Power_ Why Some People Have Itand Others Don't - Jeffrey Pfeffer [6]
GET OUT OF YOUR OWN WAY
The third big obstacle to acquiring power is, believe it or not, you. People are often their own worst enemy, and not just in the arena of building power. That’s in part because people like to feel good about themselves and maintain a positive self-image. And ironically, one of the best ways for people to preserve their self-esteem is to either preemptively surrender or do other things that put obstacles in their own way.
There is an immense research literature about this phenomenon—called “self-handicapping.”19 The logic is deceptively simple. People desire to feel good about themselves and their abilities. Obviously, any experience of failure puts their self-esteem at risk. However, if people intentionally choose to do things that could plausibly diminish their performance, then any subsequent performance decrements can be explained away as not reflecting their innate abilities. So, for instance, told that a test is highly diagnostic of their intellectual ability, some people will choose to not practice or study the relevant material, thereby decreasing their performance but also providing an excuse for poor performance that doesn’t implicate their natural ability. Similarly, if someone doesn’t actively seek a powerful position, the fact that he or she doesn’t obtain it will not signal some personal shortcoming or failure but instead a conscious choice. So, Beth’s apparent unwillingness to “play the power game” protects her from the self-esteem consequences of possibly failing in that effort.
There is evidence that the tendency to self-handicap is an individual difference and predicts the extent to which people make excuses about their performance.20 Research shows, not surprisingly, that self-handicapping behavior negatively affects subsequent task performance.21 Therefore, our desire to protect our self-image by placing external impediments in our way so we can attribute any setbacks to things outside our control actually contributes to doing less well. Keep this idea about self-handicapping in mind as you read this book—you will be more open-minded about the content and also more likely to actually try some of the things you learn.
Self-handicapping and preemptively giving up or not trying are more pervasive than you might think. Having taught material on power for decades, I have come to believe that the biggest single effect I can have is to get people to try to become powerful. That’s because people are afraid of setbacks and the implications for their self-image, so they often don’t do all they can to increase their power.
So get over yourself and get beyond your concerns with self-image or, for that matter, the perception others have of you. Others aren’t worrying or thinking about you that much anyway. They are mostly concerned with themselves. The absence of practice or efforts to achieve influence may help you maintain a good view of yourself, but it won’t help you get to the top.
A GUIDE TO USING THIS BOOK
Not all organizations have identical political cultures, and not all individuals are the same, either. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which much of the management advice proffered is presented as universally true. And unfortunately, many people are looking for simple, universal formulas for action that will work equally well in all circumstances. How you behave and what you should do needs to fit your particular circumstances—the organizational situation and also your own personal values and objectives. So always place the ideas and examples of this book in context.
Second, except for certain laws in the physical sciences, we live in a world of probabilities. Just as no drug works well for everyone or all of the time, the same holds for ideas based on the best and most recent behavioral research. There will be exceptions and times when the advice offered in this