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Power: Why some people have it – and others don’t. (2010)

“One of the effects of power is that it dissolves inhibitions as effectively as alcohol. Powerful people tend to think rules do not apply to them, and their drives often override social norms.

 

Jeffery Pfeffer: Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University

One of the effects of power – notes Stanford University’s Professor, Jeffrey Pfeffer, in his book “Power: Why Some People Have It – and Others Don’t” – is that it dissolves inhibitions as effectively as alcohol. Powerful people tend to think rules do not apply to them, and their drives often override social norms.

Through three decades of teaching and writing about power, Jeffrey Pfeffer has emphasized a pithy but potent concept: Politics often trumps performance.

Pfeffer can tell countless stories of networkers and self-promoters who shot to the top while others went nowhere or lost positions despite laudable achievements. Many of those stories punctuate this book.

“It’s a book about surviving and succeeding in organizations,” says Pfeffer, who has taught these lessons to students since creating a course called Power and Politics in Organizations (now renamed The Paths to Power) at the business school in 1979. Now he’s spreading the message to a wider audience.

Amazon link: Power – some people have it

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