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, Jeffrey Pfeffer shows readers how to navigate the realities of organizational politics to succeed and wield power in the real world.

This unflinching business leadership guide reveals the counterintuitive rules for getting

More Than Learn why job accomplishments are often not enough to secure your position and what you must do to manage those in power.The Qualities of Discover the seven personal attributes you can develop—from ambition and energy to the capacity to tolerate conflict—to build influence.Building a Master the art of perception management, because in the real world of organizations, perception is reality.Overcoming Understand how to handle the opposition and reversals of fortune that are an inevitable part of any ambitious career path.

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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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 Albino · 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.

[Emerson Azarbakht]

Jeffrey Pfeffer’s central argument is uncomfortable but practical: doing excellent work is not enough to ensure advancement, security, or influence. Organizations are not pure meritocracies. Performance matters, but outcomes also depend on visibility, relationships, reputation, access to resources, organizational politics, and the priorities of people who control opportunities.

The book is therefore not mainly about becoming domineering. It is about understanding how power actually operates and deliberately acquiring enough influence to accomplish your goals rather than assuming merit will automatically be recognized.

1. It Takes More Than Performance

Accomplishment and advancement are different outcomes. Performance is often ambiguous, collective, and interpreted by people with their own incentives. Excellent results do not necessarily protect someone who threatens powerful people, while political support can protect weaker performers.

A crucial distinction is:

Delivering value and receiving recognition for value are separate jobs.

Because senior decision-makers cannot observe everyone closely, good work must be visible. Present results, participate in important discussions, maintain contact with decision-makers, and understand what your boss actually values. Do not assume the outcomes you personally consider important are the ones that determine advancement.

2. The Personal Qualities That Bring Influence

Pfeffer groups seven useful qualities into will and skill.

Will:

• Ambition: actually wanting influence enough to pursue it.

• Energy: sustaining both substantive work and the additional work of relationship-building and opportunity seeking.

• Focus: concentrating effort instead of scattering it across too many goals.

Skill:

• Self-knowledge: accurately understanding your strengths, weaknesses, and effect on others.

• Confidence: behaving as though you have a legitimate right to contribute.

• Empathy: understanding other people’s interests, incentives, and perspectives.

• Conflict tolerance: remaining functional when people disagree, disapprove, or resist.

Analytical intelligence alone cannot substitute for these qualities. Power requires motivation, social perception, and the ability to act under pressure.

3. Choosing Where to Start

Power is unevenly distributed across organizations. Some functions control critical resources, solve urgent problems, or have greater access to senior leadership.

Ask not merely, “Which job is prestigious?” but:

Which organizational problem matters most, and who controls the resources needed to solve it?

Signals of departmental power include relative compensation, physical proximity to senior leaders, quality of facilities, and representation in influential committees and senior positions.

But the strongest existing power center is not always the best place to enter because it may be crowded with ambitious competitors. An emerging but increasingly important niche can provide more opportunity to become distinctive.

Talent has different returns depending on where it is positioned.

4. Getting In: Standing Out and Breaking Some Rules

People frequently reject themselves before anyone else has the opportunity to do so. They avoid asking powerful people for advice, access, responsibility, or sponsorship because they assume the answer will be no.

Pfeffer’s corrective is simple: ask.

Make specific requests and explain why the opportunity makes sense. A refusal is different from never trying.

Also seek environments where your capabilities are scarce and therefore more valuable. Distinctiveness improves both recall and bargaining leverage.

When negotiating a job, consider more than compensation. Access to senior leaders, visible projects, important meetings, sponsorship, and recurring exposure can compound into substantially more influence later.

Do not automatically confuse informal conventions about “who is supposed to do what” with genuine constraints.

5. Making Something out of Nothing: Creating Resources

You do not need a senior title or large budget before you can build power.

Resources include more than money and headcount. Information, expertise, introductions, attention, access, coordination, and opportunities can all be valuable.

The basic mechanism is:

Identify an unmet need → create something useful → become associated with providing it → build relationships and influence.

You can connect people who should know one another, organize useful exchanges, consolidate scattered information, or solve neglected problems.

Generosity can therefore be strategic without being narrowly transactional. Someone who repeatedly provides useful resources becomes a person others want to know and involve.

The resource must actually be valuable, however, and people must recognize your role in providing it.

6. Building Efficient and Effective Social Networks

A network is not simply a large collection of contacts.

Effective networking involves six activities:

1. Building internal contacts.

2. Maintaining internal contacts.

3. Using internal contacts.

4. Building external contacts.

5. Maintaining external contacts.

6. Using external contacts.

Weak ties are especially valuable because acquaintances in different circles often possess less redundant information than close friends.

Another source of power is centrality: becoming someone through whom useful information, relationships, or activity flows.

Pfeffer also emphasizes structural holes—gaps between groups that are internally connected but poorly connected to each other. A person who bridges those groups becomes a broker, gaining access to different information and the ability to translate and connect across boundaries.

But network design should fit the task. Broad networks help exploration and discovery; deeper relationships are often necessary for trust, tacit knowledge, and tight execution.

7. Acting and Speaking with Power

People infer power from behavior.

You do not need to wait until you internally feel completely confident before behaving confidently. Preparation, rehearsal, steady demeanor, and clear speech can produce more favorable reactions, which can then reinforce genuine confidence.

Speak as someone entitled to participate. State recommendations clearly. Avoid unnecessary self-dismissal such as:

“I might be completely wrong, but…”

Replace it with a direct claim plus intellectually honest uncertainty:

“I recommend a two-week test. The evidence is preliminary, so we should test before making the change permanent.”

Powerful behavior is not synonymous with aggression. Emotion, posture, voice, conversational participation, and composure all communicate social position, but their effects depend on context.

8. Building a Reputation: Perception Is Reality

Reputation extends your influence beyond interactions you personally attend.

A favorable reputation can create a reinforcing loop:

Favorable reputation → greater access and support → better opportunities → results that strengthen the reputation.

Decide what you want to be known for. “Hardworking” is less distinctive than “the person who can unite technical and commercial teams around difficult launches.”

Demonstrate that capability repeatedly and ensure the relevant audience can observe the pattern.

Third-party recognition is especially useful. Introductions, recommendations, respected sponsors, and colleagues describing your accomplishments can communicate credibility more effectively than constant self-promotion.

Avoid casually undermining an emerging reputation through excessive self-deprecation.

9. Overcoming Opposition and Setbacks

Power inevitably produces resistance.

When conflict appears, focus on the desired outcome rather than the insult or opponent. Ask what victory actually means.

Aggressive pressure can provoke psychological reactance, causing people to resist precisely because they feel pushed.

Alternatives include:

• treating opponents respectfully;

• giving them a face-saving way to change position;

• co-opting them by giving them a legitimate stake in success;

• finding mutually attractive alternative roles or exits;

• using evidence and objective criteria.

You do not need to like every important person. At senior levels, some relationships simply must be made functional.

After setbacks, communicate resilience. Explain the problem honestly, but present yourself as someone with plausible next moves whom others can productively support.

Persistence means continuing toward the objective—not fighting forever over every tactic.

10. The Price of Power

Power has real costs.

Scrutiny: the more visible you become, the more closely people examine your actions and sometimes your private life.

Loss of autonomy: paradoxically, greater authority can mean less control over your time because more stakeholders demand access and attention.

Time and effort: maintaining networks, responsibilities, and political awareness consumes energy that could otherwise go toward relationships, health, or other interests.

Trust: powerful people may struggle to determine whether others value them personally or value their position and resources. Subordinates may also filter unpleasant information.

Addictiveness: status, attention, deference, and control can become central to identity, making departure from powerful roles psychologically difficult.

Power should therefore be evaluated as a package of benefits and costs rather than an unconditional good.

11. How—and Why—People Lose Power

Power can undermine the behaviors that originally produced it.

Success and deference can create overconfidence, causing people to underestimate challengers and stop seeking corrective information.

Power can also produce insensitivity. Humiliating or dismissing people is dangerous not merely because it is unpleasant, but because those people may control information, votes, expertise, relationships, or resources you still need.

Being correct does not eliminate dependence on others.

Powerful people must also notice when alliances shift or ambitious colleagues develop competing power bases. This does not mean treating everyone as an enemy; it means continuing to observe actual incentives and behavior.

Maintain relationships, seek unwelcome information, understand changing resource dependencies, and occasionally spend time in environments where your formal status does not automatically produce deference.

Sometimes preserving future influence also means leaving a position before circumstances deteriorate beyond repair.

12. Power Dynamics: Good for Organizations, Good for You?

Pfeffer separates understanding power from morally endorsing every power tactic.

Three questions should remain distinct:

1. What actually happens?

2. What benefits the organization?

3. What should you personally do?

Highly politicized organizations can produce dissatisfaction, lower commitment, and turnover. Political literacy therefore does not mean maximizing organizational politics.

At the same time, an employer cannot be assumed to protect your interests indefinitely. Organizations can restructure, eliminate roles, replace people, or change priorities regardless of individual loyalty.

Maintain your own network, reputation, resources, and agency.

Power can also serve worthwhile objectives. Improving schools, companies, hospitals, or other institutions still requires resources, coalitions, cooperation, and the ability to overcome resistance.

Understanding power expands your options; it does not eliminate the need for ethical judgment.

13. It’s Easier Than You Think

The final message is about agency.

Power-building is not reserved for people born unusually charismatic or already occupying senior positions. Many relevant behaviors can be learned and practiced.

One obstacle is self-handicapping: people avoid networking, asking, competing, or pursuing influence because trying and failing could threaten their self-image. Saying “I’m just not that kind of person” protects identity at the price of opportunity.

Instead, experiment.

A practical synthesis of the book is:

1. Choose a meaningful objective.

2. Understand the local power structure.

3. Identify consequential people and resources.

4. Make a direct request.

5. Create something genuinely useful.

6. Build and use relationships around that contribution.

7. Make your work visible.

8. Practice clear, authoritative presentation.

9. Build a distinctive reputation.

10. Observe reactions and adjust.

Small actions compound.


• • •

CORE LESSONS

Performance is necessary but often insufficient. Never assume excellent work automatically produces recognition or advancement.

Visibility matters. Work that influential people do not know about cannot reliably improve your position.

Understand incentives. Learn what the people controlling opportunities actually value.

Position yourself strategically. Work on consequential problems where your capabilities are scarce and useful.

Ask. Do not reject yourself before other people have even responded.

Create resources before you control formal resources. Information, coordination, introductions, expertise, and access can all generate influence.

Networks are structural assets. Build across organizational and social boundaries, especially where you can bridge disconnected groups.

Act with authority before you completely feel it. Clear, composed behavior influences how others respond to you.

Reputation compounds. Become known for a specific, valuable capability and let credible third parties help communicate it.

Do not turn every conflict into a battle. Preserve the objective, manage incentives, and give opponents face-saving alternatives.

Power has costs. Scrutiny, obligations, trust problems, time demands, and identity dependence accompany influence.

Power is temporary. Continue maintaining relationships, reading incentives, and seeking information after becoming successful.

Organizations and individuals have different interests. Maintain your own career agency.

Influence is a means, not an end. Decide what you want enough power to accomplish.


• • •

ONE-SENTENCE DISTILLATION

Do excellent work—but also deliberately build the visibility, relationships, resources, reputation, positioning, and behavioral confidence required to ensure that your work can actually influence what happens.

[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.

[Alexander Snitsarenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

10 out of 5. Maybe top 5 book on a career development. "An indispensible guide" as it is written on the cover. Every career person should read it, the earlier in his/her life, the better.

Power is everywhere. Either you deal with it, or you are done being successful in almost any field. This book can return a person back to a real world. Hierarchical struggle and compitition is scientifically proven to be present in any part of society, and will remain this way no matter what.

We all may become soft or idealistic at some point in our life. And then this book thoroughly explains that up to only 10% is how much your actual performance at job contributes to your success there, another 90% is a level of your power, including all the politics, tricks, techniques, etc, one must do in order to gain it, and then not to lose it. As tough as life is.

A brilliant author, looking forward to reading his other books.

Any successful person is a politician.

[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...

[Horia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the most toxic anti-social book I've read.
It's an appalling disgusting manual for Machiavellian sociopaths in search of novel stimuli paths and maybe some career growth.

For casual readers this book may serve as a cold shower on western shameless individualistic self-centered power grabbing culture.

For science seeking readers, there are enough examples inside so that the author may seem to have run an academic research, yet all examples are cherry picked for a self enforcing narrative. not once are counterarguments offered for any given positions. Abusing the phrase of "empirical studies show that [...]"

For anyone else, not living under a rock in the middle of the desert, the nature of the book is blatantly dismissive towards any group of people larger than ONE.

Main takeaways:
-- scrupuless wins ten out of ten
-- people constantly described as capital
-- Machiavelli's principles described as a role model
-- Both ass kissing and stepping on bodies described as the way forward and strongly justified
-- omnipresent rethoric of good guys finish last.
-- self interest should be top of mind throughout one's carrier life, with no regards to the organization, its people, its products or services, its customers, society, environment or anything else.
-- no mention of virtues, group interest, altruism, benefits to the world, the society or the common good.
-- If it's not about the one individual and their power gradient then it's for naught.

I'm appalled by the content of this book.

[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.

[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...

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

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

[Ben · Rating 1 out of 5]

Skip it.

He makes lots of accurate points, bends some to fit the pitch, but all of it seemed tailored to emulating jerks, not the kind of powerful people you admire.

[Liz Sheedy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some useful tips from social psychology but much of the advice leans towards cringeworthy and even sociopathic, outweighing any benefits of spending time on this book