Power: Why Some People Have It-and Others Don’t
In *Power: Why Some People Have It—and Others Don’t*, Jeffrey Pfeffer dismantles the pervasive myth that performance alone guarantees career success. Drawing on real-world case studies—from Rudy Crew’s sudden ouster as Miami-Dade schools superintendent to Willie Brown’s decades-long reign as California Assembly Speaker—Pfeffer reveals the unspoken rules of power. He outlines three core barriers to building influence: self-limiting beliefs about change, overconfidence, and ignorance of critical power traits. Readers learn to prioritize ambition, energy, focus, and empathy over raw intelligence, while mastering practical strategies like targeting high-potential departments, building strategic networks, and performing confidence to shape perceptions. Pfeffer also confronts the hidden costs of power—loss of autonomy, strained personal relationships, and addiction—and provides actionable tips to retain authority by avoiding common pitfalls like overconfidence and misplaced trust. Ultimately, this book argues that office politics is unavoidable, and success depends on proactively constructing a power base rather than relying on merit alone.
