Power_ Why Some People Have Itand Others Don't - Jeffrey Pfeffer [16]
John, a business school student, was uncertain whether or how he could become more effective in acquiring power. In a class on power, he saw the material as something to be used later in life, when he was “higher in the food chain,” as he put it. Nonetheless, John decided to run a small personal experiment as he looked for a job, to see if he could act differently and what the results would be.
John understood he needed to project confidence and self-assurance, even though his personal history and family background did not always leave him feeling as if he “belonged.” Girding himself for the arrival of on-campus recruiters, John dressed in a stylish fashion to stand out while still fitting in and projected himself forcefully during his interviews while still being respectful of the other person. “I would stand and approach the interviewer as they approached me, making eye contact, shaking their hand before they shook mine, sitting in a slightly dominant position through the course of the interview,” he said. “All of this was done to convey that I had some level of power in the room.”
John received seven job offers from his seven interviews. And he attributed his success to the way he had presented himself, in part because a number of those offering him jobs commented on how he stood out from his peers through his behavior.
You can change, too. Choreographer Twyla Tharp, the winner of two Emmy Awards and a Tony, in talking about creativity, made a comment that also rings true for developing power and political skill:
Obviously, people are born with specific talents…. But I don’t like using genetics as an excuse…. Get over yourself. The best creativity is the result of habit and hard work.4
Of course people have personalities and individual attributes that come from some combination of genetics and upbringing. But strategically changing individual attributes to become more personally effective is both possible and desirable. When one man I interviewed, Paul, questioned his ability to develop and use the qualities that produce power, I asked him this:
PFEFFER: Did you learn to ski?
PAUL: Sure.
PFEFFER: Was skiing a natural act?
PAUL: No.
PFEFFER: You learned to ski, and you just admitted that the skills involved in skiing weren’t natural. If you learned those skills, you can also develop the qualities that will make you more powerful.
DO AN OBJECTIVE SELF-ASSESSMENT
If you are going to develop yourself, you need to begin with an honest assessment of where your developmental needs are the greatest—where you have the biggest opportunity for improvement. Such an assessment poses a big motivational challenge. In the first place, because we like to think well of ourselves, we overestimate our own abilities and performance. We avoid people who are critical of us and our work and frequently try to downplay any negative information about ourselves. We tell ourselves that our past success shows evidence of our talents, so we can just keep doing what we have always done. Marshall Goldsmith recognized the challenge of overcoming defensiveness about our abilities and behaviors in his best-selling book based on his many years of work as an executive coach.5 If, as you progress through your career, you need to develop new ways of thinking and acting, and such development requires effort, you must be sufficiently motivated