Original link: https://ljf.com/2023/06/02/1249/
Part 1 Everyone Can Have Power
Good performance doesn’t necessarily keep you in a powerful position, and poor performance doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll lose your job.
Performance doesn’t really matter as long as the boss is happy. The reverse is also true, great performance won’t save you if you make them unhappy
If you want to create a path to power, you need to let go of the idea that performance alone is enough.
It’s not just performance that matters
Employee compensation is more strongly related to their age and tenure in the organization than to job performance.
When you are being evaluated, your boss’s commitment to you and his relationship with you are more important than your job performance.
Doing a job well doesn’t guarantee you a promotion or raise, or even keeping your current job
When someone remembers you, it means choosing you
Let the performance that is beneficial to you stand out
There are limits to how much you can influence the standards by which your work is measured, but you can highlight those aspects of your performance that work in your favour, and in this way set yourself up against your competitors.
Remember what your boss thinks is most important
Asking for help in a way that demonstrates your competence and shows that you are in control is an effective compliment to those in power over you.
It is more effective to regularly ask those in power what aspects of the work are most critical and how they see what you should be doing.
Compliment, a wonderful gift
Since people like themselves, people like others who are like them
One of the best ways to make people in power feel good about themselves is to compliment them
Like many successful people, Mayer has made several transitions along the way, and he has developed some of the qualities that have enabled him to gain and maintain influence. If you’re going to do the same, there are three big hurdles you’ll need to successfully overcome.
One, you have to believe that people can change , otherwise you won’t try to develop the qualities that bring power, you’ll accept yourself for who you are instead of embarking on a thorny path of personal growth and development.
Second, you need to assess yourself, and your own strengths and weaknesses, as objectively as possible . This is very difficult to do because we all have a desire for self-enhancement, which means we think of the good about ourselves, avoid all negative information, and overemphasize the positive feedback we receive.
Third, you need to understand what the most important qualities build your power base so you can focus your limited time and energy on developing them.
Get advice from people who are more skilled than you and willing to tell you the truth.
7 traits that make you powerful
Will is the drive that makes a person willing to take on great challenges, and skill is the ability to translate ambition into achievement. Will is expressed in personal qualities, namely ambition, energy and focus. The four skills that help to gain power are self-knowledge and introspection, the confidence and ability to exude self-confidence, the ability to understand others and understand empathy, and the ability to resolve conflicts.
Intelligence has something to do with power, but I think it’s grossly overrated.
ambition
It allows people to focus on gaining influence and helps people overcome the temptation to give up or give in.
energy
First, energy, like emotional states like anger or joy, is contagious.
Second, high energy levels allow you to work long hours, which is great for getting results.
Third, at work, people often promote those who have high energy.
If you are deeply committed to what you do, you are more likely to have high energy.
concentrate on
There are several levels of focus. The first level refers to focusing on a specific industry or company, conducting in-depth understanding, and establishing a more substantial interpersonal network.
The second level refers to focusing on a limited activity or skill.
The third level refers to focusing on some specific tasks or most important activities at work.
self-knowledge
There is one CEO who believes his success lies in extensive reading and structured self-reflection
confidence
If you’re not confident about how much your work is worth in return, and what you want, you’re not willing to ask or push others, so you get less money or less than those who are more active than you. Influence is less.
empathy
In order to negotiate successfully, you need to understand where the other side’s ideas come from.
ability to resolve conflict
If you can effectively handle difficult, conflict-ridden and stressful situations that most people want to avoid, you have some advantages.
intelligence
Of all the human traits, perhaps the most studied is intelligence. Studies have shown that intelligence is the most accurate predictor of job performance. But people tend to overestimate the role of intelligence in the process of attaining power. First, as we have already mentioned, job performance and the ability to gain power are not strongly correlated. Second, intelligence generally accounts for less than 20 percent of the variance in job performance in any case.
Intelligence correlates somewhat with school grades but little with career success.
Part II Power Roadmap
Our intuition tells us that not all career platforms are of equal value for the path to power, and the results of the research show that intuition is correct.
An important source of departmental power
One source of departmental power lies in departmental cohesion.
Another source of departmental power is the ability to provide key resources
Three elements to measure departmental power
relative salary
Office Locations and Facilities
Positions on committees and senior management
make your request
Flynn and Lake’s research shows that people are very inaccurate at predicting the behavior of others
a request is a compliment
One of the reasons making a pull request is useful is that we’re honored when someone asks us for advice or help.
If you make your request as flattering as possible, you’ll be more likely to get your request granted.
Do the Striking ‘Kissinger’
You need to build your personal brand and promote yourself without being too shy in the process.
For people to hire you or promote you, they have to notice you.
In the early stages of your career, when you’re looking for an initial position, you have to act differently from your competition, and that’s what matters.
Who says power is gained by being liked
While it’s ideal to have people both fear you and like you, when you have to choose between the two, if you want to gain and keep power, you should choose to have people fear you.
Brilliant but Cruel, the title says it all. Other research has confirmed her findings: Likeable people are seen as warm, but being friendly is also often seen as weak or even lacking in intelligence.
People may turn against you, but when they realize that you can hurt them, they will join you. ‘
Being likable or not has little to do with hiring someone to help you grow your business. The important question is “did they help you”.
When we choose who to associate with, an important criterion is whether they are helpful to our career and work.
Enemies can also be best friends
There is a positive relationship between firm size and salary
Resources are important because once you have them, maintaining power becomes a self-reinforcing process
Power and resources beget more power and resources.
The first implication is that you should choose jobs and positions where you have direct control over more people and larger budgets.
The second implication is that a lot of your power comes from the position you’re in and the control over resources and other things that position gives you.
be kind to others
do the little things that matter
Doing small things can also give you power, because people are often too lazy to do seemingly trivial things, or have no interest in them.
Actively seek out and utilize resources
Create your own unique resources
The meaning of developing a network clearly summarizes the specific behaviors involved.
◇Establish internal connections, such as “I used the company’s activities to establish new connections”;
◇Maintain internal contact, such as “I ask my colleagues in other departments to understand what their departments are doing”;
◇Using internal contacts, such as “I use my contacts with colleagues in other departments to obtain private advice related to work”;
◇ Establish external connections, such as “For professional reasons, I accept an invitation to attend a formal event or celebration”;
◇Maintain external contact, such as “I have someone send my greetings to acquaintances in other companies”;
◇ Use external links, such as “I exchange professional skills and experience with acquaintances in other companies”.
Relationships are the guarantee of organizational success
In many cases, the essence of leadership is to let people or departments with different abilities and perspectives collaborate to complete a task or close a deal.
Relationships are an important determinant of career development
The two most important behaviors for developing relationships are “Maintaining External Connections” and “Building Internal Connections.”
Interpersonal skills can be improved
Relationships make you more visible, which increases your power and status, and when your power and status rises, it becomes easier to build and maintain relationships.
Developing relationships requires planning, not time
Relationships don’t actually require so much time and energy. What it requires is mainly thinking and planning.
Another hurdle in relationships is that if you hang out with the same people all the time, you will automatically form habits.
Not everyone is worth the same to you
Not everyone is of equal value to you, and you should consider how to properly use your time to develop relationships
Weak ties are often more useful than strong ties between you and your close ones, intuitively, because your close friends and family are more likely to be in the same circle and close to each other, so they provide is redundant information. Weak ties are just the opposite. It is more likely to help you learn about new organizations, new people, and new information, providing you with new connections.
Two conditions must be met for weak ties to be effective: People with whom you have casual acquaintances must be able to connect you to different circles of relationships, and they must be willing to do so.
The best networking strategy: Get to know a lot of people from all walks of life.
Organizations or individuals are often famous themselves because one of their fellows is famous, so you should associate with people of higher status.
In fact, the status hierarchy is stable, and it is difficult for organizations and people not only to move up, but also to move down. Once you gain power and status through networking, you can maintain your influence without spending too much time and effort.
Make yourself the center of your network
You have more power if all the information goes through you.
Choose the most appropriate interpersonal strategy for the job
To what extent your job requires networking, and what type of knowledge is most useful on the job.
Research materials usually divide knowledge into two types: one is explicit and organized knowledge, such as charts, formulas or workflows; the other is implicit tacit knowledge, such as good clinicians should not only understand basic scientific knowledge, and should also learn from their experience what to do and when. Morten Hansen, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has studied what kinds of networks are most useful in different types of product development jobs. A small network of closely connected people is very important when you need access to tacit knowledge, because only in close contact do people take the time to explain their tacit knowledge. When product development projects need to find explicit knowledge that can be transformed at any time, then a large network with weak ties provides even greater benefits.
The Secret of Leadership is Performance
The secret of leadership is to play the role, to pose, to be skillful in the art of the stage.
We choose how we act and speak, and these decisions are important in gaining and maintaining power.
In order to be understood effectively, we need to master the ways of appearing to have power, we need to embody power in our words and deeds.
Andy Grove, co-founder, chairman, and former CEO of Intel Corporation, is modest about predicting future technology trends for himself or anyone else. Grove was asked this question at a Silicon Valley forum: How do you lead when you’re not sure where you or your company is headed? He replied, “Part of it is discipline, part of it is deception. And deception becomes reality. In that sense, deception is you pumping yourself up and acting better than you felt in the first place. But if you Act confident, and over time, you become more confident. Therefore, there is less deceit.”
Andy Grove understands three important principles of acting like a person with power.
One, it starts out as a performance, and after a while, it becomes less of a performance.
Second, the emotions you express, such as confidence and happiness, affect those around you. Emotions are contagious.
Third, emotions and behaviors can be self-reinforcing, if you smile and then others smile, you are more likely to be happy and more likely to smile.
If you want to appear engaged in meetings and other communications, and to show that you care about those around you, put away your phone, laptop, and all other devices that take up time and energy.
show anger, not sadness and remorse
When the situation was unfavorable, participants believed that high-status people would show more anger, but not sadness or guilt, and low-status people would show more sadness or guilt, but not anger.
Pay attention to your posture and gestures
don’t rush to respond
3 Strategies for “Speaking” of Power
You only get one chance to make a first impression
The first fact is that people begin to form impressions of you within the first few seconds, if not milliseconds, of being in contact with you.
The second fact may surprise you: Quickly formed first impressions are remarkably accurate at predicting other, more lasting, and important evaluations.
The fact that impressions are formed very quickly and first impressions last long has two important implications for your path to success.
First of all, if you find yourself in a work environment where you have an image problem, where people have a bad impression of you, then for whatever reason, it is best to leave and find a better place. Hearing and heeding this advice is very difficult for many people, who often want to prove that they can change their image and change the perception of others through hard work. But for all the reasons enumerated above, such efforts not only rarely work, but also consume a great deal of energy. So it is better to show those positive qualities of yourself in a new environment where you don’t have to overcome so much burden.
Pay special attention to your image in the media
Overcoming the Dilemma of Self-Promotion
Allow others to compliment your abilities. “Others” include agents, publicists, headhunters, and colleagues you’ve hired.
Don’t be reluctant to spend money and hire someone to represent you and tout you.
image creates reality
Make sure you do things that build your name, get people to promote you, and appear in those media stories and images that can help build your power base.
The 8 Golden Rules for Dealing with Conflict
Be kind to your opponents, give them a step down
Don’t create unnecessary trouble for yourself
Maintain good relationships with key people
Persistence is the prelude to victory
Multiple fronts go hand in hand
If you see a power struggle going on, don’t wait.
Reward your friends, punish your enemies
Find strong supporters for your goals
3 strategies to turn defeat into victory
If you’re going to stick with it and make a comeback, you have to stop blaming yourself, letting your opponent dictate the discussion, and stopping feeling guilty about failure.
keep doing what brings you success
When you face a setback, don’t try to move into another field and start working again.
Always act like you’re going to win in the end
When you are in the throes of fate and need help most, the best way to attract others to help you is to act like you will win in the end.
5 Big Costs You Must Pay for Power
Cost 1: The pressure of “prestige”
“Social facilitaion effect”. When other people are around, even if they’re not looking at you, you’re more motivated and more on edge.
Another price of visibility is distraction.
Visibility inevitably brings distraction from work, so both individual and organizational performance can be impaired.
Visibility has another price, and under the pressure to “look good,” people and companies are reluctant to take risks and innovate, opting instead for what appears to be safe.
Cost 2: Loss of Autonomy
Cost 3: Sacrificing family and personal life
Cost 4: Not everyone can be trusted
People in positions of power tend to be self-righteous and believe hype about themselves
The more power and position you have, the more people will want your position.
To keep their positions, CEOs need to identify the saboteurs and take a firm stand against them before power struggles fail.
Cost 5: Power is addictive
When you lose that position, you lose those relationships because most people are only interested in being with you when you are powerful.
Power has another cost, its addictive quality, which makes leaving a senior position unbearable.
Be wary of 6 factors that cause you to lose power
Asking too much, giving too little
Don’t let power get in your head, don’t act as if you can do anything, that’s what will help you keep your position.
excessive trust
When you become less vigilant and less suspicious of others’ intentions, they have the opportunity to take you down.
One way to find out how much you should trust others is to see what they do.
Lost patience
Losing your patience can cause you to lose control and offend others, which can cost you your job.
Tired, let down one’s vigilance
Times change, tactics remain the same
If you’re in a position of considerable power and you feel like you’re getting more and more tired, you might as well get out of that position.
Power reduces the concern and sensitivity of those in power to others, and this tendency can make problems worse. The combination of changing circumstances and a loss of vigilance often leads to a loss of power by those in power.
reluctance to power
You cannot fully retain your power forever, but you can walk away with dignity and leave a treasured legacy for posterity.
embark on your journey to power
When resources are scarce, there will be more struggles involving resource allocation, workplace political struggles are more likely to occur, and power struggles are more frequent and intense.
You should always be on the lookout for backstabbing, and even more so in times of economic crisis. Because this period is the peak period of workplace turmoil and power struggle.
People should use all means at their disposal to ensure their survival in the organization. Among these tools are mastery of the concepts and skills of power and influence.
This is a society where hierarchy is everywhere
One reason power dynamics and workplace political interactions are so common is that hierarchical structures are ubiquitous in human and animal societies, and even in some groups of fish. And as long as hierarchies exist, it is natural to climb up and avoid being at the bottom. In all animals that live in groups or migrate in groups, including humans, there will be struggles for dominance.
The existence of hierarchy means competition, and people will compete to occupy higher positions.
People seem to prefer market-oriented and democratized social mechanisms, but within organizations, people tend to prefer authoritarian management.
road to power
The first step in creating a path to power is to pick an environment that matches your talents and interests, an environment where you have the potential to succeed technically and professionally.
First, you have to be honest enough about your strengths, weaknesses, and preferences,
Second, you can’t fall into the trap of following the crowd and doing what everyone else is doing.
Again, to choose the right place for you, you have to be objective, not only about yourself, but about the job and its risks and opportunities.
Apathetic demeanor and behavior that can lead others to think you have less power than you really do
No one can make you feel inferior to someone else without your consent.
Take care of yourself and don’t expect justice
Is the pursuit of power worth the effort? If this is not clear to you, remember what I mentioned in the preface:
The relationship between power at work and disease and death. A survey of 18,000 British civil servants by Michael Marmot found that while they all worked in offices and were in the same social group, those at the bottom of the hierarchy had a higher risk of death than those at the top 4 times. After controlling for factors such as smoking, obesity and genetics, there are still differences in the distribution of individual health status among different social classes.
As Marmot concluded: “A person’s social environment in adulthood can be used to predict his health status.”
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