Understanding where to begin establishing a power base. "So if you want to move up quickly, go to underexploited niches where you can develop leverage with less resistance and build a power base in activities that are going to be more important in the near future than they are today." Seeing how and why power varies across departments."
9. How to stand out in a crowd. "Your success depends not only on your own work but also on your ability to get those in a position to help your career, like your boss, to want to make you successful and help you in your climb."
10. Identifying the resources needed to build power base. " Power accrues to people who control resources that others cannot access."
11. How to build an effective network. "Networking actually does not take that much time and effort. It mostly takes thought and planning."
12. How to act powerful. "If acting is important as a leadership skill and for acquiring power, it is important to know how to perform. One principle is to act confident. There are others."
13. How to build your image. "The trick is to be sure you do the things to build your reputation, have others tout you, and attract the kind of media coverage and image that can help build your power base."
14. Ideas on how to overcome opposition and setbacks. "At the very moment when you have suffered a reversal in fortune and most need help, the best way to attract that help is to act as if you are going to triumph in the end."
15. The five costs incurred in the pursuit of power.
16. Many examples of why people lose power. "The best way to hold on to your position is to maintain your perspective and balance."
17. Dealing with power dynamics. "You need to master the knowledge and skills necessary to wield power effectively. In some circumstances, this may be good for the organization, but in virtually all circumstances, it is going to be good for you."
18. The author does a good job of summarizing the path to power.
19. Further reading section.

Negatives:
1. This book's approach to power does not take into account ethics.
2. Not too many surprises in this book. A lot of the research in fact coincided with my intuitions.
3. The author was extremely cautious with topics of race and gender.
4. The book is really about power play, how to manipulate, influence, take advantage...

In summary, there is a direct correlation between the reader's view on power and how much enjoyment they will derive from this book. That is, if you are of the mindset that it's about obtaining power at any cost then this book will be of your liking, on the other hand, if you believe in ethics this book will leave you uneasy. Personally, I had mixed feelings. In general, the author succeeds in providing many interesting examples in support of his ideas and how to obtain power. That being said, ethics considerations aside this is a fairly good book.

Further suggestions: "Influence" by Robert B. Cialdini, "Drive" by Daniel H. Pink, "Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works" by A.G. Lafley, " Secrets to Winning at Office Politics: How to Achieve Your Goals and Increase Your Influence at Work" by Marie G. McIntyre, "Power Questions" by Andrew Sobel, and "Quiet Leadership" by David Rock.

[Joe Robles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that should be considered a must read! If you've ever wondered why someone gets promoted over you or why you just can't seem to advance in your career, you should read this.

Power explains why people who aren't very smart or hard working seem to get so far. The first thing you have to realize in business is that, "life isn't fair." Don't expect it to be. I have a phrase that guides me in my working and management decisions: "you can either be right or be effective." Sometimes you can be both, but if you must choose, you should always choose to be effective. What do I mean? I mean it might be a great moral victory to claim that your workers use common sense and don't do X, but if you want to be effective you spell out explicitly DON'T DO X. I hear this a lot from less effective managers, "they should know better than to do that." Maybe they should, but if you want to guarantee they don't do that, you WRITE IT DOWN.

This book essentially takes my right/effective to another level. You can be morally victorious by being a harder worker than that guy who got the promotion, or you can be THAT GUY.

An example of this book in my life: I got a promotion over a co-worker who had been there a year or more longer than me. She claimed once that it was because I "had a penis", implying that the boss was a bit of a misogynist. As I thought about it, I realized that it wasn't because I had a penis, but because I had balls. I'm not afraid to take risks to get my job done. I'm perfectly willing to get in trouble with my bosses by going outside the parameters they set for me, if I think I can get the job done. I have gotten in trouble before. My co-worker won't. You tell her do it this way, she does it that way. I got a promotion, she didn't.

I also will do 5 things adequately rather than one thing perfectly. Many of my co-workers don't. That's not only inefficient, it's a bad way to get noticed. I'm not saying half-ass a project, or get it done with mistakes (and neither does the book), but you should be able to accomplish multiple tasks at at least a minimum level. You can always improve later down the road. Again example from my life: when I was the stock person, we had a level that the shelves were supposed to be stocked at. I would always overstock so that the next day I wouldn't have to stock. This freed me up to work in the accounting office doing data entry for a couple hours a day. Which got me noticed by the owner and led to more money and better position. Everyone in the store hated how I stocked, but again me promotion, them not.

This book has examples such as these and many others on how to get power in your workplace. The one I have started working on since reading the book is networking. Networking is incredibly important. Most executive level jobs are gotten by "who you know", not by putting in an application. We'll see how that pans out.

I must say again: YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Nonfiction and it talks about power in the work place. If you have it and don't protect it, you will lose it. That is the sum of this one. Some of this made me so mad, especially when people suffered from greed and envy. It felt like this book was perpetuating the bad behavior. Sad but true. And yet some of this felt doable and was constructive. Mostly this had info on how to survive the 'dog eat dog' business world. So 3 stars.

[Book Calendar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Power Why Some People Have It And Others Don't by Jeffrey Pfeffer




Jeffrey Pfeffer is a professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business of Stanford University. He is writing about building power or authority inside organizations. His focus is more than politics. It is also about how to succeed at the top levels of companies or organizations.



There is focus on personal success in this book. He describes the process as much more than working hard. In fact, he shows how performance can hinder a persons career. I like his description of how personal networks are the second most important skill after technical ability. People move ahead becausue of who they know.



Parts of this book made me uncomfortable. There are descriptions of how to stand out without angering people.. This is a different approach than what I am used to.



The chapters on How To Make Something Out of Nothing and Overcome Oppositions and Setbacks made me think hard about my own career. He advises people to not look for where it is most prestigious, but look where they will succeed. The writing is quite thoughtful. It is aimed at making relationships with other people work.



I also like his description of the price of power; long hours, hard work, and loss of family and personal time. But, the author correctly points out in these days, you have to often fight just to stay in the middle.



This book describes patterns and tools to mproave your chances of success in organizations. It is very much a career management book. Jeffrey Pfeffer uses examples from very successful people like Zia Yusuf CEO of Streetline Inc, the California politician Willie Brown, and the venture capitalist and entrepreneur Heidi Roizen. This book is worth reading if you want to understand power inside organizations.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway

It's hard to come around and endorse Jeffrey Pfeffer's latest book. Not because it's inaccurate or deceptive or dishonest, but precisely because it's none of those things.

Pfeffer lays out a survey level argument of why power politics exists, what it takes to obtain and maintain it, and why the system is not going away. When combined with current events, for example the recent film Inside Job, it provides a solid explanation why so many people who get so many things wrong remain in positions of authority.

Unfortunately, Pfeffer's solution to this is that everyone needs to play the game. That there is no method for a society to escape from the power dynamic is the book's most depressing conclusion. What would be nice to see is a book that helps organizations protect themselves from power players, so that one doesn't continue to listen to the same bad advice over and over again.

[Julian Dunn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is honestly a bit of a mixed bag.

On one hand, it accurately describes much of the way the world works, where those who want power often deploy a high degree of ruthlessness (terror / anger / punishment of those who cross them) and play political games to win and then maintain their grip on power. On the other hand, it makes two fundamental mistakes: 1) it conflates power and autonomy and tries to make the argument that people who seek and obtain power are ultimately happier and die of fewer heart attacks (!!) and 2) it thereby assigns normative value to power dynamics in the current state of the world. If you can’t beat them, join them for your own happiness and satisfaction, in other words, conveniently ignoring the fact that current power structures, including capitalist economics, are deeply exploitative of many people including traditionally underprivileged groups. Plus, it’s only a sociopath who could, in good faith, exercise such ruthlessness without batting an eye. (His somewhat weird argument that, once you have accumulated enough power is the point in time when you can suddenly afford to be kind and altruistic, doesn’t hold water: firstly, what is the stopping point for power accumulation, and second, is it truly possible to transform from being Machiavelli to Gandhi overnight? I don’t think so.)

Throughout the book, you get the sense that Pfeffer himself is deeply skeptical at his own recommendations but still can’t help making them because the contract he has made with the reader is to show them how to gain power under our current capitalist system. Pfeffer’s internal conflict leads to an enormous number of contradictions in the book. For example, he makes a comment in an early chapter that, once you have amassed power, every move you make and whom you associate with is going to be scrutinized. Yet, in a later chapter, he admonishes those business executives who, once becoming enormously successful, divorce the spouses that helped get them there in favor of trophies, saying that it ”diminishes their influence”. You can’t have it both ways – you can’t advise power-seekers to act ruthlessly and with little moral or ethical compass in the unbridled quest for power and then come back to say that, actually, you should compromise that power trip to do right by your significant others.

The other reason that Pfeffer’s if-you-can’t-beat-them-join-them thesis falls apart is that acceptance of the status quo and advising people to mimic it rarely results in societal progress. Imagine Pfeffer writing this book in mid-16th century England, for example, where one imagines he might have stated that yes, the world isn’t fair, but the monarch is all-powerful, and if you want to become happy and have fewer appointments with your cardiologist, you might as well try to gain power by trying to weasel your way into the aristocracy (or beheading your opponents, or whatever). While democracy has many flaws, it is unquestionably a more egalitarian and fair system for the populations living under it, and it would not have come to exist in its current form had the 16th-century upwardly mobile professional merely followed that era’s Jeffrey Pfeffer. Pfeffer’s advice results in the propagation of the status quo (power over) rather than the notion that society improves only via the exercise of power with. Certainly, there are always going to be hierarchies in the world, but those do not have to be as nakedly brutal and exploitative as Pfeffer suggests that we accept.

Ultimately, this is another one of those books that I found both highly odious but also insightful. Pfeffer is not wrong about the current state of the world, and if you seek to gain power for whatever reason -- and not just create autonomy for yourself in your role, which most people want rather than power over others -- the book is candid about how to do so under current systems. But I believe that in the broad, approaches like this only persist the deeply exploitative status quo.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is an easy read with interesting examples. If you dislike the
title, consider how the world is political, and it is in you interest
to know the power games other people will play.

A few highlights:
* When Keith Ferrazzi (author, CMO, CEO) was offered a position at
Deloitte, he insisted in seeing the "head guys." He met the NYC chief,
Loconto, over dinner and Keith said he would accept if the two would
have dinner once a year at the same restaurant." This was a gutsy
move, but gave him influence at a very high level. All because he
asked. What could you have asked for?
* Ishan Gupta is an entrepreneur from India who positioned himself
with compiling a book of major Indian entrepreneurs. He had the
founder of Hotmail, the Indian president Kalam, and over a dozen
leaders contribute to the book. How? His pitch was as a fellow
entrepreneur and IIT graduate, he appreciated their courage, and said
no one would take a book by him seriously, he wanted their help to
write just a few pages or hundred words with key advice. He packaged
the request brilliantly, and almost all accepted. Asking for help is
inherently flattering. He leveraged his experience to write something
with a positive social implication. Then gained influence
with very big hitters, and 'jumped up a weight class.'
* Confucius said, 'Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's own
ignorance.' While this seems somewhat out of place in this book,
remember if you gain more power, you will change. It is best to not
become full of yourself.
* Stay focused on the outcomes you are seeking, and do not get hung
up on people and their idiosyncrasies. You can not and will not please everyone.
* Be able to act. As in acting, theatrics, Hollywood. If you are
'angry' don't always really be angry, as you can act with emotion,
skipping over facts, weaken you position, and alienate people. I have
made my worst mistakes when acting out of emotion. You can use
emotions effectively to lead a team; however, if you can have the
passion of emotion, without the irrationality, it is much
better. Thus, learn how to act. It disconnects the irrationality. When
I worked at FeedBurner, Dick Costolo was CEO there and he came from 10
years of stand up comedy. Extremely useful for his outward influence
(now CEO Twitter), and inward motivating employees.
* Synchronize the 'voice' of a team's many leaders. I have had huge
team problems because the peer group of senior leaders all had
different opinions about the vision and priorities. If one of us had
suggested a simple, quick, weekly breakfast or lunch meeting next door, we
would have been on sync. It would have boosted the team's morale and effectiveness.
* Oliver North vs Donald Kennedy's congressional testimonies suggest
theatrics (righteous anger vs shame and timidity) is a significant
factor for how people are judged. This was an "aha" moment. Senior
leadership is a lot of acting. CXO's may not see some employees but
once a year. The ability to turn on the energy and optimism (acting)
is crucial to leave strong, lasting influences in people.
* One comical specific claim was that "moving your hands in a circle
or waving your arms diminishes how powerful you appear. Gestures
should be short and forceful, not long and circular." Probably
true. How you carry yourself influences how you are viewed. Are you
the carefree person, consistent worker, angry person, goofy one, solid leader, etc.?
* Take you time in responding. Flustered or unsure people are
marginalized. Related to acting. When choosing between emotions or a
slower response, always choose the slower, more deliberate
response. (My editorializing).

Not amazing, but short and I finished it. I think I can only read a
small number of these kinds of books a year. Now I am ready to read
more math books.

[Jing Fu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The core theme of this book is the following: 1) world isn't fair; 2) power & politics is most important to your survival in an org; 3) you have to do everything necessary to take care of yourself and stay in power.

This isn't a book that tells pretty stories. In fact, it's quite shocking this type of "strategy" would be talked and advocated out in the open. For example, the author argues your boss' happiness is more critical for your career/promo than your actual performance, thus you gotta make your boss notice your work. Doesn't go well with some of my personal values, e.g. meritocracy, ideas over hierarchies, etc.

I don't like his reasoning, but I do think some of these tactics are generally helpful, e.g. don't be afraid to try/ask for help, build your personal brand, take initiatives, build internal/external contacts, make great first impression, overcome disinhabition.

[Charlice · Rating 2 out of 5]

There wasn't much surprising in this book. Although the author cites much more research to back up his assertions than most management writers, the advice is fairly standard: build your network, behave confidently, etc. His characterization of leadership research and teaching as "pablum" was off-the-mark. I find it interesting that he expects readers to trust social science research supporting his arguments on attaining power, but expects us to dismiss research that seems to contradict him. As such a prominent scholar, he should know that effective leadership and effective power-grabbing are distinct constructs. Leaders need power to be effective, but leaders whose primary interest is in self-interested power volleys will not be effective. As Pfeffer himself argues, there is a weak relationship between performance and power. I assume that is true of leaders as well.

One disturbing aspect of this book is that, several times, Pfeffer cites research showing that race and gender affect power in organizations. Since he doesn't offer any advice to people whose race or gender might disadvantage them in this sense (other than telling women that having children will be detrimental to their ascent), I suppose this is a state of affairs he takes for granted.

That said, this book is not without value, particularly for people who are strongly motivated to climb to the upper levels of hierarchical organizations. If that is your definition of power, this book will provide a great deal of useful advice on how to get there. For the rest of us, this book could be a good reality check. Like it or not, the politics are there. Many of these tactics are useful for surviving and thriving in that reality.

[Jeff Mousty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have listened to this book over the past month and at first I didn't like the title "power" I thought it should have been "influence." However as the book went on I got why he choose the word he did. YOU have the "power" to change and/or influence your destiny.

He summarizes in the end don't complain about your companies politics or processes or that your boss is a jerk. YOU have the power to change that.

He also spoke some on you have to stick out. He mentioned the Japanese proverb about a nail that sticks out gets hammered, but countered that with if you conform and norm you won't be remembered either. If you don't take risks don't expect to be rewarded either.

I'm thinking this book might be really good to share with my mentees who are getting frustrated with process of getting into leadership or who aren't understanding the need to stay driven. The author makes a point to say if you don't do something plenty of others are willing too so in essence you've just stated contentment with your current status.

[Volodymyr Dehtyarov · Rating 3 out of 5]

Книжка 6 з 50. Power: Why Some People Have It - and Others Don't, By Jeffrey Pfeffer
Одним із результатів курсу "Як продавати креатив" Pavel Vrzhesch стало поповнення вішлісту книжок.
Перша з них - "Вплив" Джефрі Пфефера. Я поділив би книжку на чотири частини. Перша - вплив допомагає в житті. Друге - без нетворкінгу та побудови мережі сильних та слабкіх зв'язків впливу не здобудеш. Третя - те, що ти кажеш і як ти поводишся, напряму впливає на твій результат. Четверта - не роби дурниць, тому що вплив легко втратити.
Із цікавих спостережень - деколи агресивна атака працює краще за вибачення.
Слухалося легко, думалося глибоко

[Brok3n · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why did I write that?

I read this eleven years ago (21-Sep-2011). At the time, I wrote this brief note to myself:

Based on the first chapter or two, a singularly repulsive little book.

It's basically "Petty Evil 101: Corporate edition".

Blog review.

[Subbu Allamaraju · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jefferey Pfeffer wrote several books on this subject. While it is important to understand the concept of power to influence others, his writing style has a "the world is out there to get me" tone. This is typical of other books on power. I recommend completing this book with Robert Cialdini's book on Influence and material on authentic leadership.

[Dani · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn't the book for me. The advice is basically "the world is unfair. lie, cheat, steal and claw your way to the top any way you can. Stomp on a few throats if you want as well."

[Steph Stern · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish. It seemed to be all about how to get power in order to move up an org chart.

[Frank Calberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Takeaways about disadvantages of having power:
- Location 2800: When you have power, people will watch how you perform, how you dress, how you spend your time, who you spend your time with and how you act in non-related domains.
- Location 2950: The higher you rise in an organization, the more people are going to tell you that you are right. This leads to an absence of critical thought and makes it difficult for senior leaders to get the truth.
- Location 3000: Power produces overconfidence and risk taking.
- Location 3000: For powerful people, taking advice is seen as a sign of weakness.
- Location 3000: Power produces insensitivity to others. Powerful people become narcissistic and consumed with their own ego.
- Location 3150: It’s easier to lose your patience when you’re in power, for example because you may be more concerned about yourself than about the feelings of others.

[Raphael Donaire · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book "Power" by Jeffrey Pfeffer challenges the notion that power and success are earned by following the rules. I would like to highlight some of the critical ideas from the book:

- Many people mistakenly believe that power and success are earned by those who follow the rules, but studies show no strong link between job performance and promotions.
- To develop leadership qualities, honestly assessing your strengths and weaknesses is essential. Confidence, energy, empathy, resiliency, and self-awareness are some qualities associated with effective leadership.
- Landing in the right department is crucial for career advancement and gaining power. Factors to consider include relative pay, proximity to top leadership, and representation in important committees.
- Standing out in your career requires asking questions, seeking help from powerful people, and occasionally breaking the rules. Being visible and memorable can lead to opportunities for advancement.
- Building relationships and offering resources to others can help you gain their support. The principle of reciprocity suggests that providing value to others creates a social obligation for them to help you in return.
- Your demeanor and behavior influence how others perceive you. Displaying confidence, dominant behavior, and taking your time when speaking can exude power and influence others.
- Reputation significantly affects how people perceive and interact with you. First impressions are essential; changing people's established beliefs about you can be challenging.
- Conflict and failure are inevitable on the path to power. Choosing your battles wisely is crucial, offering opponents an elegant retreat and maintaining respectful relationships even when disagreements arise. Learning from failure and moving forward is essential.
- Having power can be advantageous, as it provides opportunities and influence. However, there are costs associated with power. These costs include increased visibility and public scrutiny, fear of taking risks due to pressure to maintain a positive image, loss of autonomy and personal time, and the need to invest time and effort in building and maintaining power. The author suggests that these costs are even higher for women. Holding a position of power also leads to trust issues, as more people seek favors or benefits. Moreover, power can distort reality and discourage critical thinking when surrounded by yes-men who shield the powerful individual from important truths and feedback. Additionally, power can be addictive, resulting in psychological and physical symptoms when stepping down from a high-power position, regardless of wealth.

Quotes:
- Power produces overconfidence and risk-taking, insensitivity to others, stereotyping, and a tendency to see other people as a means to the power holder's gratification.
- Overconfidence and insensitivity lead to losing power, as people become so full of themselves that they fail to attend to the needs of those whose enmity can cause them problems. Conversely, not letting power go to your head and acting as if you were al -powerful can help you maintain your position.
- Success began with preparation. While most of her compatriots took the entrepreneurial classes offered in the business school, Anne took a class in the engineering school on starting new ventures. With that one move she altered the power dynamics and her bargaining leverage. In the business school class, there were about three MBAs for every engineer, while in the engineering school course, there was only about one MBA for every four engineers.
- Therefore, for CEOs to survive in their jobs, they need to be able to discern who is undermining them and be tough enough to remove those people before they themselves lose the power struggle. What's true for CEOs is also true for other senior-level executives with ambitious subordinates.
- It is both possible and desirable to, as my wife nicely puts it, "leave before the party's over" and to do so in a way that causes others to remember you fondly. You cannot always completely control how much power you maintain, but you can leave your position with dignity and thereby influence your legacy.
- Inside companies, democracy is the exception. In spite of many studies showing the superior performance achieved through delegating decision-making authority, little devolution of power has occurred inside companies in the last 50 years.

Overall, the book emphasizes the importance of actively pursuing power and offers insights and strategies for achieving success in various aspects of life.

[Shuan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the way

A must read for every person who works in a large organization. The author used research and examples to illustrate the importance of power in surviving and succeeding in organizations. He also provided some general tips about acquiring power.

[Kater Cheek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had hopes that this book would be more about socioeconomic and political struggles from an anthropological bent, but instead, it could be titled "how to get ahead in the workplace". He touches briefly on governmental-type politics, but for the most part, this book deals with inter-office politics.

Much of this book is intuitive. People with power are healthier and live longer than the powerless. People suffer from withdrawal when they lose their power. People with more power earn more money. You should therefore strive to gain and hold power.

Some of the book is intuitive only to people without an ounce of cynicism. For example, your success in the workplace and how high you rise is not correlated strongly with your competence, diligence, or intelligence. Being loyal to the company, or even being the founder of the company, is no guarantee that you will gain or retain power.

It's hard to give specific advice on what a person should do to gain power when the game is so subtle, and the terrain so varied, but Pfeffer does a pretty good job offering some concrete strategies. For example, proximity matters. If you are visible, if you talk to people in power, if those in power know who you are, you are more likely to be promoted. He gives advice that seems counter-intuitive; if people know about your flaws (you're abrasive) and they accept you anyway, they will find it much harder to get rid of you because of those flaws. This one I wish/hope isn't true. I hate working with people for whom "He's an asshole, but that's just part of who he is" is the case. Showing anger is more powerful than showing sadness or remorse, unless you're a woman, in which case showing anger won't help you.

He also gives reasons why people can't or won't aspire to power (although he negates these with his closing remarks.) For example, if you want to be powerful, it really helps to have a wife at home. Obviously, a lot of us (straight women, gay men) can't do that. It also helps if you don't have a social life, or any life outside of work that might interfere with your career.

I can't say I learned a lot from this book, but it's nice to know that some of the things I'm doing (making myself visible, being a good listener, keeping a tidy appearance) are on the right track. Someday that corner office will be mine...

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pfeffer (Glad this is a written review I have no idea how to say that name) is an academic who specialises on organisational behaviour, and this book is essentially his advice on how to obtain, maintain, and understand power.

While his book unsurprisingly mostly focuses on corporate CEOs, Pfeffer's principals apply equally well to non-profits, politicians and any other situation that involves other people and positions of power.

Probably the most helpful, but most unpalatable advice is to suck-up to the people who can put you into power. Scientifically there is no end to the benefit of flattery and while many people find 'managing up' to be distasteful and false, at the end of the day this book is about getting power, not keeping the same job forever but being true to your principals (which is where I see most of my colleagues who think they're being powerful by antagonising their bosses but really are setting themselves up for stagnant career progression)

There is also discussion of the risks of power, some interpersonal advice around 'acting powerful' and a caveat about whether or not it’s worth seeking only power versus living a slightly more laid-back life.

Anyone with ambition will benefit from this book, it is enjoyable to read, while still having valuable information.

Something I'm interested in finding out is whether anyone disagreed with the content of the book and what their experiences of power are?

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought I would dislike this book. I had thought most of the focus would be on wealthy white guys and their power plays. I was pleasantly surprised by the examples concerning women, minorities, and non-Western cultures. I also appreciate the bit on women and anger, and how behaviors effective for men are not always as effective for women.

I never really thought about the "power" of the various departments at my company before reading this book. In retrospect, it's obvious that starting out in a company's "most important" department full of talented, ambitious individuals could result in a longer, harder climb than starting out in an "up and coming" department.

The study finding that there is no point at which too much flattery is ineffective was also worth noting.

The warning that career effectiveness books written by successful businesspeople/politicians are retrospective, and may be what the author thinks people want to hear rather than the whole truth, also gave me pause.

Overall, I took few notes on the material in this book. I was glad to have been reminded of how not to give away power. However, I wasn't convinced that getting caught up in how to acquire power is likely to lead to personal happiness.

[Joey Guillory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Power is one of those books that I have constantly read for years. Pfeffer really lays it out on certain techniques to gaining power. He even talks about certain people who gain power so it's not raceless and sexless theory. So you are all probably wondering is it applicable? For a black man who does not have power not really. Here is my list why.

1. If your ADOS (American descendant of slaves) Even with a college education and credentials your intelligence will be highly scrutinized than other races and nationalities.
2. Energy: if you have a lower position and ADOS your display of energy will highly be disregarded and seen as a behavior that must be put under control.

3. Focus: He is right practice does make one better. Yet who has a job where you can just focus on one thing? Nobody I know.

4. Being Memorable I think is the most important lesson in this book. Being the person that others recall is very critical to success. You'll need people who will want you to succeed to reach the top.

I think the book is alittle too academic than coming from lived experience. If you are gonna read this book read Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell first just to keep your head out the clouds.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uses anecdotal evidence and like many advisory texts, can be slightly contradictory, but basic principles ring true

[Worthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some great information - but it seems to also be a powerpoint which someone extended to be a book. Some of the examples are very dated, so this needs a second release.

[Archit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pfeffer is a person who does not mince his words. Although one could argue that he like an old man ranting on endlessly.
Before reading this book, I had read Leadership BS (which was a interesting diatribe against the hackneyed portrayal of leaders i.e. "authentic, open, charismatic etc".
I would urge to read "Leadership BS" before reading this book, because I believe that this book lacks the punch. The anecdotes selected appear to be limited and cherry-picked. Also, the ending was quite abrupt.

Given below are what I found to be some interesting points:
it’s a tough world out there. “People take credit for the work of others. People mostly look out for their own careers, often at the expense of the place where they work. The self-promoters get rewarded. Nobody told me that my coworkers would come to the office each day with a driving agenda to protect and then expand their turf. I guess I haven’t been willing to be mean enough or calculating enough or to sacrifice things I believed in order to be successful, at least as success is often
measured.
Systematic empirical research confirms what these two
contrasting stories, as well as common sense and everyday
experience, suggest: being politically savvy and seeking power
are related to career success and even to managerial
performance

So welcome to the real world—not necessarily the world
we want, but the world that exists. It can be a tough world out
there and building and using power are useful organizational
survival skills. There is a lot of zero-sum competition for
status and jobs. Most organizations have only one CEO, there
is only one managing partner in professional services firms,
only one school superintendent in each district, only one prime
minister or president at a time—you get the picture. With more
well-qualified people competing for each step on the
organizational ladder all the time, rivalry is intense and only
getting more so as there are fewer and fewer management
positions.

These findings shouldn’t be that surprising to you. Not
being able to control one’s environment produces feelings of
helplessness and stress,4 and feeling stressed or “out of
control” can harm your health.


3 obstacles to the path of power:
1. Just world hypothesis i.e. believing that the world is a just place and that people get “what they deserve” – the good are likely to be rewarded and the bad to be punished
2. Beware of leadership literature – leaders weave their own stories in their autobiographies and create their own “reality”
3. Yourself – self handicapping behavior

Chapter 1 –
• Job performance matters LESS for your evaluation than your relationship with your boss
• Outstanding job performance might hurt your prospects i.e. you are so good at your job that your boss will latch onto you thus not providing you with other growth opportunities
• So great job performance by itself is insufficient and may not even be necessary for getting and holding positions of power. You need to be noticed, influence the dimensions used to measure your accomplishments, and mostly make sure you are effective at managing those in power—which requires the ability to enhance the ego of those above you.
• Get noticed – mere exposure effect. Conventional wisdom in the East – the nail that stands up gets hammered down
• Above – average effect – people overestimate their abilities and accomplishments
• The lesson: worry about the relationship you have with your boss at least as much as you worry about your job performance. If your boss makes a mistake, see if someone else other than you will point it out. And if you do highlight some error or problem, do so in a way that does not in any way implicate the individual’s own self-concept or competence— for instance, by blaming the error on others or on the situation. The last thing you want to do is be known as someone who makes your boss insecure or have a difficult relationship with those in power.

Chapter 2
Qualities important

• Ambition
• Energy – emotions are contagious
• Focus
• Self-knowledge – reading books
• Showing confidence
• Empathy
• Capacity to tolerate conflict
• Intelligence The research shows that intelligence is the single best predictor of job performance.25 However, intelligence is often overrated as an attribute that will help people obtain power. That’s because intelligence seldom accounts for much more than 20 percent of the variation in work performance in any event, and the relationship between performance and attaining power is equally weak.

Chapter 3

We intuitively know that not all career platforms are equal
in value as a path to power, and research supports that
intuition. But people often err in choosing where to start
building their power base. The most common mistake is to
locate in the department dealing with the organization’s
current core activity, skill, or product—the unit that is the most
powerful at the moment. This turns out to not always be a
good idea because the organization’s most central work is
where you are going to encounter the most talented
competition and also the most well-established career paths
and processes. Moreover, what is the most important function
or product today may not be in the future. So if you want to
move up quickly, go to underexploited niches where you can
develop leverage with less resistance and build a power base
in activities that are going to be more important in the near
future than they are today. The following two examples
illustrate this idea in action.
Diagnosing Departmental power –
• Relative pay – pay of seniors
• Physical location
• Positions – on committees and in senior management

Chapter 4
• Asking is flattering. It works
• Brand recall

Chapter 5 – making something out of nothing
Resources are great because once you have them,
maintaining power becomes a self-reinforcing process. CEOs
of larger companies with more resources can afford to hire
high-priced compensation consultants who, big surprise,
recommend pay policies that favor the CEOs who hired them.
People with money or with control over organizational money
get appointed to various for-profit and nonprofit boards where
they are in contact with others who have business and
investment ideas and social and political influence. That
access gives them even more money and resource control as
they obtain information and opportunities to get involved with
other organizations in powerful roles and meet additional
important people. Or they get asked to serve on advisory
committees or they become members of elite organizations
like the Council on Foreign Relations or the World Economic
Forum where they are privy to information and relationships that further build their power and reputation. Furthermore, the
best, most talented people want to work with those with the
most power and resources, so those with access to important
resources have advantages in hiring precisely the sorts of
smart, hard-working individuals who can further their success.
It’s an old but accurate and important story: power and
resources beget more power and resources. Your task is to
figure out how to break into the circle.

Leverage your association with a prestigious institution
Chapter 6 – social networks
required. These
included:
1. Building internal contacts (e.g., “I use company
events to make new contacts.”)
2. Maintaining internal contacts (e.g., “I catch up with
colleagues from other departments about what they are
working on.”)
3. Using internal contacts (e.g., “I use my contacts with
colleagues in other departments in order to get
confidential advice in business matters.”)
4. Building external contacts (e.g., “I accept invitations
to official functions or festivities out of professional
interest.”)
5. Maintaining external contacts (e.g., “I ask others to
give my regards to business acquaintances outside of
our company.”)
6. Using external contacts (e.g., “I exchange
professional tips and hints with acquaintances from
other organizations.”)

Chapter 7 – acting and speaking with power
Chapter 8 – building a reputation
Chapter 9 – overcoming setbacks
Chapter 10 – price of power – burnouts, irritation, trust dilemmas, loss of autonomy, time control,

[Phil Sykora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeffrey Pfeffer’s POWER starts by examining the extent to which job performance affects professional advancement, and his answer is likely jarring for even the most cold-hearted cynic: Not much, if at all. Political savvy and thirst for power are much better indicators for promotion. He uses the example of Miami-Dade County superintendent Rudy Crew, who was nominated for the Broad Prize for Urban Education three years in a row, significantly improved academic performance, and opened thousands of schools in the area to offset overcrowding, only to be voted off the school board shortly after being voted Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators in 2008. Or the Veterans Health Administrator Ken Klizer, appointed by Bill Clinton, who adopted an outdated healthcare system and expanded its use for veterans by 6 million, instituted an electronic medical record system, and, according to BusinessWeek, set the groundwork for turning the VHA into “the best medical care in the US.” In 1999, Kizer faced strong opposition from Congress to renew his post, so, unable to play the power game, he relinquished his post.

And luckily Pfeffer doesn’t stop at only high-profile examples: he cites David Schoorman’s behavioral commitment study, which looked at how supervisors influence a worker’s performance rating if they pined for them in the hiring process. “What this research means is that job performance matters less for your evaluation than your supervisor’s commitment to and relationship with you.” The lesson: pay just as much attention to your relationship with your boss as you do to your actual job.

Pfeffer also suggests flattery. Jack Valentin, the head of Motion Picture Association of America and aide to Lyndon B. Johnson, once attended one of Pfeffer’s classes; after the class, Pfeffer thanked him for his attendance. Valentin, always the flatterer, sent Pfeffer a hand-written letter complimenting his thank-you – in the process, Valentin earned his name in this book (even if it wasn’t intentional). One of Pfeffer’s academic colleagues is currently studying the extent to which flattery is useful. She suspects, like many, that flattery follows an inverse-U curve: the more a person flatters, the less sincere he/she is viewed. As of yet, she hasn’t found the point at which compliments cease to be effective. And this is because of a catch-22 when it comes to flattery. You can either assume that the flatterer is just trying to butter you up (in which case, how could they even believe that such a see-through technique would work on someone like you?), thus generating negative self-thoughts (“my hair doesn’t look nice. He just wants to get in my pants”) and denigrating the company you keep, or you can accept the flattery at face value.

The lesson: Give sincere compliments as often as possible.

He also explains the ubiquity of shouting matches in the professional world by claiming that the perpetrator is often unduly awarded for his/her behavior. Most people are conflict-averse. They don’t want to cause a scene. They’ll bend to your will without much trouble. Pfeffer doesn’t extrapolate much on this point; he doesn’t recommend you start arguments for the sake of starting arguments – and it’s obvious, to me at least, to never start arguments with your direct superior if they can be avoided – but if I were to come up with another aphorism based on the same data, I’d probably say that you should always stick up for what you believe in, and never back down from a fight.

More, it’s not always clear what department allows for the clearest path to power based solely on a company’s mission statement. He uses the Whiz Kids at Ford to provide an example. Most CEOs in the early 20th century started off as entrepreneurs. Later on, in the ‘20s and ‘30s, they more often came from sales and marketing positions as those skills became more coveted. Then in the ‘60s and ‘70s, CEOs, like the Whiz Kids at Ford, started to come out of finance as shareholder value became a more popular predictor of company success (much to Peter Thiel’s chagrin, I’m sure).

The chapters on building resources and creating social networks were a little less substantive, at least from the perspective of someone who doesn’t even currently hold a “professional” job; mostly because it didn’t touch on what I think is probably the most important aspect of a strong social network: friends. Instead, Pfeffer lists six “scales of networking behaviors:” 1. Building internal contacts, 2. Maintaining internal contacts, 3. Using internal contacts, 4. Building external contacts, 5. Maintaining external contacts, 6. Using external contacts. That sounds great and all, on paper – and I’m sure it would sound really good at a professional presentation on social networking, but it’s practically useless. “Talk to people inside and outside of your company for business purposes,” would be a more concise standard of “networking behaviors.” Also, don’t “use” people solely for business contacts, and don’t talk to them solely for business reasons, even if that’s all you’re really interested in. Most people aren’t that obsessed with their jobs. They’ve got families and friends outside of work, and sometimes the best way to connect with someone (especially someone who works in a completely different department than you, which could be located in a completely different building) has nothing to do with work.

But I’m getting ahead of myself, because the chapter on resources came right before that. It was named, “Creating Something Out of Nothing,” and that feels like what Pfeffer did in the twelve pages he invested in the topic. Resources are great because more resources leads to higher quality contacts. For someone like me, though, with (admittedly) a lot of time on my hands, the only lesson I walked away with was to attend professional organizations and make as many friends as possible. It’s not bad advice, it’s just obvious.

One other thing I liked: The five rules on how to be a more powerful, persuasive speaker. I already returned the book to the library, so forgive me if my memories not exact.

1. Pause between sentences like a politician giving a speech, waiting for the audience to applaud (this echoes one of the first rules from The Charisma Myth).
2. Use contrastive pairs. (“I have smiled and I have wept,” “Night and day,” “light and darkness,” etc).
3. Use forceful, powerful gestures. (slam the table, slap/clap).
4. Put away the phone.
5. Act confident and you’ll be confident. Even if you’re not, it’s important to put on a show.
6. I know there were only five rules, but this one’s also important: Interrupt people.

All in all, I enjoyed reading Jeff Pfeffer’s POWER. I learned some things that I already knew -- but you can never get too much of (organizations don’t really care about you, Disney installed in every young mind a belief in the “Just World” fallacy and you can use that to your advantage by assuming power and leadership without asking for permission), as well as some interesting things that I assumed but didn’t really know (your relationship with your boss is just as important as your actual job performance, people will succumb to a huge amount of flattery before they start to see you as a suck-up).

[Maksym Valevatyi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Як почувається дівчина, яка читала романи про чувака і білого коня, які закінчуються весіллям, а далі ніхто не казав, як воно? А потім трохи озирнулася, піднабрала досвіду і взяла книгу "Як захомутати мільйонера".
Або в'юноша, який читав про мушкетерів і честь, а потім, коли дізнався, як вступити у ВИШ, почав шукати "кінці" по знайомим?
Якщо ви вірите у справедливість світу - ця книга неприємна констатація факту, що це не так. Сумлінна праця не конче буде винагороджена, чесність не краща політика, талант не завжди знайде собі дорогу, добро не обов'язково перемагає зло, а вони "жили не довго і геть не щ��сливо" і так далі.
Власне, це найцінніше, що я дізнався з книги: "гіпотеза справедливого світу". Більшість книг, які ми читаємо з дитинства, приблизно про це - світ справедливий, кожний отримає належне.
Анітрохи.
Більш того, автор радить на книгах з історіями видатних лідерів ліпити застереження: "Це може зашкодити вашій кар'єрі". Бо успішні лідери в описі своїх успіхів випускають важливі моменти - боротьбу за владу. А там суцільний макіавелізм.
Загалом же книга складається з багатьох історій, які ілюструють певні дії у досягненні та утриманні влади. Вам пропонують розвивати відповідні навички, діяти, добиватися влади, бо влада вам потрібна, з нею ви ефективніші і навіть живете довше.
Але, по-перше, ілюстрація історіями протерічить тезі "це може зашкодити вашій кар'єрі", а по-друге, мало що з описаного буде для вас новим.
Хіба ви не знали, що потрібні корисні знайомства? Що треба подобатися керівництву (а не тільки й не стільки старано працювати)? Як важливо засвітитися? Що важливо мати союзників та прихильників? Або що нахабство і готовність до конфлікту допомагають у досягненні? Чи про важливість виглядати впевнено?
Проте почитати, мабуть, варто. Для систематизації й боротьби з "гіпотезою справедливого світу".

[Steve Granger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Management, red in tooth and claw. Pfeffer's no-nonsense approach melts through the bullshit like a molten rod through margarine. However, it's easy to walk away somewhat reluctant and depressed, but worry not idealists. Just accept that power and politics is a part of social life and is incubated within organizations. Throw away the idea that obtaining power and looking out for one's own interests is an inherent evil to be exorcised. If good people want to influence organizations to do good things, they must get themselves into a position to do so. Just don't forget to sincerely try to be a good person when you can and remember that power lowers inhibitions and reduces sensitivity to others. Potentially more time could have been spent discussing how people can develop their constitutions to never forget these things, but otherwise this was a very interesting and insightful book.

[Xavi Valles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, a great book. Some people might perceive it as narcissistic or Machiavellian, but as my professor of "Power & Influence" puts it, "This is the world that we live in". Either you like it or not, power dynamics happen and they are a reality.

I feel that it is invaluable for naive/innocent people like myself who, for many years, believed "hard work will get me there". True. But you'll need something more. You need to put in the effort, but that is not enough. You have to read the environment and navigate (which is what this book basically teaches you, to be more strategic).

The one chapter that the book might be missing is something in ethics. The book offers some tools, but at the end of the day, you want to go to bed with a peace of mind. I guess that is up to the reader. As always, a knife can be used to cut bread or to...

[Alexander Holzmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeffrey Pfeffer is a professor in Organizational Behavior at Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. The book Power goes into the fundamental of office politics and power structures within an organization. It's a guide on how to increase your power and defend yourself to maintain a powerful position - a fundamental toolkit needed for anyone operating in any organization.

Having previously studied organizational behavior, this book filled in many gaps of mine and expanded my understanding for the structures that can occur within any organization.

A pleasant read based on management science.