Politically intelligent and power-seeking are linked to career success and even management efficiency. In a zero-sum struggle for status and employment, creating and using power are valuable organizational survival skills. People in authority are occupied with their own interests and their own work. No one would think for others, if someone blend into the woodwork, even if he is doing a great job. The best way to ensure that he knows what he does is to inform others at a higher level in his business. One of the most common metrics of performance in advertising is ad recall. People like what they saw or saw before, and they want what they are familiar with. Research shows that repeated exposure increases positive outcomes and reduces negative feelings. In certain ways, being memorable is liked to being chosen.

The longest serving head of a major motion picture corporation is Ron Meyer, the president and chief operating officer of Universal Studios since 1995. Over the course of his life, Meyer, like many successful people, changed profoundly. He produced attributes that allowed him to gain and hold on to power. There are three barriers to gaining power, according to him, which are:

1. First, one must start to realize that there is a chance of personal transformation.
2. Second, as critically as possible, one must understand his or her own strengths and weaknesses.
3. And third, one need to consider the most critical attributes for creating a power base so that he or she can concentrate on improving those for his or her undoubtedly limited time and energy.

When someone start his or her career, it influences his or her rate of success as well as how far they move forward. Those in stronger divisions, for example, went up the pay scale at the University of California more rapidly. Similarly, at General Motors and AT&T, finance was the road to the top for many years and senior university vacancies at the University of Illinois are also filled with individuals from the physics department. According to study, not all career platforms are equal in importance as a path to power. The most common mistake is to locate in the department associated with the current core task, talent, or commodity of the company. If someone want to step up fast, go to under-exploited zones where he or she can build under-resistance leverage.

The late Reginald Lewis was a prominent corporate lawyer and founder of a buyout business. He was in the Harvard Law School summer programme for high-potential black college students. One of the rules of the programme was that no one who enrolled should be eligible for entry. Reginald Lewis applied to the Harvard Law School in the summer of 1963. He argued that there would be a mutually beneficial association between the school and the law school. At the end of the summer, Lewis enrolled and became the first person in the history of the school who had been accepted before completing the application. Lewis knew that the worst possible thing to do if anything is asked would be refused. And if he is turned down. People who do not inquire wouldn’t be worse off than they hadn’t asked first. If they did not ask or were denied, they would not obtain what they wanted, but there was some hope, at least with asking. Choose positions that have more direct resource control over more budget or workers when selecting jobs. Usually line positions control hiring more workers and more budget authorities. The position someone hold and the tools he or she access come primarily from power.

We should choose how we act and speak, and these decisions are necessary for us to gain and hold on to power. The Language people use and how they create presentations and arguments to help decide their strength. There are some well-established concepts that can help someone subtly gain more leverage when he or she talk with authority:
1. Interruption
2. Contest the premises of the discussion
3. Persuasive language

The particulars of a good reputation can differ according to your background and personal strengths and weaknesses. What is crucial is that someone carefully focus on the dimensions of the reputation he or she want to create and then do everything in your power to make sure the picture he or she plan is how he or she spend their time with the type of organizations and people. For instance, John Browne was CEO of British Petroleum for more than a decade; BP, under his aegis, purchased Amoco and Arco, and also made numerous smaller purchases. Browne often asked inquisitive questions and was educated in physics. His analytical training allowed him both in finance and in exploration to do well in his work. But what happens is how he used his intellect and memory to establish his credibility as super intelligent.

People who pursue and gain power also pay for the hunt. Some of the expenses accrued are here:
1. Public oversight and exposure
2. The Loss of Autonomy
3. The required time and effort
4. Trust Dilemmas
5. Power as an Addictive Drug

Studies of power effects on the power holder consistently show that power creates overconfidence, risk taking, aversion to others and stereotyping. Surprise and insensitivity contribute to power loss, when people are so full of themselves that they do not fulfil the needs of those who are inmate about them.

The first step in developing a power path is to select an area appropriate for someone’s own skills and interests. Few people can change their likes and dislikes comfortably. Do not whine, then, about how not fair life is. Stop waiting for better things or for someone to gain strength. It is up to him or her to find — or build — and allocate a better position and field. And it is up to someone to create his or her own power course.

Power is not an easy thing to achieve and handle. There are many sources from where we can learn more about this topic but I will recommend you to go through the book “Power – Why Some People Have It— and Others Don’t”. It is written by Jeffrey Pfeffer and is a great source to understand this topic.


Discover more from Debasish Sinha | Author | Entrepreneur

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