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The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (Stanford)

Jeffrey Pfeffer teaches the single most popular (and somewhat controversial) class at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business: The Paths to Power. He’s also the author of 16 books, including 7 Rules of Power: Surprising—But True—Advice on How to Get Things Done and Advance Your Career. He has taught at Harvard, the London Business School, and IESE and has written for publications like Fortune and the Washington Post. Recognized by the Academy of Management and listed in the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame, Jeffrey also serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards, bringing his expertise to global audiences through seminars and executive education. In our conversation, we discuss: • Jeffrey’s seven rules of power • How individuals can acquire and use power in business • Networking, and how to do it effectively • How to build a non-cringe personal brand • How to increase your influence to amplify your impact • Examples and stories of people building power • Tradeoffs and challenges that come with power — Brought to you by: • Uizard—AI-powered prototyping for visionary product leaders: https://uizard.io/lenny • Webflow—The web experience platform: https://webflow.com • Heap—Cross-platform product analytics that converts, engages, and retains customers: https://www.heap.io/lenny Find the transcript and references at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-paths-to-power-jeffrey-pfeffer Where to find Jeffrey Pfeffer: • X: https://x.com/JeffreyPfeffer • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-pfeffer-57a01b6/ • Website: https://jeffreypfeffer.com/ • Podcast: https://jeffreypfeffer.com/pfeffer-on-power/ Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Jeffrey’s background  (02:54) Understanding discomfort with power (04:56) Power skills for underrepresented groups (07:51) The popularity and challenges of Jeffrey’s class at Stanford (12:21) The seven rules of power (13:03) Success stories from his course (15:43) Building a personal brand (21:11) Getting out of your own way (26:04) Breaking the rules to gain power (30:34) Networking relentlessly (40:10) Why Jeffrey says to “pursue weak ties” (42:00) Using your power to build more power (44:34) The importance of appearance and body language (47:15) Mastering the art of presentation (55:12) Examples of homework assignments that Jeffrey gives students (59:11) People will forget how you acquired power (01:03:58) More good people need to have power (01:10:49) The price of power and autonomy (01:17:13) A homework assignment for you Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Lenny RachitskyhostJeffrey Pfefferguest
Jun 13, 20241h 22mWatch on YouTube ↗

Episode Details

EPISODE INFO

Released
June 13, 2024
Duration
1h 22m
Channel
Lenny's Podcast
Watch on YouTube
▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Jeffrey Pfeffer teaches the single most popular (and somewhat controversial) class at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business: The Paths to Power. He’s also the author of 16 books, including 7 Rules of Power: Surprising—But True—Advice on How to Get Things Done and Advance Your Career. He has taught at Harvard, the London Business School, and IESE and has written for publications like Fortune and the Washington Post. Recognized by the Academy of Management and listed in the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame, Jeffrey also serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards, bringing his expertise to global audiences through seminars and executive education. In our conversation, we discuss:

  • Jeffrey’s seven rules of power
  • How individuals can acquire and use power in business
  • Networking, and how to do it effectively
  • How to build a non-cringe personal brand
  • How to increase your influence to amplify your impact
  • Examples and stories of people building power
  • Tradeoffs and challenges that come with power

— Brought to you by:

Find the transcript and references at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-paths-to-power-jeffrey-pfeffer Where to find Jeffrey Pfeffer:

Where to find Lenny:

In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Jeffrey’s background (02:54) Understanding discomfort with power (04:56) Power skills for underrepresented groups (07:51) The popularity and challenges of Jeffrey’s class at Stanford (12:21) The seven rules of power (13:03) Success stories from his course (15:43) Building a personal brand (21:11) Getting out of your own way (26:04) Breaking the rules to gain power (30:34) Networking relentlessly (40:10) Why Jeffrey says to “pursue weak ties” (42:00) Using your power to build more power (44:34) The importance of appearance and body language (47:15) Mastering the art of presentation (55:12) Examples of homework assignments that Jeffrey gives students (59:11) People will forget how you acquired power (01:03:58) More good people need to have power (01:10:49) The price of power and autonomy (01:17:13) A homework assignment for you Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

SPEAKERS

  • Lenny Rachitsky

    host

  • Jeffrey Pfeffer

    guest

  • Narrator

    other

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Lenny Rachitsky and Jeffrey Pfeffer, The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (Stanford) explores seven surprising power rules to accelerate your career and impact Stanford professor Jeffrey Pfeffer explains that power is a neutral tool strongly correlated with higher salary, promotions, happiness at work, and lower stress, and that more "good people" need power if we want power used for good.

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