Power_ Why Some People Have Itand Others Don't - Jeffrey Pfeffer [3]
Second, power, and the visibility and stature that accompany power, can produce wealth. When Bill and Hillary Clinton left the White House in 2001, they had little money and faced millions in legal bills. What they did have was celebrity and a vast network of contacts that came from holding positions of substantial power for a long time. In the ensuing eight years, the Clintons earned $109 million, primarily from speaking fees and book deals, as well as through the investment opportunities made available to them because of their past positions.6 Rudy Giuliani, following his tenure as mayor of New York City, became a partner in a security consulting firm, and through that firm and his speaking fees, he too quickly transformed his economic status for the better. Not all power is monetized—neither Martin Luther King Jr. nor Mahatma Gandhi traded on their celebrity to attain great wealth—but the potential is always there.
Third, power is part of leadership and is necessary to get things done—whether those things entail changing the U.S. health-care system, transforming organizations so they are more humane places to work, or affecting dimensions of social policy and human welfare. As the late John Gardner, the founder of Common Cause and former secretary of health, education, and welfare under President Lyndon Johnson, noted, power is a part of leadership. Therefore, leaders are invariably preoccupied with power.7
Power is desirable to many, albeit not all, people, for what it can provide and also as a goal in and of itself. The social psychologist David McClelland wrote about a need for power. Although the strength of that power motive obviously varies across individuals, along with a need for achievement, McClelland considered power seeking a fundamental human drive, found in people from many cultures.8 If you are going to seek power, you will be happier if you are effective in that quest.
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.
STOP THINKING THE WORLD IS A JUST PLACE
Many people conspire in their own deception about the organizational world in which they live. That’s because people prefer to believe that the world is a just and fair place and that everyone gets what he or she deserves. And since people tend to think they themselves are deserving, they come to think that if they just do a good job and behave appropriately, things will take care of themselves. Moreover, when they observe others doing things they consider to be inappropriate, self-aggrandizing, or “pushing the envelope,” most people do not see anything to be learned, believing that even if those people are successful at the moment, in the end they will be brought down.
The belief in a just world has two big negative effects on the ability to acquire power. First, it hinders people’s ability to learn from all situations and all people, even those whom they don’t like or respect. I see this all the time in my teaching and work with leaders. One of the first reactions people have to situations or cases about power is whether or not the individual “likes” the person being studied or can identify with the object of study. Who cares? It is important to be able to learn from all sorts of situations and people, not just those you like and approve of, and certainly not just from people you see as similar to yourself. In fact, if you are in a position of modest power and want to attain a position of great power, you need to pay particular attention to those holding the positions you aspire to.
Second, this belief that the world is a just place anesthetizes people to the need to be proactive in building a power base. Believing that the