Power_ Why Some People Have Itand Others Don't - Jeffrey Pfeffer [60]
Many situations require that you display more than one emotion at a time. In taking on a new, powerful role, you will want to project confidence and the sense that you know what you are doing so that those around you will be inspired to follow your lead. But at the same time, you may want to convey humility and affiliation with those around you so that they will not see you as arrogant but will be motivated to offer their assistance. Displaying several sometimes conflicting emotions at once requires more skill and practice, but the fundamental principle remains the same: recall events or people who trigger each of the emotions you want to show, at the same time.
SET THE STAGE AND MANAGE THE CONTEXT
Performers do their thing “on stage,” and the setting that you create for yourself has a lot to do with your ability to command respect. We are often inattentive to how a physical setting can help or hinder our aims.
Settings can convey power and status. A partner at a prominent San Francisco law firm told me, when I inquired about why the firm had spent so much on its lavish location and even more expensive interior furnishings, that people weren’t going to pay high hourly rates for someone who worked at a cheap metal desk. The Oval Office of the president of the United States is particularly powerful in this regard, and many presidents have used its iconic status to influence others whose support they needed by bringing them into the historic setting, subtly reminding them of the pomp and importance of the presidency.
When Peter Ueberroth was baseball commissioner, he set about establishing his power over a set of wealthy, independent individuals who were, collectively, his boss. He helped build his influence by managing the physical context of the owners’ meetings. Ueberroth doubled the number of meetings to four per year and insisted that the owners personally attend rather than sending a stand-in. He set the meetings in sites the owners were not familiar with. He used classroom-style, tiered meeting rooms, which focused the owners’ attention on the front of the room and, because of the seating arrangement, subtly reminded the owners that Ueberroth was the “teacher” and they were “students” under his direction. Although Ueberroth obviously benefited from his reputation resulting from his success with the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the physical arrangements helped him establish and exercise his authority over the owners.22
TAKE YOUR TIME IN RESPONDING
One reason people don’t come across as forcefully or effectively as they might is that they begin to speak while they are flustered or unsure of the situation. In training people to act with power, Bill English of the San Francisco Playhouse puts them in a scenario in which they have just taken over as CEO of a company, say, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, when the previous CEO has left under a cloud. The company had to recall a product because of safety issues. Employees are embarrassed and fearful for their jobs. English asks people to give a speech to the employees to instill confidence, motivate them, and get them to accept the protagonist as their leader.
The people who do best at this task are those who, even though they are in front of an audience and feel pressure to fill the dead air, collect their thoughts and themselves, pausing often for what seems like a long time before beginning to speak. They know what they are going to say, have thought consciously about how they are going to use the space and their