I’ve been meaning to read Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense, which Aretae heartily recommends — after getting halfway through — but I may have to read Jeffrey Pfeffer’s latest book first — Power: Why Some People Have It And Others Don’t — based on this summary cited by Foseti:
Once motivated to pursue power, he says, people need to overcome the obstacles to getting it. Atop the list is the belief that good work is the key to success. Competence is overrated, Pfeffer says, as the titans of the financial industry have shown in recent years. “Great job performance by itself is insufficient and may not even be necessary for getting and holding positions of power.”
Another obstacle is relying on the ubiquitous leadership literature written by people who tout their own careers as models but “gloss over the power plays they actually used to get to the top.” These leaders’ ability to promote themselves as noble and good is the reason they reached high levels in the first place, Pfeffer says. Their advice could be accurate, “but more likely it is just self-serving.”
Finally, people handicap themselves by choosing not to risk failure. People want to feel good about themselves, Pfeffer says, and “any experience of failure puts their self-esteem at risk.” But, he emphasizes, the only way to master the power game is to practice.