47 Posts Found

Power is not something like a bottle of water that gets used up the more you drink it. It’s something that gets created the more effectively you use it.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

Breaking rules has many advantages. The first advantage of breaking the rules is that it catches people by surprise. […] The rules are made by those already in power. If you’re already in power, follow the rules. If you’re not, make your own.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Personal Development, Power / Authority

I would define power as the ability to get things done your way in contested situations.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer shares advice for gaining power through resources, reputation, and relationships.

Content: Thought Leader | Authors: Jeffrey Pfeffer, Simon London | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

Although power is distributed, it is rarely balanced. It is relative and changes with the context. Sometimes you are dealing with people who need the resources you control, such as a team seeking your permission to pursue a project; sometimes you need the resources other people control, such as a colleague’s cooperation to execute a plan. Whatever the case, the balance of power in a … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Theodore Kinni | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others. What’s most important is to understand where that ability comes from—it comes from control of the resources that the other party values.

Content: Quotation | Author: Tiziana Casciaro | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

“We rise in power and make a difference in the world due to what is best about human nature, but we fall from power due to what is worst.”

Content: Article | Author: Maria Popova | Source: Brain Pickings | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

Jessica Kennedy has researched the origin of unethical behavior, and why it takes hold. She has found that the whole story is more complex. It’s not always about power corrupting. Rather, power causes people to identify so strongly with their group that they lose sight of whether that group’s actions cross an ethical line. This identification can lead them to support misconduct, rather than stopping … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Jessica Kennedy, Laura W. Geller | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Ethics, Organizational Behavior, Personality / Behavior, Power / Authority

Power undermines people’s psychological needs. It’s not just your use of the power; it’s people’s perception that you have it and could use it. Your power demands that people need to exert more energy self-regulating to experience autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

Content: Quotation | Author: Susan Fowler | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Leadership, Management, Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

Power is the possibility for one person to make a difference on issues—or stakes—that matter to someone else. Because A can make a difference on issues that matter to B, then B will do things that he or she would not have done without A’s intervention. Power always exists, one way or another, either helping or hindering good outcomes. It helps mobilize people, either directly … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Peter Tollman, Yves Morieux | Source: The Conference Board Review | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

Why do traditional power structures have such staying power? One reason is that hierarchies still work. Jeffrey Pfeffer writes that “relationships with bosses still matter for people’s job tenure and opportunities, as do networking skills.” He notes that research shows hierarchies also deliver practical and psychological value, in part by fulfilling deep-seated needs for order and security. Another is that individuals who believe in their … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

The fairest rules are those to which everyone would agree if they did not know how much power they would have.

Content: Quotation | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

Content: Quotation | Subjects: Adversity, Character, Leadership, Power / Authority

There are two kinds of power in the world: organized money and organized people.

Content: Quotation | Subject: Power / Authority

High power makes you deaf and low power gives you laryngitis.

Content: Quotation | Authors: Allan R. Cohen, David L. Bradford | Source: Stanford University | Subject: Power / Authority

Many people are not interested in acquiring power, not because they lack ambition, but because they are living their lives as they desire.

Content: Quotation | Author: Sheryl Sandberg | Subjects: Ambition, Power / Authority

You can see who’s most powerful in a society based on who has the tallest buildings. Two hundred years ago it was cathedrals. Fifty years ago it was a government building. Today, in most urban areas, the power rests with business and skyscrapers. Business is the most powerful influence in the world today. Fifty-four of the 100 most powerful entities in the world today are … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Chip Conley | Source: Stanford University | Subjects: Power / Authority, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Many of us learn the need to be liked by everyone early in our lives — it’s something to get over if you are going to negotiate a path to power.

Content: Quotation | Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subject: Power / Authority

Power made me a coat. For a long time I kept it in the back of my closet. I didn’t like to wear it much but I always took good care of it. When I first started wearing it again, it smelled like mothballs. As I wore it more, it started fitting better, and stopped smelling like mothballs.

I was afraid if I wore the coat … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: J. Ruth Gendler | Source: Hold this Thought | Subjects: Personal Development, Power / Authority

Subsidiarity… means that power belongs to the lowest possible point in the organization. …Subsidiarity, therefore, is the reverse of empowerment. It is not the center giving away or delegating power. Instead, power is assumed to lie at the lowest point in the organization and it can be taken away only by agreement.

Content: Quotation | Author: Charles Handy | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Organizational Behavior, Power / Authority