Jeffrey Pfeffer
Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business
Professor of organizational behavior at Stanford GSB who teaches Paths to Power, one of the two most popular courses in the MBA program, author of The Seven Rules of Power, known for teaching the uncomfortable but empirically validated skills of building power in your career.
Dimension Profile
Key Themes
Episode Summary
Jeffrey Pfeffer teaches the seven rules of power from his legendary Stanford course Paths to Power, making the empirically backed case that political skill leads to higher salary, faster promotions, and less stress. He argues that the biggest obstacle is rule one — getting out of your own way by overcoming the belief that power is dirty — and that if good people refuse to learn power skills, only bad people will have power. The conversation challenges the common discomfort with power by reframing it as a neutral tool like a hammer or a surgeon's knife.
Leadership Principles
- → If you think power is dirty, the first thing that happens is you won't do what you need to do to be successful — that's rule one, get out of your own way
- → Political skill is associated with salary, promotions, career happiness, and less stress — the empirical evidence is overwhelming
- → These are skills that can be mastered, not personality traits — power building is learnable just like any other professional skill
Notable Quotes
"If I think power is dirty, the first thing that's going to happen is I'm not going to do what I need to do to be successful in my career. That's one way to get in your own way."
— On rule one of the seven rules of power
"Political skill is associated with a lot of positive outcomes: salary, getting promoted, being happy in your career, being less stressed. The reason why you should pay attention to this is because it leads to a lot of good things."
— On the empirical case for learning power skills
"I see people with hammers hitting other people on the head. That does not mean that a hammer is not a useful tool. Laura Esserman has a knife. She uses it to cure cancer. Muggers have knives. They use it to rob people."
— On separating the tool of power from how it's used
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