“What Putin and Taylor Swift have in common…” – L’Express

The power. There are those who chase after it but never get it. Those who receive it as an inheritance but who do nothing with it. Those who fought to have it but who lose it due to lack of fighting spirit. And finally those who cling to it until their last breath. Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at Stanford, has published numerous bestsellers on the role of power in the workplace, including the highly acclaimed Power: why some people have it and others don’t (HarperBusiness, 2014) and The 7 laws of power (Pearson, 2023).

For L’Express, he returns to the mechanics of power both as an instrument of influence to change things within organizations and as a career accelerator. The specialist emphasizes the importance of networking, the crucial role played by self-confidence, emphasizing that “with training and practice, everyone can be more powerful than they currently are “. From Vladimir Putin to Taylor Swift, Jeffrey Pfeffer explains how personalities “with completely ordinary backgrounds” managed to become so powerful.

L’Express: You have written several books on the role of power in organizations. Why do you attach so much importance to it?

Jeffrey Pfeffer: I teach at a university, (Stanford, Editor’s note), whose motto is: “change lives, change organizations, change the world”. If you want to change the trajectory of a company in terms of economic performance or change anything else, you have to have influence. Because, you see, if you didn’t need influence to change things, the change would have already happened.

Psychology professor Gerald Ferris, among others, has conducted studies that link political skills to career success. Therefore, if I want my leadership students to succeed in the world as it is and not necessarily the world as we would like it to be, they must understand organizational dynamics so that they can survive in the organizations for which they are susceptible. to work.

In your book, The 7 laws of power, you insist on the importance of “networking without moderation”…

Quite. If leadership is about getting things done through other people, the more people you know, the more able you will be to get things done. As a leader, you must rally and motivate your employees. This is part of the job of leaders. And one of the ways to motivate them is to talk to them, in a large or small group or one-on-one, you have to show them that you have confidence in them. It’s about convincing them that what the organization is trying to accomplish can be achieved. Because no one will put effort into something if they don’t believe there is a chance of success.

In all organizations and industries, you also need to network to get information, know what’s going on, and build relationships with people who will help you. Sociologist Ronald Burt showed that people’s careers and professional success can be predicted by their social networks. The more important people you know, the more successful you are because you have access to more resources.

Are we all equal when it comes to power?

No. In the same way that we are not all equal when it comes to tennis, our language skills, or our ability to play the piano. But I say, and my experience proves it, that with training and practice, everyone can improve. Can you be as good a politician as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for example? Maybe not. But can you become better than you are today? Absolutely.

Does this also apply to the shy?

It’s not a question of personality but of behavior. We are not born knowing how to walk or talk. These are skills that can be acquired. I believe everyone can be more powerful than they currently are. This does not mean that we are all capable of ruling the world, but anyone can gain some power. On the other hand, if you want to succeed in your workplace, you must understand the importance of self-confidence. Studies have shown that people respond positively to displays of self-confidence. They think this is a sign of competence, even though there is evidence that this is not the case.

You also need to understand how people react to different types of behavior and keep in mind that some emotional displays feel more powerful than others. Anger, for example, is a stronger emotion than sadness or remorse. Take Donald Trump and his facial expressions, his frowns. This is one of the ways he uses to show his discontent. And that is, I think, one of his sources of power. Anger is not a well-accepted social norm, so breaking this social expectation can feel powerful.

“Kindness is often seen as weakness, or even a lack of intelligence,” you write. What do you mean ?

I obviously have nothing against having empathy, because if you want to do something, you have to fully understand the people you are interacting with. On the other hand, I am very critical of this literature on leadership which does not speak of the effectiveness of leaders, but of a kind of sentimentality. My friend Gary Loveman (the former boss of the Caesars casino chain, Editor’s note) once told me: “If you want to be loved, get a dog.” The role of a leader is not to win a popularity contest, but to get things done. If I take your example, your job is not necessarily to be nice, but to be an effective journalist. Of course, you should be as kind and personable as possible. But ultimately, where you will be evaluated as a leader is on the performance of your organization.

In past or current history, which personalities do you think best embody power?

In the book How to become a dictator by Frank Dikötter, it is about the rise of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, among others. The latter two, like Vladimir Putin today, have completely ordinary backgrounds. These are not people who are exceptionally intelligent, beautiful, or necessarily have the highest IQ. They came to power because they mastered its dynamics. Vladimir Putin is the head of a relatively weak country, but thanks to his attitude, the country actually has more power than it should have. I could also take the example of Benjamin Netanyahu, who managed to hold his position longer than all other Israeli Prime Ministers. Or even Donald Trump, who despite six bankruptcies and several business failures became one of the most powerful people in the United States.

I also think of Elon Musk or Taylor Swift, people who have built huge brands. Does Taylor Swift have the most beautiful voice in the world? Probably not, but she is by far one of the most effective marketers on this planet. What people like Vladimir Putin and Taylor Swift and others have in common is that they use thoughtfulness and strategy to achieve their goals. Meanwhile, many of us go through life as a kind of haphazard walk or without serious thought about who we need to know, who we need to meet, what we want to project, how we want to dress, how we want to talk , all those things that make people respond to us in one way or another.

Becoming powerful is hard work. And some people, when they reach a certain level of success, slack off. With her latest tour “Eras Tour”, she exceeded $1 billion in revenue. She might have told herself half a billion is already enough. But Taylor Swift never relaxes. In the end, a lot of it comes down to how far you want to go. This is what I try to accomplish in my course, get individuals to be more strategic in how they use their time. More strategic in how they present themselves. And more strategic in the way they think about the relationships they will build.

What do you think is the biggest mistake a leader can make?

Failing to recognize that everyone has a boss and your job is to please them. This is the biggest mistake I see among leaders. Almost everyone gets fired at some point. For what ? Because they failed to satisfy their boss.