Tag Archives: Stanford

Can Diverse Interests Cost You Power?

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Soundview Executive Book Summaries recently released a summary of author Jeffrey Pfeffer’s book Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t. Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. While the book contains many insights that would be considered controversial, I wanted to offer an additional bit of perspective from Pfeffer’s Author Insight Series interview.

I asked Pfeffer about his contention that a key to building power is to limit one’s focus and become an expert in a small number of areas. Today’s education system seems to train individuals for the opposite. It encourages having a breadth of knowledge as well as expertise in certain areas. When I asked Pfeffer if he though focus was a tough concept for the next generation of workers, he replied with the following:

I don’t know if it’s difficult for them to understand. It is certainly difficult for them to practice. I have students at Stanford that are very talented people who say to me, “Y’know I have many interests and I’m good at many things. Therefore, I have trouble focusing.”

But I’m just completing a case on a guy in the real estate industry by the name of Ross Walker. Early on, if you look at his career, he was in investment banking because that’s what everybody was doing at that time. Then he did an education high-tech start-up because everybody was doing start-ups. Finally, one day, he sat down and said, “What am I really passionate about?” It turned out to be the hospitality and restaurant industry. He focused his job search on that even though that’s not necessarily the most popular choice at Stanford Business School. He focused on finding a place where he could have a substantial impact and make a difference and have a strong mentor. That [job] turned out to be Wolff Urban Development with Lew Wolff, managing general partner of the Oakland Athletics. Ross focused his job search there just as he had focused on the GSB at Stanford. Stanford was the only place he applied to go to business school. Ross has been successful because he’s focused. If you divert your attention to many different things you probably won’t do very well on any of them.

What do you think of Pfeffer’s ideas? Send me a comment with your feedback.

To learn more about how to build your personal power, get your copy of the Soundview Executive Book Summary of Power. Pfeffer’s complete Author Insight Series interview is available now for Soundview subscribers!

Book Review: Power

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If you’ve ever wondered what causes some executives to rise to the top while others flounder in middle management, the latest book summarized by Soundview Executive Book Summaries offers some unique insight. In Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t, Jeffrey Pfeffer, the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, offers a set of standards that will no doubt prove controversial to some readers.

Pfeffer sits at the opposite end of the scale from his Stanford colleague Robert I. Sutton, author of The No Asshole Rule and Good Boss, Bad Boss. While Sutton offers readers advice on how to create a more collaborative, humane work environment, Pfeffer offers advice on how to win in the “real” world. This is the world where it pays to get noticed, where making the right connections to leverage one’s own career goals are more meaningful than a comfortable relationship with one’s direct reports.

Pfeffer doesn’t mince words. He is completely cognizant of the fact that his advice will cause many readers to feel uncomfortable. It says a great deal that one of the endorsements that adorns the book jacket of Power is from one of Pfeffer’s former students. She confesses that his advice made her quite uncomfortable. For some readers, the true discomfort will arrive when they look around and see that many of Pfeffer’s observations ring true.

To paraphrase a character in a play by George Bernard Shaw, Sullivan sees things as we’d want them to be. Pfeffer sees things as they are. The reader can choose which path to follow.

To get your copy of the Soundview summary of Power, visit Soundview online at Summary.com.

Soundview Summary Helps You Find Your Path to Power

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The recent election of former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel as Mayor of Chicago is the latest move in a career marked by political savvy. Emanuel faces challenges in his new position. Chicago is like many other major American cities in that it is attempting to maintain a firm fiscal foothold while keeping its citizens employed and its streets a little more safe. Of course, Emanuel left one of the most pressurized positions in American government, but it was one that wields a considerable amount of power.

Emanuel’s name crops up in a book recently summarized by Soundview Executive Book Summaries, Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don’t by Jeffrey Pfeffer. This coming Monday, you’ll get the opportunity to read a full review of Power in this blog, but I felt I needed to provide a special mention of the book today because it relates directly to Emanuel.

Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. His book is one of only a handful of titles released in the past several years that attempt to teach a tough-as-nails, yet morally sound method to acquiring political clout in a business environment. Pfeffer readily admits that there is a definite set of behaviors that enable certain individuals to garner more power than others. I appreciated the fact that at several points in his book, he points out that the mind-set necessary to achieve power is bound to cause some people to feel unsettled. That level of honesty should instantly make a reader realize that he or she is delving into a useful book.

Check back with me on Monday to see an in-depth review of Power. In the meantime, you can access hundreds of FREE business book reviews by visiting Soundview’s home on the Web, Summary.com.