Charting Your Path to Personal Power

Successful people have the ability to get things done, whether they are climbing the corporate ladder, making the world a better place, or transforming their personal lives. But some people are more effective in these endeavors than others. What’s the secret to personal power?

Jeffrey Pfeffer is a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, where he has spent more than four decades studying what makes some people more successful than others. In his book Power: Why Some People Have It—and Others Don’t, Pfeffer identifies seven important personal qualities that lead to personal power. He divides these qualities into two categories: will, which is the drive to take on big challenges, and skill, which is the ability to turn challenges into accomplishments. A successful person’s will expresses itself as ambition, energy, and focus. The specific skills needed to acquire power, in Pfeffer’s analysis, are self-knowledge, confidence, empathy with others, and the capacity to tolerate conflict.

In order to succeed, you need ambition, which means you need to work hard, make sacrifices, and persevere when things aren’t going well. People who don’t have a driving ambition tend to get discouraged or sidetracked. Pfeffer cites the example of Jill Barad, who rose to become CEO of Mattel and often wore a bumblebee pen. She explains, “The bee is an oddity of nature. It shouldn’t be able to fly, but it does. Every time I see that bee out of the corner of my eye, I am reminded to keep pushing for the impossible.”

Successful people also exhibit more energy than unsuccessful people. Stamina counts: you have to be willing to work harder and longer than those around you if you expect to succeed. In order to maintain such a pace, you need to eat well and exercise regularly, not to mention sleep sparingly. Pfeffer concludes, “I know of almost no powerful people who do not have boundless energy.”

Ambition and energy need to be channeled toward a particular goal, however, which is why successful people need to focus their efforts. The problem is that talented people often have many interests and many opportunities, and they make the mistake of not choosing among them. According to Pfeffer, the evidence suggests that you are more likely to succeed if you narrow your focus. Like the sun shining through a magnifying glass, successful people bring all their energy to bear in one place.

The drive toward a goal must also include ongoing analysis and assessment, however, which is why self-knowledge leads off the four skills needed by successful people. Andy Hargadon, a business school professor at UC Davis, notes that many people think they have 20 years of experience, but they really don’t—they just have one year of experience repeated 20 times. In order for experience to lead to personal growth, you need to reflect on your experience. Pfeffer advocates taking time after each significant meeting or interaction for structured reflection, using a notebook to record what went well and what didn’t, along with ideas for how to make future interactions more successful.

Successful people also exude confidence, which increases their influence and power. In every situation, those around you will try to figure out whether or not they should take you seriously. Because people tend to associate confident behavior with actual power, you’ll have more influence if you come across as confident and knowledgeable. Pfeffer warns, “If you aren’t confident about what you deserve and what you want, you will be reluctant to ask or to push, and therefore you will be less successful in obtaining money or influence compared to those who are bolder than you.”

But self-confidence shouldn’t lead you to ignore the people around you. Successful people aren’t like a bull in a china shop. In fact, they usually have more empathy with others than those who are not successful. They are able to put themselves in other people’s shoes. They know what other people want. As University of Texas psychologist William Ickes puts it: “Empathetically accurate perceivers are those who are consistently good at ‘reading’ other people’s thoughts and feelings. All else being equal, they are more likely to be the most tactful advisors, the most diplomatic officials, the most effective negotiators, the most electable politicians, the most productive salespersons, the most successful teachers, and the most insightful therapists.”

Just because you know what someone wants doesn’t mean you have to give it to them, however, which is why successful people develop the capacity to tolerate conflict. Most people are conflict-averse; they avoid difficult situations and difficult people, rather than taking them on. Since change often provokes resistance, powerful people have learned to pay the price for standing up for themselves and their views. Sometimes you need to fight for what you want. If you can effectively handle stress-filled situations and conflict, Pfeffer concludes, you have an advantage over most people.

Whether you’re climbing the corporate ladder, making the world a better place, or transforming your personal life, you need the power to get things done—both the drive to take on big challenges and the ability to turn those challenges into accomplishments. Pfeffer’s wise counsel can help you develop the personal qualities that will increase your influence.