7 Rules of Power - by Jeffrey Pfeffer (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

If you want to "change lives, change organizations, change the world," the Stanford business school's motto, you need power.

Is power the last dirty secret or the secret to success? Both. While power carries some negative connotations, power is a tool that can be used for good or evil. Don't blame the tool for how some people used it.

If fully understood and harnessed effectively, power skills and understanding become the keys to increasing salaries, job satisfaction, career advancement, organizational change, and, happiness. In 7 Rules of Power, Jeffrey Pfeffer, professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, provides the insights that have made both his online and on-campus classes incredibly popular--with life-changing results often achieved in 8 or 10 weeks.

Rooted firmly in social science research, Pfeffer's 7 rules provide a manual for increasing your ability to get things done, including increasing the positive effects of your job performance.

The 7 rules are:

1) Get out of your own way.

2) Break the rules.

3) Show up in powerful fashion.

4) Create a powerful brand.

5) Network relentlessly.

6) Use your power.

7) Understand that once you have acquired power, what you did to get it will be forgiven, forgotten, or both.

With 7 Rules of Power, you'll learn, through both numerous examples as well as research evidence, how to accomplish change in your organization, your life, the lives of others, and the world.

Review Quotes

"Like a rousing slap of truth in the face, Pfeffer's tough-minded, capstone book on power identifies 7 research-based, reality-revealing rules for hierarchical success. Anyone hoping to rise within an organization needs to obtain power and, therefore, needs to read this brilliant book."
--Robert Cialdini, New York Times Bestselling Author, Pre-Suasion

"7 Rules of Power delivers easy-to-digest, practical tips for how you can be more powerful in your own life. Using real-life examples of individuals altering their lives by following his rules, Pfeffer delivers his message with humor and humanity. Pfeffer shows us how often we give away our power and how we can reclaim it."
--Deborah Liu, Author, Take Back Your Power; CEO, Ancestry.com; Board Member, Intuit; former VP, Facebook; and Founder, Women in Product

"Jeff Pfeffer's latest leadership masterpiece is as brilliantly insightful as it is refreshingly candid and pragmatic, anchored in cutting edge scholarship. Pfeffer is the current Leonard Bernstein of leadership studies. There is simply no competitor book to the highly readable, smart, wide-ranging take on power in 7 Rules of Power."
--Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Founder and CEO, Chief Executive Leadership Institute, and Lester Crown Professor and Senior Dean of Leadership Studies, Yale School of Management

"Dr. Pfeffer's 7 Rules of Power is a must read and highly useful for anyone at any stage of their career. The book offers a balanced, thoughtful view on what is an often uncomfortable topic for many people, especially women. Pfeffer is clear and to the point with practical, research-based steps for owning your power your way. It will stir your thinking and truly change your perspective."
--Stacy Brown-Philpot, former CEO, TaskRabbit; Board Member, HP, Inc., and Nordstrom; Forbes 40 under 40; former Head of Online Sales and Operations in India, Google

About the Author

Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University where he has taught since 1979.

Dr. Pfeffer received his BS and MS degrees from Carnegie-Mellon University and his PhD from Stanford. He began his career at the business school at the University of Illinois and then taught for six years at the University of California, Berkeley. Pfeffer has been a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School, Singapore Management University, London Business School, Copenhagen Business School, and for the past 14 years a visitor at IESE in Barcelona.

Dr. Pfeffer has presented seminars in 40 countries throughout the world as well as doing consulting and providing executive education for numerous companies, associations, and universities in the United States. Additionally, Dr. Pfeffer has won the Richard D. Irwin Award presented by the Academy of Management for scholarly contributions to management and numerous awards for his articles and books. He is in the Thinkers 50 Hall of Fame and has been listed as one of the ""Most Influential HR International Thinkers"" by HR Magazine. In November, 2011, he was presented with an honorary doctorate degree from Tilburg University in The Netherlands.